teacher

special education teacher

substitute teacher

elementary school teacher

english teacher

Chicago Public Schools

A typical day at work is highlighted by engaging parents, teachers and students through dialogue in the process of equal access to a quality education. What's most exciting is the celebrity status I have at my site; everyone knows and call out to say hello. Some students even reach out for a hug. I have learned that the life of a teacher and an administrator varies immensely even though the intended outcomes are the same, "educate the children." As a classroom teacher I managed, engaged and interacted with a  small community of learners every year.  First, we became a family, then we spent an entire year sharing and caring about each other, then we said your sad goodbyes. Subsequently, the year begins again and another group completes the cycle year after year. Hellos and Goodbyes"

As an administrator, I serve a more expansive community, the demand for personalized attention becomes greater, while increasing the pace of the school environment. My responsibility is now all classrooms, all students, all parents and the entire community--those external partners as well, how do I engage them all, "how do I get buy in," even from Walmart, and Jewel etc?

The need to build trusting relationships among all stakeholders; students, teachers, parents, LSC, BAC, PACs, and board personnel become extremely important factors in achieving success.  Moreover, the key constituents-- parents and teachers require different levels of coaching, coupled with persuasion. Some parents need guidance and information on how to educate and discipline their children. Meanwhile, teachers must be supervised, monitored and introduced to the new motivational instructional strategies, which sometimes require modeling.  Based on observations I have learned that teachers greatest trial is how to  "differentiate"  their classrooms, so that all children could have equal access to the core curriculum." 

The hardest part of the job is observing some families' lifestyle and how this influences and impacts the children's lives.  The task at hand embodies efficacy, changing their mindsets. The most difficult challenge is having teachers embrace the Common Core Standards and understand how their roles have now evolved into facilitators. In other words moving away from "teacher run" to students' centered classrooms.

The most enjoyable part of my job is observing children in an authentic learning setting, where ideas are being exchanged and their voices and opinions are the loudest in the classroom.  In this learning environment, the stage is dominated by children teaching children (peer tutoring) while teachers cheer and encourage them.

This typical classroom's noise echoes students' excitement about learning, while exploring in the process. In this classroom, they feel safe to make mistakes, when they blunder along the cognitive road, they show courage to become engaged again without hesitation and embarrassment. The excitement children show when they have accomplished a learning task and/or mastered a skill is the best and greatest joy for me as an administrator. 

Cheers!

I loved the students and staff at Nixon.  Most of the kiddos come from families who put emphasis on supporting their peers and community and respecting adults. It was refreshing working in an environment where the kids seemed to get along together more than your average school. I rarely saw bullying.  The little ones especially, had so much empathy.  Of course there was some general disrespect from the older students but it was always pretty minor (silly mostly) and rectified by talking things through. Students responded to organized structure and positive reinforcement. They wanted to learn and liked being busy. I loved how helpful my students were, always willing to lend a hand.  Almost all of the staff were just really good people too, some creative quirky personalities, but just more to love! Only a few  disgruntled teachers. It felt more like a family. Even custodial and cafeteria staff were supportive. The security did more than their share of supporting students and families. The teachers form very close relationships with their students and were always there to offer advice. The support staff and therapists were great, I could see they truly cared for their students and knew each child's individual learning preferences. Kids with emotional needs were given support and taken care of, more solutions, less punitive responses from authority figures.  The hardest part of the job were the long hours with back to back classes. A few teachers took advantage of the leadership, calling off too much, gossiping, etc.  It's a huge school, with a very large staff, so there were a few little cliques with negative energy.  They never knew how good they had it.  I found both principals I worked with to be fair and totally reasonable in their expectations. The parents would make us huge buffets of delicious food to thank us for our service. They were so appreciative. I worked in about 5 different CPS schools and this was BY FAR my favourite. I enjoyed coming to work EVERYDAY and I cried when I had to leave! I wasn't there long but in my 11 years in CPS I will hold it my experience at Nixon dearest to my heart.

Flexible work schedule (if needed), pretty decent pay, good bonuses for more days worked. You get the ability to work in various different schools, age groups, subjects. If you get close with a school you like and the clerk likes you, they'll often ask what your schedule looks like and if you want some more consistent days as they pop up.

Scheduling can be a pain. There will always be a job for you, but sometimes you find yourself driving to 3-4 different schools a week with different schedules, so you have to be adaptable and realize you likely won't have a "set routine".

Most, if not all, office clerks I encountered were nice, all schools are happy to have subs. Some teachers/schools are better about leaving work and daily plans, you'll get to know which schools are super on top of it, and which ones are just kinda meh. 

Some days can be tough, that's life as a sub. Some days you'll leave feeling super accomplished and proud, other days you'll be glad you collected some money and got out of there with no major incidents, it's all part of it. 

