The workload is a lot lighter than when I taught in the US. However, in the US I was paid for running an afterschool program, at my IS it is expected and I am not paid for it. In the US, I had 50 mins. of prep time, a day, to myself. At my current IS, I have about 1.5 hours on average. During this time, I am able to mark all papers, plan, etc. In the US, it was not possible b/c at least 1 day a week was taken up by meetings and PD. However, I hear other teachers complain and say our school's workload is heavy and there is too much paperwork and non teaching related tasks. It's all relative, as another person said it just depends on what you consider work and what your previous school was like.

I was in your spot last year, but without IS experience. By this time I had probably sent out 50-60 resume's. I didn't receive my first interview request until the week before Christmas. Then, after Christmas they came pouring in. I accepted my current position during the last week of January. It is very early. And those who are having interviews are high needs and/or with lots of IS experience. Be patient. There's lots of the time. The hiring season has barely begun. Plus, the teachers at my school just received their contracts this year. Good luck!

I wasn't going to comment on this. But, I'm shocked that you would allow innocent students to possibly be effected because of a a personal vendetta you have against a school and accrediting agency.

This statement "Having said that, my focus is WASC and not the students or the school or the students but if in the course of showing up WASC to be either corrupt or incompetent or both, should a few students get some reflected shit on them, I would have to say blame the school, not me." says a lot about YOU.

Are you really an educator? I have to agree with Michelle. If your attitude is any indication of the way you behaved at your school, I'm not surprised you were let go and with no warning, evaluations, or due process. The school probably didn't want to confront you for fear that you would go off on them. And, while I feel empathy for you and definitely think you should pursue any lost wages owing to you, I think you would better off expending your energies and passions into something else, such as a new job. Every wrong done to you does not require revenge, vindication, and retribution. The energies and vibes you put out in the world are the ones you will receive back. Good luck to you.

The school where I accepted a contract in Shanghai stated the salary and told me the approximate tax amount that would be taken out of that salary. They said they would be paying the taxes for me.

I have 2 sets of "snowbirds" in my family. They live up north- New Jersey and Connecticut in the summer (around May to September) and come down south for the winter (October to May). They both leave their houses. They have neighbors who check on their houses every 2 weeks. They have the mail transferred to them. They also have a list of repairmen (heating/air/plumbing,etc. ) that they have established good relationships with. That way if anything happens, they can have it fixed immediately and pay the bill later. You might want to have a list b/c it would be aggravating to try to find someone to do repair work when you are in another country. They also have a contract with a lawn service to keep the yard maintained as much as possible during the winter. Depending on where you live, you can let the PD department know you will be away. In my city, if you are going to be away for an extended time or for vacation, they will cruise by your house periodically. At least they say they will, I've called before but I don't know if they actually did or not.

If you are coming back in Dec., then this should definitely be fine. People do it all the time. Good luck!

Maybe you all are fairly high on the pay scale?? Just a thought. This is my first foray into international teaching and I found a job straight away in mid January. I had a couple of Skype interviews in Dec. and accepted an offer in Jan. It's not Tier 1 but a solid Tier 2. And, I'm elementary and a single parent. I'm sure I was fairly inexpensive, although I do have a masters and 9 yrs. experience.

I sent out many of these and received responses back that ranged from- we have no openings at this time, we'll add you to our pool of applicants, we would like to set up an interview with you, and no response at all. This was my first time applying for an international position. I signed up with ISS but sent out cover letters and resumes, completed applications on schools, and clicked the interested button on ISS. I accepted a job from a school to whom I randomly sent out a cover letter and resume.

Congratulations!!

Dawson,
Interesting link. But, again this is exactly what I'm talking about in regards to public education in the US. States can't be compared because the numbers don't tell the whole story. In SC, in my district, EVERY student is required to take the SAT' whether they plan to go to college or not. Even, the students who are going to the military or technical college. The only students who don't take it are special ed students (those receiving a certificate and not a diploma). Other states only allow those going to college to take the test. Check out the link about those great midwest schools.

