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2004-06-19 - 10:02 a.m. If you can imagine a word or sound to convey the heights of exasperation then imagine me making it. I've now gone on interviews with 5 of the 7 high schools in my assigned region. Two are still awaiting their budgets before they can finalize hirings but the other three have offered me positions. Great, right? It would be if the NYC Teaching Fellowship would allow me to take them which they won't based on the rule that I �have to spend the majority of (my) day teaching in the subject that (I) have been assigned to or at the end of training (I) will not be recommended for final certification.� I am not allowed to teach individual subjects such as English, Science, History or Math even if they are in a special education format because English, Science, History or Math is not my subject concentration; my subject is Special Education. BUT� There is no class called �special education� which makes this rule very troublesome indeed. According to the NYCTF program, �Special Education cannot be paired with another subject, but you can � have one classroom where you teach a range of subjects. It's a little weird, but the State of New York made that rule.� That�s funny, because none of the Principals and Asst. Principals I met with are aware of that rule. They say that no teacher on the high school level teaches all subjects to their students. In fact, according to the teacher�s union, a high school teacher cannot have more than three preps � which means no more than three subjects to prepare lessons for � but most schools limit it to two because of the overwhelming workload that three classes would require. There is only one position that would meet the criteria that the Fellows program (and purportedly NYS) requires: Resource room teacher. Resource room teachers basically act as tutors to students helping them with any and all subjects. These coveted positions are extremely hard to come by and not all schools employ them. So� Where does that leave me? Jobless and confused, aggravated and nervous, considering if I should just take that middle school job I didn�t want or hold out a hope that I can battle for some common ground with the administration. � 
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