Frustration

My fellow classmates and I have been feeling what one may call frustration in regards to finding a teaching job. Out of the twenty five of us, all Social Studies certification grads finishing student teaching in the spring, only one has found a teaching job. They laughed at us in our last class meeting, saying that we'll all be waiting tables and tending bar. What is not funny is the time, effort, and funds we have put into our job searches. Each application, each district, each school, each government check, each resume, cover letter, recommendation, each visit to a school, each phone call following up, all of this seems to go unnoticed. We were told there was a "shortage" of teachers. Ha! Now there is not only a surplus, there is also a lesser rate of retirement, increasing the frustration of new teachers, each of us trying to get into a school and hit the ground running. We have so much passion for our subjects and students! We are new, green, fresh, excited to create lesson plans, grade papers, and sit through professional development. We have taken on roles in schools as coaches, study hall attendants, and substitutes, hoping that this will tilt the balance toward us as potential full time faculty. But the paperwork is starting to get to us. Instead of complaining about teachers who only want to do the least amount of work to not lose their jobs, try hiring some of us "newbies" and see what we can do. We're ready and waiting. So as I work as a restaurant manager by day, soccer coach by afternoon, and full time application completer and blogger by night, I hope that you may think some of our frustration is at least comical. Because if we can't find some humor in our everyday, we'll be searching for it forever.