Dear We Are Teachers,
I’ll be a first-year teacher (hopefully) this year, but the job hunt is getting a little desperate. I’m not athletic and would be miserable coaching, but ALL the listings in the district I want to work for say that they prefer someone who is willing to coach! Should I suck it up and pick a random sport to say I’ll coach?
—yay, sports
Dear Y.S.,
To me, it sounds like the district just copies and pastes the spiel about coaching onto all listings. I doubt they expect all new hires to coach. So take that into consideration.
BUT. If you want to try committing to coaching in your next interview, you’ll want to keep some things in mind.
1. Don’t commit to (or reject) the coaching opportunity right away.
Let’s say your interviewer says, “Could you coach our girls swim team?” If you’re not feeling it, don’t give an immediate yes or no answer.
2. Be honest about your experience with the sport.
Obviously, don’t lie about your experience. “I don’t have any experience coaching swimming, and I haven’t swam competitively.” But …
3. Indicate your enthusiasm to learn.
If you’re interested in learning, show them! “However, I’m eager to learn as a way to connect with students and fellow coaches.”
4. Ask for further info.
“Is there someone I can connect with to learn more about expectations involved in coaching and what I’d need to learn?” If you don’t want to coach after you speak with someone about it, then you can at least delay your “No, thanks.”
5. Think about what you would be willing to coach or sponsor.
“There are a lot of teams and clubs I’d love to lead. I have a soft spot for debate, and I would LOVE to start a creative writing elective or after-school club.”
Even if they decide they don’t want an inexperienced coach, they may be more eager to find a position for you than someone who says, “Nope, no way, I don’t coach.”
Dear We Are Teachers,
What’s a non-awkward thank-you email I can send after a job interview? All mine sound robotic and formulaic. Plus, I don’t know what to say after “Thank you!”
—beep boop
Dear B.B.,
Love this question! A thank-you email is a great opportunity to reiterate your interest in the position, highlight the positive things you learned about the school during the interview, and ask any remaining questions you have. Finally, it’s a good opportunity to seal your interview process with one last piece of positive communication.
Here’s a template you could use:
Dear [name of interviewer],
Thank you again for having me in to interview for [position] on [date]. I truly enjoyed our conversation and am excited about the possibility of joining your team at [school].
I was so impressed by [something positive about the school—specific programs, student opportunities, teaching philosophy, etc.] and am eager to contribute to [specific initiative or goal of the school]. Something I may not have mentioned in the interview is [additional fact about why you’re a good fit].
Please let me know if there is any additional information I can provide to assist in your decision-making process. I look forward to the possibility of working together and contributing to the success of students at [school name].
Thanks again,
If it still feels a little robotic to you, you can definitely interject some personality or references specific to you and your interview. (“Hope you’re all doing well and have power after Hurricane Beryl.”) (“By the way, here’s the link to the lanyard I was wearing that Ms. Adams said she wanted info about!”).
Dear We Are Teachers,
Can we talk pencils? I’ll be teaching 5th grade math in the fall (my first year!) and have seen so many different “pencil management” approaches on TikTok. Some say to get golf pencils. Some say buy a certain unique design or put special tape around each pencil so everyone knows it belongs in your class. Some say to buy cheap in bulk; some say to buy Ticonderoga in bulk! What are your thoughts?
—pondering pencils
Dear P.P.,
First, thank you for being willing to provide pencils in your class. While I 100% understand and sympathize with teachers wanting to protect their own money, I also feel VERY strongly that they need to protect their time, energy, and stress more in this low-stakes case.
Firstly, I’ll give you my thoughts on each of these ideas.
Golf pencils. In the event that your 5th graders aren’t doing a ton of writing, I think this solution works. I’m not sure how well they hold up to a sharpener, though.
Buying a certain unique design. I like this solution (how fun would it be to be the “fruit pencil teacher“?), but be aware that cheaper pencils are known to tear up sharpeners. Washi tape is a good solution, but I found it annoying to keep up with, and my students treated removing the tape as a de facto fidget toy.
Buying Ticonderoga in bulk. This is my recommendation, as long as you’ve exhausted efforts for someone else (school, people who want to help out, your random rich aunt) to buy them for you. I love this idea for printing on pencils—it’s super easy, and you likely already have the supplies!
Also, I just found these pastel-colored Ticonderogas, so maybe you could make a poster for your room that says, “Found an Easter egg Ticonderoga? These belong to Mrs. Noga!”
Sorry if your last name isn’t Noga. In that case, you’re on your own.
Do you have a burning question? Email us at [email protected].
Dear We Are Teachers,
I’m going into my fourth year of teaching this fall. As the second half of summer approaches, a new thing has started happening when I think about school starting: anxiety attacks. I get so overwhelmed and stressed during the school year that just the thought of that starting up again is enough to send me spiraling. I still have half the summer left! What can I do to get these to stop?
—a hot mess