Biggest downside, is even if you sub every single day, there is no benefits. You can receive benefits if you become a "cadre sub". Your pay goes up and you get benefits, but then you lose your ability to take days off whenever you want and you lose ability to make bonus money.

The biggest pain of the whole process was obtaining the sub license and everything that comes with it. It's to be expected for working in a position with kids and all the responsibilities that come with it. But the process as a whole for me took probably around 6-7 weeks. The fingerprinting never works the first time so you often have to go back, drug/TB test you pay out of pocket and wait on their time for results. Sometimes you'd get an email from CPS office saying do one thing, then another from a completely different person saying do something else. It can be chaotic, but again, it's just part of the process. Once you obtain the sub license and pass all their requirements, you're pretty much good to go.

I enjoy subbing overall and it's a great way to gain experience, help in an area of need, and make some decent pay.

I will not say anything about CPS that will mislead others, I was truly blessed to get in the door of CPS when I did. At that time the principal was honest and actually went through her resumes to select the highly qualified applicant. I would of never ever applied for this teacher assistant position if I have known that I would be stuck in this position for 5 years now. I was blessed to be hired and my intentions were to stay in this position with the intention of moving up. Joining CPS with 16 years of experience as an Early Childhood Director, a Masters Degree in Education Administration and a BA in Behavioral Science. 40 Hours in Early Childhood Education. What a disappointment I have applied for 976 jobs since I was hired 4 years ago. Out of 976 jobs, I have been granted less than 5 interviews and I believe since most of the Adminstive staff at CPS at less than 50 years old, a mature person is looked upon as being old, although they can't come out and tell you. Most of the jobs listed are jobs that have already been filled by the School Leadership, but by law, they must list the position. As a Teacher Assistant, you don't hold the same respect as a Teacher, your educational background means nothing if you are a paraprofessional you are treated like that. I have seen many teaching that hold that license as a professional but are not proficient at what I will call a highly skilled teacher. So my suggestion is to get to know someone that will help you because your chances of getting hired are next to none. Also, Mature adults beware because if you are 50 plus you are looked on as being old., but on the good points, I will say the insurance is great,  If you come in as a teacher your salary is great, while the assistants work their self to death and make 25,000 to 30,000 less. I could say more but I won't, I hope your job search is rewarding for all that is searching.

CPS is a mess.  It is a gigantic not-for-profit organization = disorganization and terrible dissemination of information. I deeply believe in public education, but please be prepared for the politics at pay and how students of color, English Language Learners, and students with diverse learning needs are ALWAYS in need of more support than is provided or asked for. 

The organization itself is disorganized and there is an apparent disconnect from the administrators & network specialists to the classroom and the issues that teachers are facing. I believe because the district is so big that the needs of schools vary from building to building. I also think there is a huge discrepancy between the demographics (race) of network specialists and administrators and the students and populations they serve. There should be more avenues to support the growth of their teachers of color into leadership roles.

There is a lack in the onboarding process for new teachers and a lack in district-wide development of teachers.

Much of the experience faced in CPS is highly dependent on the principle of the school, so do your research by contacting teachers at the school for which you are applying and ask about the culture and climate of the school, as well as how administrations solicit upward feedback. Ask questions during your interview to gain an understanding of how your principal supports work-life balance, how they support new teachers (mentoring program, grade level team meeting dates), what specific structures they have in place to solicit feedback from staff, what curriculum they use and how they support teachers in developing themselves to support their diverse student population... I would also ask to be connected with a teacher or two at the school that you can further connect with to understand the school culture.  


I worked at 4 CPS in my 8 years of teaching as an art educator. All elementary schools.  Jobs in art and music are highly competitive. I found the more years I had, and the more qualified I was, the more I would cost a school, so therefore newer, better positions were much more difficult to obtain.  Teachers straight out of college were chosen for these art positions, no one wants to pay a lot for an art teacher when reading and math are the priority. 
I worked in 2 Turnaround schools for 4 of my years. One on the south side another on the west side. Those were tough. The children had many needs, and learning to manage behaviour was something that had to be mastered in order to survive. You couldn't just send a child to the principal's office (or half the school would be in there).  You were expected to have a classroom management plan and cope with behaviour issues while teaching. It wasn't so bad with the k-3 students. But fourth and up got harder and harder. The best thing to do is develop a positive relationship with the children. Calling parents (even if it seems totally intimidating) worked wonders for me.  Almost all parents, no matter where they're from, are impressed when you take time out to care about their child with a phone call. Just sprinkle in a lot of positives!  Working for CPS is a wild ride...especially if you're anywhere but the north side of the city. But after you've worked in this city, you will be confident to teach ANYWHERE!  (that is if you don't quit in your first month)

Pros:
There are few jobs more fulfilling than working with students and watching them grow, make connections, and learn life lessons. Some days, it feels like you learn more from them than they learn from you. The actual teaching part of the job is the best part, being in the classroom, engaging with students, and seeing those “aha” moments. Summers off are also a big benefit and give you time to recharge or explore other opportunities. For example, I’ve spent recent summers working as an EMT, which has added real-world experience I can bring back into the classroom.

