Before any of your readers decide to quit their jobs and jump over to the teaching profession (“Not by the Book,” Aug. 8), you better do a follow-up on what not to do while trying to obtain a teaching position. After I went back to school and attended National-Louis University, I received a Master of Arts in Teaching degree in 2001. I have yet to be hired as a full-time elementary-grade teacher in the western suburbs.
I have spent countless hours, days and now years jumping through all of the hoops set up by local districts: filling out online questionnaires, taking phone tests and tape-recorded tests and blood tests, copying and sending 15 documents with resumes to schools and districts, standing in long lines at career fairs, and the list goes on. I have over 10 years of volunteer work in the primary grades, long-term substitute and regular sub experience.
Bottom line? No one will hire me. The principals are telling me they can’t hire a starting teacher with a master’s degree because of their budget restrictions. I told them I would gladly take the substitute’s pay at $80 per day, but the teacher’s union may have a problem with that.
T. HOLLIS / Naperville
I READ YOUR ARTICLE with great enthusiasm, as my story of leaving the corporate world after 30 years to become a teacher has much in common with Marlo McManus’. My path was through the National-Louis 18-month Master of Arts in Teaching Degree program, [and] I am starting my second year in a Chicago high school. I have had extraordinary support, feedback and help from colleagues and parents. But the greatest joy has been the students. They are the reason to work hard and connect, and I know, as do the teachers you highlighted, that I am in the right place.
KATE SCHWARTZ / Chicago
Pedal power
Thank you for a very timely article on the practicality of riding a bicycle (“The 10-speed time machine,” Aug. 1). With crude-oil prices at new highs and CTA service cutbacks, I hope Michael Austin’s article helps to inspire people to look at alternative modes of transportation.
CARL KETTLER / Evanston
An ‘A’ for Evanston
The letter to the editor stating that Evanston has become the “City of Hideous Balconies” (In-box, Aug. 8) is really stretching to find something to rail about. I have observed numerous protests and complaints about change in any area of the city. Many of those who complained about the proposed movie complex were spotted among the first in line to buy tickets. The same people can be observed frequently in the theater restaurant or lounge.
The gripe about Evanston in comparison to Madison, Wis.; Ann Arbor, Mich., and others is poorly chosen. Evanston has a beautiful lakefront, and there is nothing magic about those other college towns. The cutesy, independent shops have just as much trouble staying in business in Ann Arbor, Madison or any-where else when they compete with “big box” retailers.
Evanston has been improving in the 27 years that my family has been here. It isn’t perfect, but rates an A grade for quality of life.
STAN WEISS / Evanston
LAST I CHECKED, the primary function of a movie theater was to show motion pictures; those that can do it with style are the best. Of course, we lowbrows down here in Chicago do not have the mental capacity to realize just how ugly Evanston’s Century Theaters complex is, but I doubt that will keep us from traveling up there to enjoy perhaps the finest cinematic experience in the metropolitan area.
I strongly urge the citizens of Evanston to renew their letter-writing campaign to get rid of their theater and have it airlifted down here instead. I would gladly accept it in place of the McDonald’s at the end of my block.
GABE GINEX / Chicago
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