Teach for America, Part II

Well, I found out today that I wasn't selected for the final round interviews for Teach for America. I'm definitely a little disappointed, since I invested a lot of time and energy in the initial application, preparation for the phone interview, the phone interview itself, and the post-interview activities. But in a sense, I'm glad that I was let go at this stage in the interviews if I was definitely going to be rejected; If I had traveled an hour both ways to Albany for my in-person, day-long final interview and then been rejected I definitely would have been more upset.

I think that what Maureen said as a comment on my last Teach for America post was really great; that it's most likely a blessing in disguise, because I probably have a better-suited-for-me opportunity coming up somewhere down the line. And honestly, I'm excited to see what that is, but I'm so impatient! I'm terrible at not having things squared away or planned out...it just makes me anxious not to know what my next step is going to be!

Luckily, I have an amazing friend named Juliana who grew up and attended high school in L.A. who pointed me toward a lot of private schools to look into, since for many private and independent schools you don't need more than a B.A. to teach. And her mom, who is equally awesome, got me set up with two teacher recruitment services: Cal/West and Carney Sandoe. I've been super impressed with how attentive and responsive Cal/West has been--I've already been contacted for a phone interview after applying just yesterday!--and I'm really excited to see where this path is going to go. Since I am SO highly specialized in American Literature, and am doing an honors thesis on nineteenth century American Lit, I think it could be really exciting to teach that period in high school. Hoping this all works out! And if not, of course I always have publishing and advertising jobs to apply for in the spring...if I can wait that long!

To everyone who wrote such encouraging and kind comments last week on my first Teach for America post, thank you so much! Even though I didn't get accepted, I'd be happy to answer any questions anyone has about the process!