March- My Goal Progress

First of all I must apologize, I never fully recapped my February of happiness.  So I'll leave you with this there were only 7 or 9 days that I didn't do anything outside of work or hanging alone that I didn't do anything the entire month.  Some days I did two or three things.  I found myself quite happy at the end of the month- and am still writing down what makes me happy every single day. 

This brings us back to my March goal of preparing for Job Search 2011.  Today I decided I had to stop postponing things and requested letters of reference from a ton of people I work with.  I'm still at a loss as to what to do about my cover letter and resume.  I need a basic body for my cover letter that can be tweaked if there are any major differences in my job.  But how do I show how AWESOME I am at teaching in a short letter or on a one page resume?  Is it possible?  I know I'm good, great even.  I LOVE teaching, it's important to me, and I cannot wait to find myself in front of my own classroom again getting kids to learn and maybe even like literature- from the classics to new inspiring young adult lit. 

It's been hard to be inspired about teaching as I keep hearing acquaintances, some friends, and the media talk about teachers in a somewhat negative way.  There are perks to being a teacher too- but there is a lot of things that we do that no one ever recognizes.  The extra hours before and after school, the original worksheets and assignments that we create specifically for classes, the hours and hours of grading on the weekends, the money we spend so that our students have pens, pencils, and paper.  The general public doesn't know that even when I'm sitting on my couch watching The Office, I'm also googling lesson ideas, printing out worksheets, researching teaching methods and more.  At my current job I get spit on, cussed at, and am at risk of injury daily.  In fact one of my coworkers recently got a concussion.  This isn't to complain- I like my job a lot, it's to point out that we go through a lot more than people realize, and I think deserve to be treated with a bit more respect because we are well educated professionals, just like private sector employees. 

Anyone with any ideas on how to translate my passion into words and put it into a cover letter please let me know.  Even as an English teacher I sometimes struggle with finding the right words to get my point across. 

Are you searching for a job too?  Any tips or tricks?

Mini Review: The Plank Road Tavern

Last Thursday my coworkers and I ventured to The Plank Road Tavern in Lakewood.  It's located at the corner of Lauderdale and Detroit in the old Panini's.  I was of course, starving when I got there and decided to order the friend pickles and onion rings.  They were DELICIOUS.  I also had a hard cider.  I don't remember if there were any drink deals or what have you so I will have to go back to do a full review.  I will say the interior has been changed drastically and it looks great.  I'm excited to revisit sometime in the future.

The Weekend of the Groupon

I suppose the title of this post is a bit misleading because really it was a weekend filled with Groupons AND  Living Social deals! 

First on Friday I attended the Lake Erie Monster's game down at The Q.  My date had stolen my idea and bought a Living Social deal to get two $28.75 tickets for $12 each!  That's a savings of $33.50!!  Then, on Sunday we went to see The Adjustment Bureau at Crocker Park using a Groupon where I got 2 Fandango tickets for $9.  This ended up saving me $9.50!! And after the movie we went to TGIFriday's where I used another Groupon that had cost me $10 for a $20 certificate thus saving me $10.  Total savings for the weekend: $53 dollars between the two of us!  I saved just under $20 on my own.

I'm signing up for every deal website I can find, and I'm trying to be careful to only buy deals that I know I will use and are in line with my lifestyle already.  Here are some links to local deal sites for Cleveland.


Living Social- Cleveland

Groupon- Cleveland

Less.com- Cleveland

Daily Deal Cleveland



What are some of the best deals you've found?

March- A New Month, A New Goal

I will do a final recap of my February goal soon, but today is the first day of March so I feel the need to get a new goal down in writing. 

While at work today I thought about this a lot... what do I need to change in my life.  I came up with several thing I think I could work on, but I think some are more pressing than others.  So here is my goal for March:

Prepare for Job Search 2011

Unfortunately this has to be a more serious goal than perhaps my last two have been.  Yet the reality is my job is in jeopardy for next year, and right around now is when job postings start popping up for area school districts, and I have to be ready.  I'm tired of searching for a new job every spring.  I graduated college five years ago, and this certainly isn't where I thought I'd be career wise.  So this time I'm coming out "guns blazing."  I'm starting from scratch. 

Instead of just updating my resume I'm redoing it now.  After last year and this year's positions I have a lot more real world experience to highlight.  I'm rewriting my cover letter from scratch. (Does anyone else find cover letters super awkward?)  I'm creating a website that highlights my experiences and skills as a teacher- an online portfolio if you will. 

I know that I am good at what I do.  Now I just have to convince everyone else of this.  If any of you have creative ideas to make me stand out from the crowd please let me know.  Any tips, tricks, and suggestions are very very welcome!

Do you have your dream job?  If so how did you find it?