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/ ... blogs&_r=1

Look at this link for the ACT. Notice the discrepancy in the # of students who take it. At the bottom of the chart, it notes that some states require all students to take it.

http://www.act.org/newsroom/data/2012/states.html

There's no consistency in state testing either. In my state, the students only have 1 chance to pass. In Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina, the students have multiple chances to pass. If they fail, they can be remediated before the school year ends and some of these states allow up to 3 additional chances for the students to pass the end of the year tests

Again, there are great schools all around the US! The numbers don't always tell the true story.

Dawson,
I don't teach in Texas. I teach in Columbia, South Carolina. A large percentage of a school district's budget, in our state, comes from local taxes. Because of the large amount of rural areas, the school districts in these areas are inadequately funded. The districts sued the state but lost a couple of years ago.

Many people have the perception that schools in the South have the worst schools. I don't know. I can only speak about my district- Richland County School District #2. However, it is well known and written about that SC had some of the highest education standards in the US. We also had a high cut off for what we considered passing in our state, on our state tests. Many states have/had watered down standards and low cut offs on state testing. Making it appear that our schools were the worst. Not a fair comparison. We could have lowered the standards and cut offs, but we didn't. However, we have adopted Common Core so we'll see how it pans out. I know you don't mean any disrespect but to state that " Southern states are the worst nationally" is a little rude. Just saying :) Here are some links that prove my points. The last link shows SC in comparison to some of those great midwest states. And, that's all I'm saying on this subject. Because I only posted to say there are still some GREAT schools in the US and some them are in the south! Shocking, but it's the the truth!

http://educationnext.org/few-states-set ... standards/
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2009/1030/p02s07-usgn.html
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/ ... W-QC13-EWH

I wasn't going to comment. However, I thought I would speak up for public education in the US. I am completing my 16th year in public ed in the south, in a non union state. Reading the list of problems you have noted, I have to say I haven't experienced any of these. While I don't doubt your experiences, I would say the problems you listed are more related to how particular states and their communities view public education. My state definitely has problems in how we fund education, but for the most part our state respects teachers and my community does as well.

As a state, I think the majority of people recognize the issues that students bring to school and the failure of our state to fund each district equitably. We don't have merit based pay and that is not in the works. It has been mentioned a couple of times but there is no support for it.

We still have community schools in my district and the parents are very supportive. Out of the 60 students I teach, I have 2 with severe LD's and they have IEPs that are definitely needed. And as to the grades and grade changing, I have actually never heard of this until I started using this site. I'm not naive enough to think that it doesn't happen, but I've just never heard of it. It really surprises me!

I think we can all agree that public education in the US is operating on a broken system. But, I just don't think it's as bad it sounds in your post. There are a lot of wonderful schools in the US, where teachers and students are still teaching and learning!

Not sure where you are from but how about a t-shirt and jeans with the name of the place. I'm from the South and if you are too- what about t-shirt, khaki skirt/pants, flip-flops and pearl necklace if you are a woman. This is classic South Carolina wear- lol!! If you said more about where you are from it might help with suggestions.

Well f you are a signed up with ISS, the Boston Fair is next week. Can you go? I just accepted an offer 2 weeks ago and received another interview request after that so there are still jobs out there.

Why can't you remain at your job if you don't find a position? Not sure if I understand the reason.

This happened to me 2 weeks ago. I accepted a position on a Friday. I checked my email Sunday evening and had received a request for an immediate Skype interview at a school I really would have preferred. Initially, I thought about interviewing just to hear what would be said. Then, I thought about what if I was offered the job. What lie could I come up with to get out of the 1st job?

After a day or 2 of thinking about it, I realized there's always going to be something better. If I wasn't happy with the 1st offer, then I shouldn't have taken it. I emailed the school back and let them know I had already accepted a position but would keep them in mind in 2 years if I was looking again. They were very kind and wished me luck. Once you've accepted a position, you can't look back or do the "what if's?".

Thanks everyone for your replies. You have been really helpful!! This will be my 1st international job, so I'm just trying to figure out what is normal. Thanks again.