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Illinois Teachers Chatboard

School Psychologist resignation

by Mary

Aug 28, 2017

Can I resign from my school psychology position to accept another job now that the school year has begun to accept a position in another school district?

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Trying to Meet/Network With Chicagoland Ed Professionals

by Brandon Zurvalec JD

Jul 14, 2017

To All,

As I more or less intimated in my last post, I am a new high school social studies teacher who is trying to get my foot in the door in Chicagoland. As a part of this, I am looking for ways to meet/network with other teachers and/or administrators in the area and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions. Is there, for example, a ...See More

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Seeking Advice re: Teacher Application Process

by Brandon Zurvalec JD

Jun 14, 2017

To All,

By way of introduction, my name is Brandon Zurvalec and I am a licensed Illinois educator in secondary social science with a full endorsement in history. At present, I am seeking my first permanent teaching position and just have a couple of questions for now (and please bear with me re: the length of the second one): ...See More

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darfaz Hi, I think your situation is probably pretty common for Social Science teachers in their job search, so as discouraging as it can be, know that you're probably not in the minority. I have a poli sci endorsement, but I have been teaching Spanish (of course) for the last 13 years in a few different districts in the very far south west suburbs.
...See MoreHi, I think your situation is probably pretty common for Social Science teachers in their job search, so as discouraging as it can be, know that you're probably not in the minority. I have a poli sci endorsement, but I have been teaching Spanish (of course) for the last 13 years in a few different districts in the very far south west suburbs.

Some of my thoughts on your situation. - Can you coach a sport or an activity? I know in the districts I've been a part of, the social science teachers did some pretty heavy lifting. I doubt in my current job that they would even look at a candidate for a ss teacher that had no coaching or play directing or Speech coaching experience. Some districts are just looking for coaches, so you may want to try starting there. I have acquaintances that have coached 2 or 3 sports just to get their foot in the door to get a teaching job. - Your username has JD at the end. Did you graduate from law school? If so, you may be qualified for advanced pay, which sorry to say, probably makes you too expensive to hire as a new teacher. In some districts, the difference in pay between a Bachelor's and Master's degree pay is considerable. My mom teaches in Dupage county at a pretty sizable district and I think the pay increase is about 20%. Hiring principals might not even look at your application after seeing that. - Like I've already stated, social science is tough. Most teachers that I know that got jobs were doing anything and everything they could to get hired, and it did take a maternity sub job or student teaching experience to get noticed. -Grades don't mean anything really. Letters of rec don't either. I'm a dept. chair and have been heavily involved with hiring 5 teachers in my department and I'm not sure we even looked at either of those.

I don't mean to be discouraging, but it legitimately could take you a year or two to find a full time permanent job teaching history. I would find the first maternity sub, the .5 or .8 job that you can get. I'd also connect with teacher friends you graduated with that have found jobs. They might know where ss teachers are retiring, which could help a lot. You sound very realistic and positive with your thoughts, so keep on pressing on, even if it can be discouraging.

Jun 25, 2017

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Brandon Zurvalec Darfaz,

Thank you for your thoughtful response. To answer your two questions:

(1) "Can you coach a sport or an activity?" To put it as simply as I can, I am willing to do WHATEVER IT TAKES to show schools/districts that I am an "all-in" team-player who doesn't even know the meaning of the phrase, "that's not my job." But to get a...See MoreDarfaz,

Thank you for your thoughtful response. To answer your two questions:

(1) "Can you coach a sport or an activity?" To put it as simply as I can, I am willing to do WHATEVER IT TAKES to show schools/districts that I am an "all-in" team-player who doesn't even know the meaning of the phrase, "that's not my job." But to get a little more specific, I've consistently checked between 15 - 20 extracurricular items on every Applitrack application I've completed and honestly believe that my experience directly coincides with at least a few of them (e.g. my work as an attorney would make me a great fit for coaching a debate team and/or reading/writing club; my experience in government would come in handy when overseeing student council/government, etc.). And while I've never actually coached basketball before, I could get up-to-speed with that very quickly, as I played a lot when I was younger and would say, with humility, that I know the game fairly well. But again, my main point, here, is that I am willing to do whatever it takes to give schools/districts and their students the kind of all-around teacher that they would need in me, should they decide to bring me on board.

(2) "Your username has JD at the end. Did you graduate from law school?" I obviously more or less already answered this in my answer to your first question but yeah, I graduated from New York Law School in 2006 and ran my own law firm for about three and a half years before deciding to make a career change (long story short, practicing law just didn't give me the professional fulfillment that I desire and teaching has proven to be a much better choice, in this respect). Needless to say, I'm not exactly thrilled about any policy/practice that punishes job candidates for having "too much education" (especially when, as here, we're talking about applying for jobs IN education) but it is what it is and I'll just have to deal with it. And just so there's no ambiguity on this point, I know this issue stems from our deplorable state budget situation and has nothing to do with people like yourself.

So that's basically what I have in the way of answers to your great questions but if you have any further questions and/or comments for me, I would love to hear them (and I'm going to look into all of your suggestions, by the way, including keeping an eye out for basketball coaching positions). Aside from that, let me just leave you with the link to my online educator portfolio, should you or anyone in your school/district be interested in learning more about my qualifications and background: http://www.zurvalec-teacher-portfolio.com. I know I'm new and that the competition is fierce, but I strongly believe that I have what it takes to do this job with excellence and anybody who ultimately brings me on board won't regret it for a second. Thanks again!

