Why Teach Abroad?

 

Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

We all know that being a teacher has its own (mostly non-monetized) rewards—knowing that what you say and do matters (even if the kiddos are mimicking you), that what lessons you teach today will impact tomorrow (your retirement is in their hands), and that each day had purpose no matter how challenging it was (that dumpster fire drama might be turned into a sitcom someday). But did you know that choosing to teach internationally, away from your own home and comfort zone (you don’t actually need a Starbucks on every corner and a Walmart in every town to survive) has its own benefits? First, it allows you to fully embrace a world perspective as you discover the world as experienced by others who may have a drastically different way of relating to the world that you never knew existed; like did you know that some countries insist on an hour, or even two, for lunch? For real. Living and working abroad is far more immersive than a quick jaunt to a beach resort located in a distant land as it enables you to see the authentic parts of living in that place. Having taught both internationally and in my own home state of California has made me appreciate the unexpected benefits of working abroad such as actually being able to make friends with people who want to connect with others (others who also sacrificed home ties in order to connect with strangers). 

South African Rand

Abroad, there is a work-life balance that comes from the desire to want to explore a new place being prioritized over work deadlines; how many times have I spent my three day weekends in the USA working on report cards rather than being mindful of the reason behind the holiday?  Working at schools that actually want to maintain their relevancy by investing in professional development opportunities for their  teachers upgrades the quality of colleagues you will work with there in turn encouraging you to be better as well. Most significantly, teaching internationally actually earns you enough money to pay your bills, travel every vacation, and even save for the future. Teaching abroad - where you get paid to do what you love most - travel and learn. So what are you waiting for? Go abroad!

Level Up Your Digital IQ

Texas Sub

One thing that the Covid pandemic made clear to everyone was the necessity to have digital skills. If you happened to be teaching during those lockdown days, then you already know many valuable skills that now translate beautifully to the modern marketplace. Should you happen to be a newbie teacher, then you are most likely the generation that was practically handed tech from birth so you are adept at all things digital. However, should you somehow be entering education from some remote location, such as retirement, (like my father who started subbing in Texas at 73 years young), then it would behoove you to gain some digital skills since even attendance requires a computer these days.

"Tell me you're 'tech savvy' without saying you're 'tech savvy'" on a resume. It is wild how often this is queried on the internet. One of the universally recognized ways to demonstrate to others that you have the technical skills to not only survive, but to thrive, in today's classrooms is to attach the words "Certified Google Educator" to your resume/CV. In order to become certified, you can easily go to the Google Education website to take the training lessons, practice questions, practice assessment, and finally the Level 1 exam for only $10.

I first became Google Certified in 2017 with several colleagues eager to become more tech savvy in the classroom. That time around, we performed each of the training sessions diligently creating actual assignments and products to use in the classroom. Now seven years later and because I use Google apps daily both professionally and personally, it took me about an hour to skim through the training lessons and less than an hour to complete the exam. 

Not a bad way to spend some of your winter break in the pursuit of your career goals, I would say. Tomorrow's adventure will then be to update my Level 2 certification so that I can finally apply for the jobs requiring Google Certification according to the Job Description. If you still aren't convinced that leveling up your digital IQ will help you land your future international teaching job, consider this information stated directly on the Google for Education website:

Integrating technology in your classroom better prepares students to enter an increasingly connected and competitive workforce. Studies show that students need digital skills to succeed in new career fields. Lightcast, an industry expert on job skills, workforce talent, and labor market dynamics, estimates that “80% of ‘middle-skill’ U.S. jobs now require digital skills.” Meanwhile, the World Economic Forum estimates that "up to 50% of workers will need to add new [digital] skills to keep up with the requirements of in-demand careers” and that 65% of today’s grade school students will be working in a job that currently doesn’t exist.

The Vault - My International School Profile Tracker

When trying to locate your dream job abroad, a lot of research is required to decide which school to apply for, what to discuss during interviews, and what to consider when being offered jobs.

Use the Google Form, I lovingly call "The Vault," to quickly evaluate a school's profile and website and enter the data that you are most interested in evaluating. The form will create a spreadsheet under the "Responses" tab that can then be organized according to your priorities; an example of my top 8 priorities out of the over 50 data points represented on "The Vault" is located below.

When Applying - This spreadsheet helps you keep track of the valuable contact information, due dates, and vacancies available, especially if you don't have time to apply to that school immediately.

