Just wanted to share my current situation with my fellow jobseekers as I am ready to give up, although I won't. I have a successful past as a dedicated and passionate educator who taught ELA for ten years in an inner city high school. As a new teacher, I took on a lot of extra-curricular activities which included mentoring, coaching, CSL, out of state trainings, after school help sessions and field trips. I was ambitious in life and inspired to make a change in my students' lives. To many, I was a mother figure even. I felt respected and appreciated, by both, the administrators and the students. I was learning and working my butt off. Eventually, I got married and had two kids of my own. Little by little, my wife and mommy duties made it quite impossible for me to continue juggling on so much and I was no longer available to do all the everything else. Soon, I started to realize that some members of the administration began treating me a certain way. It was never bluntly said to me, but on many occasions, suggested or pointed out even that I was no longer the dedicated, great teacher I once was. There were days when I left school in tears because of the comments that were made to me and many of them alluding to my teaching yet without any real merit. My performance in the classroom had not changed. I still worked hard, served all of my duties, stayed after school and served my students. I just could no longer be and do as much community service as before, be the first to sign up for a training or volunteer for every field trip or event until I was no longer asked or even considered for anything. Before I knew it, I began to feel inadequate and depressed. The only thing that carried me were the students themselves. And no I did not need the praise of the administrators to keep me happy. After all, I was teaching for my students and no one else, but it was the mere fact that my performance or effort hadn't really changed and in fact had evolved as I continued to integrate new and innovative ways to engage students. And even so, the people saying it were never there to measure it. Yet, their impression of it had somehow changed. My evaluations began to be critical and it was even suggested that I need to make major improvements while other teachers were modeling their lessons after mine and receiving prapraise. My class enrollments were steady and student performance was growing according to the goals I set for them. I put in half the work as a new teacher and didn't know squat compared to the insight I had gained throughout ten years and yet, I was becoming a shitty teacher to a person who hadn't been in my classroom for more than ten minutes in two years. Eventually, I let things get the best of me and took a leave of absence to be a stay at home mom. After two years of being on unpaid leave, I was given a week to decide whether I was going to go back and after being traumatized by the reality of the system, I resigned. After this, I decided I would not teach again. I was not only burnt out, but the politics of the system made me more aware and I know that I would never win the fight in a system that can be manipulated by one or two people whom will find ways to bring you down if you question their opinion. After taking some time off, I was back and ready to take on society again and I figured that my intellect, wittiness combined with education and experience would open a new world of possibilities. And here I am three months later, unable to land an interview for a 13$/hr position as a front office clerk. In fact, it seems as though no one is willing to give me a chance. I am either "over qualified" or apparently, only made to teach, but I am beginning to fear that no one will take a chance on me. My degree wasn't limited to teaching, but as an English major, I must be unappealing? Sorry for the vent, but perhaps any of you may have had a similar experience and might offer me a kind word?