Workin' Girl

During the month of March all people who submitted applications to the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA), but have not yet filled a position, receive an email asking them to update and resubmit their application by early April. If you fail to meet this deadline your application would be thrown out. Clearly I resubmitted. (Thank you Donna, Lisa, Jake, and Peggy for being my references!) The biggest difference made to the application was a switch listing myself as a local hire as opposed to an over-seas hire. Local hires don’t receive near as many benefits as their counterparts, but they are more likely to be employed. Two days after I made that switch I received a phone call from the principal at Ikego (one of the Navy housing areas attached to Yokosuka). He was looking for an art teacher and I was a perfect fit. Another two days later was the interview and then the paperwork process began.

Yesterday I reported for my first day. It was a teacher conference day so I had a chance to touch base with the teacher I was taking over for and meet some of the other teachers. I looked through the materials closet and over the plans for the week to come. I start with the kids on Monday.

Visit the school web page at http://www.ikego-es.pac.dodea.edu/ You can even see the classroom where I’ll be working with the kids.