When Interviewing - This spreadsheet helps keeps track of vital information so you don't confuse one school's curriculum program for another, or address the principal by the wrong name. Keeping "The Vault" handy during interviews also allows me to look up specific questions I wanted to ask during the interview that came up during my research. All because of the tricky time zone issues, I recently had three interviews in one day starting at 5:30am, another one at midday, and the last one occurred well past my bedtime at 10:30pm. Throughout them all, I had "The Vault" open in a separate tab that ensured that I didn't scramble my questions as much as my brain felt by the end of the night.

When Considering Offers - When trying to choose which offer to accept, you can rearrange the columns - placing the priorities first - giving you a more relevant snapshot of what your options are. You can even rank the offers based on values such as savings potentials, location, or package offerings to help make a more informed choice.

After downloading "The Vault," keep these things in mind:

1. There is no need to fill out all of the categories/questions when evaluating each school, but I have included an expansive list of helpful things to consider because my needs have changed over time and each person will have unique needs as well. 
2. In addition, you could enter the data you are finding directly onto the spreadsheet rather than using the Google form, but I find using the drop downs provide more consistency in my data recording. I often go back to fill in the spreadsheet more thoroughly once I start researching and interviewing with a school and discover more information.

Download your copy of the "The Vault - My International School Profile Tracker" now.

Your Personal Timekeepers

Dad Joke: Why do time zones never get invited to parties?

Answer: Because they always “zone out” and arrive at the wrong time!

Well, unless you come up with an effective strategy for handling all your interviews with international schools located in different time zones, you too will arrive at the wrong time. Once the schools you applied to start wanting to schedule interviews with you, it will become increasingly difficult to keep those interviews organized within your regular daily schedule, but here are a few helpful tools that are guaranteed to make you more successful.

The first is a website known as the World Time Buddy that also has widgets and apps for you to utilize. I have been using this website for years and absolutely love the slider tool that helps you look at several times zones at a time to discover the best interview time for everyone involved. This is particularly handy when, for example I was interviewing with someone attending a job fair in Thailand while I was living in California, USA, but the rest of the interview panel was in their home country in Hong Kong. I have downloaded this app for my iPhone and have embedded it as a widget on my websites and blogs before, but I still prefer the original version on the website as there seems to be more functionality that way.

The second is Google Calendar. Did you know that you can easily customize your Google Calendar by doing a few easy steps? If you go into your Google Calendar App at calendar.google.com, click on the Settings Menu "Cog" at the top right corner, and then click on Settings from the drop down, you will now be able to add a second Time Zone to your Google Calendar, label it with the name of the country or school, and now see the times displayed running along the left side of your weekly calendar view. This makes choosing interview times easier to match. This little feature helped me avoid making the mistake of agreeing to meet with an interviewer at 3am my time, but 1pm her time. Instead, I was able to choose more reasonable times (such as 8am for her and 10pm for me) that wouldn't require me to wake up in the middle of the night to interview.

That's not all Google Calendar can do. On that same settings page, there is a section called World Clock that enables you to several different World Clocks to the left side view of your Google Calendar in weekly view. If you, like me, have several interviews scheduled that week from various time zones, this function keeps you from getting them confused. 

Lastly, the "Clock" app on the iPhone has a few helpful tools embedded within in to assist you. As soon as you know where the school is that you have an interview with, I would go to your "Clock" app and click the "World Clock" icon at the bottom. From there, all you have to do is click the + sign at the top right corner to add a new location to your app. The benefit of doing this means that now you will know exactly what time it is in the country you are thinking of moving to compared to your current time, which knowledge will also help you plan interview times and to double check that you aren't running late for an interview if the interviewers only mention their times and not yours in correspondences and Google Invites.

The second feature inside of your iPhone is the good old "Alarm." This may seem like a simple tip, but never underestimate the power of setting up alarms to remind you to get to your interview location regardless of whether or not it is in-person or via an online connection using Zoom, Meet, or Teams. Double check that you have indicated which days for the alarm to go off. You wouldn't want your alarm to wake you up on Friday at 4am for an interview you were meant to have on Monday at 4am, but that you missed because the time was set wrong; this may have happened to a friend of a friend of mine, or me...so just be sure the days are marked correctly and you actually set the alarm by moving the switch to the right.

Such simple, yet effective tools. Mind blown, right? Wishing you all the best getting to your interviews on time, no matter where they or you are located!

Online Interviewing Isn't Getting Easier

You would think that after 15 years experience of online interviewing, I would be a wiz at it. My constant declaration that I am tech savvy is starting lose its reliability as I struggle to connect with potential employers over the internet. So allow me to share all of my missteps with you in the hope that you may avoid making the same mistakes I have made. At the bottom of this post, I have even written out a handy-dandy checklist to run through the next time I attempt an online interview that you are free to use.

