At Last

After almost two months of endless, albeit, irregular job hunting and after suffering fits of desperation, bitterness and desperation, I already landed a post as a Reading teacher in an all-boys school. It’s just a bus ride from my house but come opening of classes and the entire school year, I actually have to wake up earlier and when I say earlier, really earlier from usual because the heavy flow of traffic makes the 15-minute ride a fucking one and a half-hour ordeal. I just so hope that my stay in that school would be really good so that I wouldn’t get demotivated and start showing up late.

I am rather phlegmatic. XD

Okay. So, if you are a follower of this blog, you should’ve read my very desperate post about me not being accepted in an all-girls Catholic school even with my credentials. I wasn’t hoping anymore either with the state university because I do not even have master’s degree units as compared to my two former colleagues. I was just randomly sending online applications, basically. Doing everything and nothing to actually get hired.

Applicant high as fuck, looking at holes for jobs and shit.

So it was a relief when a friend of mine referred that a certain all-boys school was in urgent need of a Reading teacher. At first, I was suspicious because I thought that the school did not have any vacancies or I should’ve already sent my application there before. And why, given that they were a well-known all-boys school, would they still have a vacancy this late? So, I planned on passing my application before passing in another all-girls school. 

And voila, the head of the English department called me in the afternoon of that very same day to present myself for an initial interview the next day. 

I was just incredulous when I went there. I actually always heard the name of this school, but I was there walking and exploring its grounds. And the English department head was really accommodating; she made me remember my former head in terms of warmth. 

I found out in the interview that the post was already supposed to be filled, however, the applicant withdrew. And coincidentally, the applicant was one of my friends. This friend didn’t tell me she was applying here, so it was rather a surprise. The head asked me if it was her who referred the position to me, but I told her it was our common friends and not her. She then scheduled me for a demonstration teaching the next Tuesday and gave me the topic, the audience (the entire English department!), the length of time and the level of the lesson.

I was nervous when I went home. I was still jobless and I have three options in my hands, one is a stint in an international school, the other one was the all-girls school and lastly, this all-boys school. So I was incredulous and I was already weighing these options. Still, I prepared for my demo teaching. 

Since I was given time to prepare, I looked in the internet for possible lesson plans and asked my fellow teachers, friends and batchmates for possible techniques. Apparently, all of my teacher friends were giving me the same answers. So in the end, upon thinking of injecting social science in my English lesson, I started my lesson plan. I made sure that the plan, the photocopying of the materials that fucking hurt my already dwindling money (thanks to my former school that was still not giving us our backpay) and I myself was ready for this. Especially, now that I learned from the head herself that there were three of us applying for the only slot. 

Fucking box-office.

However, the HR of the all-girls school called up to make myself ready for a freaking interview with the head the next day, though mercifully, it was hours earlier. But still, I was disturbed since I scheduled the morning for my final preparations. 

I still went to the interview though. And I was scheduled for a demonstration teaching the next day. I was fucking shocked. Sure, I can create a lesson plan and deliver it the next day, but what I was thinking then was that I would sure be fucked as hell after my demo in the all-boys school later that afternoon. And she was actually asking me to do a lesson for the freaking 10th grade which never in my life have I taught yet. I tried to bargain, but she said no. So I said yes. 

So, I went home again, ate my lunch and made my delayed final preparations that I was actually fucking late for the demo. Mercifully again, I was originally scheduled to be the last demo teacher, but apparently, another applicant would come at a later time and I ended up being the second. So, I waited for forty minutes (the time allotted for each applicant was 30) in the principal’s office and the first applicant went in with the head for the post-conference. I was told to go to the classroom already and there I saw the entire English department sizing me up. But luckily again, they were given 15-minutes break before I start. So I used that time to prepare my materials. The good thing about the classroom was that it had an LCD TV and computer unit that I only had to bring my flashdrive. There was also an installed LCD projector, so I reckoned that if I got hired, I could still bring my laptop. And yeah, they have whiteboard. As far as the facility inside the classroom was concerned, I was pretty satisfied. 

I was supposed to put an orgasm face here. :D 

And yeah, I did the demo and all of them (the freaking teachers of the freaking English department) were fucking active and intimidating. I was told that they would act as students so I did what I do normally inside the classroom in terms of routines and such.  I had to cut some parts of the lesson and explain some parts of it since I didn’t have much time. So in the end, they clapped their hands and asked me things about my lesson plan and such. But through that demo, I already sensed who among those teachers I would have a difficult time with. But because my knees already turned into jello after I taught, I actually shoved it first at the back of my head.

The department head brought me to the principal’s office for the conference and told me that they were happy with my demo, though she cited that my materials were too advanced for potential grade 8 students. She told me to wait for her message later that day. So I went home. 

She texted me saying that I was chosen among the three but I should come for the tests and interviews. I was still not hired, since she said the appointment would be based too from the tests and interviews. Still, I already had this inkling that I have a very strong chance of being in. Because of that, the next day, I called the HR of the all-girls that I wouldn’t be able to have the demo that day because I was already hired.

So I had the tests and the interviews. And I was made to report the same day I had the final interview with the principal. 

Yeah, it was a rollercoaster. I was really thankful to my friends who referred this post to me. Though I still don’t get to teach in college, still, the environment and the pay were really promising. So I’m happy for that.