Cons:
The workload is heavy and never really ends. Grading and lesson planning can be exhausting and are easily the least enjoyable parts of the job. For the amount of effort required, the pay can feel low. A lot of time is spent redirecting students and trying to keep them motivated, which can be challenging. Many students struggle with focus and priorities, especially with constant access to phones and social media. While phones sometimes reduce boredom-related disruptions, they also make it harder to keep students engaged and present.

Additional Thoughts:
Since COVID, much of the work has shifted to electronic platforms and hasn’t fully returned to traditional methods. Student behavior and attention spans have changed, and there is a noticeable influence from social media, including a focus on image and “clout” that can affect authenticity. At the same time, in many ways, school is still very similar to how it has always been, for better or worse.

Overall:
Teaching is demanding, tiring, and not always well-compensated, but it is still one of the most fulfilling jobs I’ve had. If you value making a real impact in students’ lives, it can be incredibly rewarding.

I enjoyed my work. I worked as an HSN for a little more that one year.  So I was there for the start of two school years. This is the job for you,  if you plan to make school nursing your career.  You will need your Certification (PEL/ Type 73) as a school nurse to be successful and increase pay quickly and consistently.  CPS is currently on strike,  so things may change.  My caseload went from 60 to 82 the following year. The culture can be clickish, and some brown nosing. However,  I truly enjoyed being a districtwide employee,  as I was not at the same school  everyday. That took out the previous piece regarding brown nosing  or clicks,  b/c you are literally too busy to do either. CPS is a different type of stress compared to the nursing floor.  Similar to the politics of the Healthcare system,  except you get weekend,  holidays and summers off. You are mostly assessing students attnding meetings and writing reports all day.  You learn quickly to be creative,  and proactive in fitting in your consulting mins.  You might have first aid,  or an emergency from time to time. However,  if one of your 4-5 assigned schools has an LPN,  you're blessed.  You certainly hone your delegation skills in this position. And as a certified school nurse (CSN) your caseload swells to 10-11 schools.  I left mainly for work life balance.  Would I return?  If they actually improve the working conditions for clinicians.  I would certainly recommend it. I hope CTU wins the current battle for all. It's needed. With current working conditions,  they will continue to loose hard working and dedicated staff to burnout. But then again,  big machines can still run just fine for a long while, even with a few missing or broken parts.

A typical day at my workplace would be arriving to work, settling in, and proceed to follow my schedule for that respected day. I assist the teachers in all classroom as team teaching and making sure the students are on track and engaged in the material that is being introduced to them. 

Each and every day I learn something new. One of my favorite things is youtube. Youtube has so many educational videos to learn from. I graduated from high along time ago and naturally we forget some of the stuff we learned. I like to go on youtube and research the topic we will be discussing the next day, so that way if the students don't understand the material my approach may help out. 

In my school our administration team is awesome. They offer full support and workshops on how we can be better educators. This is great because we learn about new technology that we can bring to the classroom as another learning tool.

The hardest part of my job is watching a student struggle during a test. This is where the help is put on a pause because we need to see what the students retained and what they didn't. However; after testing the better part comes. Once we know what a student is struggling in I like to review it and find new and exciting ways to teach the students what they are struggling with. And watching a student go from frustrated to "OH I GET IT" (and you know they get it because their entire face lights up, and two they are now helping their peers out) is what makes my job the best.

I loved working for this company especially before the owner died. This company gave me flexibility as far as my schedule was concerned. I enjoyed that I was in the office part time and in the field part time. This position helped me to really hone in on my interpersonal skills because I would deal with a variety of customers and businesses everyday. I would regularly negotiate contracts which forced me to think on my feet in order to make sure the company and the customer were taken care of. I enjoyed managing others and the trust that the owner put in me to run his business successfully.

The hardest part of the job was to make sure that everyone was working in an ethical manner. Due to the nature of the business being customer service orientated the employees were field based. There were occasions when I became aware of certain staff doing extra work for additional money and not reporting it. So the biggest challenge was to follow up and to make sure that the employees were conducting business in an ethical manner at all times.

The most enjoyable part of this job is that it was somewhat of a family atmosphere. Mostly everyone had a good repore with each other and the company had persons employed there that had been there for numerous years and therefore had the same pride in their work as the owner. So it worked for the good for the company as a whole.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Teacher 38 salaries reported	$78,875 per year
Special education teacher 19 salaries reported	$69,896 per year
Substitute teacher 8 salaries reported	$24.38 per hour
Elementary school teacher 4 salaries reported	$55,649 per year
English teacher 4 salaries reported	$75,006 per year

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