As a professional singer and actor, I have had a total of 33 jobs in 17 years. I have worked at least 3 jobs or more simultaneously in addition to performing over the years. Each week, I will discuss one of my former or current jobs. My thirty-third job was teacher assistant at East River Child Development Center. I held this job while I began writing this series of How to Obtain 33 Jobs in 17 Years and was quiet fired/resigned on September 4th 2024. It was pretty devastating and I am still processing it.
Getting the Job
Once I attended an austism workshop, I learned that I wanted needed more training to work with students with special needs. I began applying for other jobs and got an interview for East River on zoom. When I went in person, I was shown one of the classes that I would end up working with for four months. This class had mostly verbal students and the students acknowledged the other students. I was shocked at this because at Birch, almost all of the students were non verbal and rarely made eye contact or noticed other children in the room.
Experience
I was hired as a part-time floater teacher assistant, but was assigned to the same class for three weeks. I enjoyed being with that class the most because I really like the lead teacher. The teacher assistants in the class were very welcoming and it felt like a team. However, after three weeks, I was moved to the another class. This class was the class that I remembered from my interview.
Promotion with Strings
Then, I was promoted from part-time floater to full-time teacher assistant with a salary. I was so excited because I would be making a salary. But, I was immediately asked about becoming a teacher for the fall. This was not what I had anticipated. I had only been there a month. I applied for certification to teach early childhood, but realized that I wanted to remain a teacher assistant. The director said she understood my decision.
My Second Class
The students in the second class were more verbal, but most of the class was graduating in a few months. I came into the class April 9th and the students were graduating June 20th. Most of the students stayed for the summer program that ended August 9th. Building relationship with autistic students takes long time.
It was an adjustment to be in a new class. Each class had one lead teacher and three teacher assistants. This is a lot of new people to adjust to in any work environment, especially when working with students with special needs. The lead teacher was quiet, but a very strong teacher with the students. I learned so much from her and I think that she is truly called to work with students with special needs.
Issues
The director was always moving the students around to different classes. The students had built relationship with their teacher and then she would move them to another class a few months later. All students need consistency and there was very little of that at this school. When I returned from summer break on September 3rd, I was moved to a new classroom across the street as a para with a new student.
It was the student’s first day of school ever. The teacher assistant and the teacher were frustrated with the new student and me because I was not as aggressive as they were being with the student. I did not want to resort to that just because I was undertrained. There was never any formal training for me at this school.
Quiet Firing/ Resignation
On the second day with the student, I was a bit overwhelmed because the adults in the room were so reactive and I was used to being in a room where the teacher was not a reactive for the past four months. The director pressures me to resign at the end of the day. For about an hour she and I go back and forth about this and finally I give in and resign. This was all she wanted.
She had a goal when she called me in and she got what she wanted. Honestly, I thought that she was such a nice person, but when I really think about it, there were red flags. I just ignored them because I wanted to only see the good. This was devastating and it has taken me awhile to forgive her and the owner. It is still a work in progress. I loved the students and I tried my very best.