My first rookie mistake was my assuming that the internet connection I had was strong enough to enable online video interviews. Though the speed was adequate enough to handle my surfing the internet and streaming all of my favorite Netflix shows right up until the interview, it didn't have the connection power to sustain what I was trying to accomplish using Google Meet. Even though we both tried turning off our cameras and closing tabs on our devices, the flow of the interview was having too many interruptions which led us to reschedule. You would have thought that my past experience being interviewed with a slow connection where the interviewer’s face was frozen in disappointment for ten minutes after one of my question responses would have taught me never to use a slow connection again - nope, lesson still unlearned! 😱

During my second attempt to connect, I tried to rectify the connectivity issue by having a back-up device ready (my MacBook) while using my iPhone as the default device. My thinking was that should the wifi fail, I still had the 5G cellular data plan to keep me connected to my interview. 

At first my two device plan was working until I realized that the headphones I was using with my iPhone weren't connecting properly so that I couldn't hear any sound coming from the interviewer. After unplugging them and going to the speaker option, I still couldn't hear her. And yes, I even left the meeting and rejoined several times on both devices to see if that would help, but to no avail. By checking the Meet sound  icon on the top right of my phone, I could see how my sound had several options to connect - my iPhone, my MacBook, and my headphones, but no matter which option I chose, all hope of hearing the interviewer vanished. I truly began to feel like I was in an old Verizon commercial repeatedly stating, "Can you hear me now?" which is only funny in hindsight.

As the flexible educators we are, we tried continuing the interview using the Chat function on Meet, but it seemed writing our questions and answers was taking too long to make the process worthwhile for either of us given the time constraints the interviewer had. Even after disconnecting the interview, I still couldn't locate where issue lie even when enlisting my family to connect to the Meet link with me.

So with the third interviewing looming, my plan for successful connection hinges on my ability to follow this checklist and keep my fingers crossed that a new issue doesn't arise.

Online Interview Checklist for Google Meet:

• 🎧 Where is my sound? - Check where the sound is connecting (headphones, Macbook, Projector, iPhone).

• 📸 Lighting - is my face even identifiable in my video camera, or is that my shadow?

•  🐈 Backgrounds - ideally I would like my background blurred, but that requires stronger internet connections so instead I will keep my back facing a plain wall without clutter, or cats.

• 💻 Internet Strength - Are any of Starlink's satellites being obstructed?

• 📱Cellular Strength - How many bars do I get here?

• 🪫 Battery Power - Are all of my devices fully charged, or connected to power?

• 🧻 Interview Notes - Do I have my CV, Philosophy of Education, and Interview Questions handy?

Headshot Debacle - Bobble Head vs. Winged Warrior

While updating my professional profiles in order to have
greater success getting the job of my dreams, I decided to try out the awesome new AI functions my favorite app, Photo Director, offers. The results were far from what I had hoped to receive.  

First of all, never ever, even in my wildest dreams, had I expected to see a version of myself represented as Bobble Head, but now I cannot unsee what that version of me looks like.  It has taken me decades to get over the fact that my nose is pretty enormous, but this new me as Ms. Bobblehead has given me a greater appreciation for my rather large nose.  

The surprise didn't stop there.  No, no, no...instead my next batch of AI produced style shots revealed my inner Winged Warrior, but in tweed for all the world to see.  Who knew that my style closely resembled that of winged upholstery?  

However, now that I have witnessed all the ways my wings can be represented, I feel that my next steps are to write my own fictional fantasy story, much like my favorite Maas characters in the Court of Thorns and Roses series, but to make sure that I feature in it as the newest heroine who also fancies tweed.

I am curious to know, who actually wears pinecones on their suit jackets; could this be the upcoming Christmas trend this year?  If so, it looks like my holiday card picture is sorted.

Those of you more familiar with using AI tools, might be thinking that the problem lies with the photo I submitted to the app, and you would be correct, at least partially.  Although it is true that the original photo had me posing in front of a very sparkly gemstone display in an attempt to appear more angelic during my recent birthday vacay trip. 

Even though I had used a background removal tool to get rid of the unnecessary appendages, but apparently my Photo Director AI recognized the other AI tool and utilized the original photo to create these lovely winged versions of myself.         

Yet, as my goal for this project was focused on helping me beef up my professional profiles on such platforms as LinkedIn and my candidate applications on international job agencies, the pinecones, the wings, and the overlarge head just won't do. 

I would love to see which version of myself you think will be most effective in securing me the most professional job suited to my unique talents - which unfortunately have more to do with educating others, though keeping them entertained is a large part of that in this highly distractable world.  Therefore, please take the
Ms. Bobble Head vs. Ms. Winged Warrior Poll.