Regards,

Brandon Zurvalec

Jun 26, 2017

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considering a move to Ill

by Sue

Mar 28, 2017

I am an educator and reading specialist and live on the southern MA/ northern RI border. I have taught in both states (RI and Mass). Where I live and work, the pace of life is very fast, there is lots of materialism and snobbery, the value system is sports and money. Frankly, we hate it. We cannot be around this any longer. We are looking to move a...See More

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mrsd Hi, I think it depends on where you live in Illinois. The pay varies widely. As far as living in Illinois, the property taxes are higher the closer you live to Chicago, and they aren't cheap anywhere else. But, housing is much cheaper. I see what my son in NJ paid for his house, and the same house in my area (60 miles west of Chicago) would have co...See MoreHi, I think it depends on where you live in Illinois. The pay varies widely. As far as living in Illinois, the property taxes are higher the closer you live to Chicago, and they aren't cheap anywhere else. But, housing is much cheaper. I see what my son in NJ paid for his house, and the same house in my area (60 miles west of Chicago) would have cost about 1/3 of that! My son and family who live in West Central Illinois have even lower housing costs and taxes. However, the teacher pay is much lower. That being said, the pressures are high, even in my smaller district. Illinois hasn't had a budget passed in over two years, and the state is falling behind in paying the schools. Class sizes are increasing. BUT, I loved my district. There are just under 2000 students in the entire district. They mostly value teachers, depending on the principal and building. Our middle and high schools are both Chromebook one- to-one schools. There is an emphasis on STEM. However, when I sub, I see the stresses and pressures on the teachers in my old school. Many of the younger teachers aren't sure they are going to continue in education. The pressures are worse in the larger districts. If you are looking at smaller districts, be prepared for lower pay and more responsibilities. Good luck with your decision. Karen

On 3/28/17, Sue wrote: > I am an educator and reading specialist and live on > the southern MA/ northern RI border. I have taught in > both states (RI and Mass). Where I live and work, the > pace of life is very fast, there is lots of > materialism and snobbery, the value system is sports > and money. Frankly, we hate it. We cannot be around > this any longer. We are looking to move and Il is > one of the places we are considering. I would love to > hear from educators about your experience teaching in > this state. In my district, everything (including our > evaluations) is linked to test scores and common core > standards. That is probably the case everywhere. > However, I think it is harder to teach in some states > than in others. In your state are the salaries > reasonably competitive (relatively speaking)? How's > the level of respect for teachers? How's the morale? > Any thoughts you have would be greatly appreciated. > thank you!

Apr 15, 2017

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LBS I endorsement - What can I teach

by Stacy

Mar 17, 2017

I have a K-9 teaching certificate with middle school endorsements and LBS I Endorsement. Does LBS I mean I can teach in a BD room? I am currently teaching middle school resource (LD) and am being forced/transferred to a BD classroom with 6 students. I was trying to find a loop whole to try and get out of having to move. I really like the school dis...See More

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ed On 3/18/17, Been there wrote: > On 3/17/17, Stacy wrote: >> I have a K-9 teaching certificate with middle school >> endorsements and LBS I Endorsement. Does LBS I mean I >> can teach in a BD room? I am currently teaching middle >> school resource (LD) and am being forced/transferred to >> a BD classroom with 6 stude...See More

Mar 23, 2017

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Stacy On 3/23/17, ed wrote: > On 3/18/17, Been there wrote: >> On 3/17/17, Stacy wrote: >>> I have a K-9 teaching certificate with middle school >>> endorsements and LBS I Endorsement. Does LBS I mean I >>> can teach in a BD room? I am currently teaching middle >>> school resource (LD) and am being forced/tran...See More

Apr 6, 2017

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LBS1 Endorsement

by Kelly

Jul 21, 2011

Has anyone taken classes through university of phoenix to get the LBS1 endorsement? If so, how many/which classes did you take? Thanks!

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Nita On 7/21/11, mo jo wrote: > On 7/21/11, Kelly wrote: >> Has anyone taken classes through university of phoenix to >> get the LBS1 endorsement? If so, how many/which classes did >> you take? Thanks! > > I haven't, but the ISBE doesn't list UoP as having one of its > accredited programs for LBSI. You might want to call yo...See More

Jun 3, 2016

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Stacy On 6/03/16, Nita wrote: > On 7/21/11, mo jo wrote: >> On 7/21/11, Kelly wrote: >>> Has anyone taken classes through university of phoenix to >>> get the LBS1 endorsement? If so, how many/which classes > did >>> you take? Thanks! >> >> I haven't, but the ISBE doesn't list UoP as having one of > i...See More

Mar 17, 2017

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Jobs

by Ryan

Nov 10, 2016

Where can I go to post my resume and find Special education jobs?

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applying for teaching jobs is a full time job On 11/10/16, Ryan wrote: > Where can I go to post my resume and find Special education > jobs?

In Illinois, school districts typically maintain individual websites with links to their teacher openings and application page. There you will upload a resume and other materials, but also need to complete a very detailed application per d...See More

Nov 17, 2016

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Elementary - Secondary

by Stacy

Oct 26, 2016

I was wondering if anyone has an elementary certificate and was able to add a secondary endorsement onto the certificate. I would like to do High school but not if I have to go back and redo the entire program.

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biology

by saif hamdan

Oct 18, 2016

i need to draw and label a diagram illustrating the process of photosynthesis including products & reactants.

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Teaching Certification

by N

Oct 11, 2016

I have non-teaching bachelor's degree and I am looking to become a teacher. I would like to be certified for elementary education to be a kindergarten/first grade teacher.

Can I just get the certification or do I need to get a masters? If I can where is a good place to just get certified?

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