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I'm not a teacher, but I'll take a crack at some of the general questions.
Yes to biking and hiking. There are some nice bike paths along the Arkansas River, and there are lots of lakes with wooded parkland around them in the area for outdoorsy fun. I don't know specifically about kayaking, but I do know that people enjoy rafting down the nearby Illinois River because it's faster running and less dammed-up than the Arkansas.
The weather can be very humid, but it really doesn't get that cold - at least, not by the standards of REALLY cold places. It's unusual to see more than a couple of consecutive days where the high temperature doesn't go above freezing, even in January. Summers, on the other hand, can get pretty miserable. Worse than Las Vegas, IMO. San Antonio is hotter, Omaha has worse winters, Tulsa gets more thunderstorms. I'm sure you've heard about the tornadoes. They do happen, but they tend to peter out just west of the city.
Yes, a middle-class person can afford a house here. Real estate and rentals are much less expensive in Tulsa than in most other cities of comparable size. It is a city, though, so it won't be as cheap as rural areas. (And YMMV as to what is "cheap", so do look up the average prices yourself.) There are older areas that are more affordable than new developments, while still being safe areas to live in.
There are a lot of restaurants, both chain and locally owned, with a wide range of prices. There are also quite a few small to medium sized clubs and cafes with live music, many specialize in the Blues. Mixed drink prices tend to be on the low side. There are Indian Casinos here that offer cheap entertainment in order to draw people in to gamble, but not nearly on the scale of Vegas. Still, you can see national touring acts that were popular when you were a teenager for free, or nearly free there. The BOK Center has free outdoor shows by local acts in the summer, before the big acts (with big ticket prices) play inside.
There are farmer's markets - there's a big one in Bixby, which is a southern suburb, and a good-sized one in Midtown Tulsa. Most of the grocery stores are the big chains, but there are also local/regional chains around. One thing that is nice in the summer is that a lot of the local chains will stock local produce, like Porter peaches or Stillwell strawberries.
As I said, I'm not a teacher, but there are a lot of Spanish speakers in the area, so I'd assume having ESL certification would be valuable.
I got to see the Texas Playboys some time back at a free concert..........of course, Bob himself was only there in Spirit.....
I took lessons from Eldon Shamblin when he taught at Rogers State. Neat guy, he was a real treasure trove of music history. Also, he had that famous Fender Stratocaster prototype, which was a piece of music history in itself.
I actually did a sort of "test" job search by phone several months ago. I was kind of curious about the same thing that you're curious about. I got absolutely no indication that employers would be biased against someone who wasn't a state resident and was just hoping to relocate to Tulsa~well, actually it was an area close to Tulsa. But I do understand why you're asking. I had actually done the same thing a couple years ago in another state and OH MY!!!! SO much snootiness and rudeness that I didn't figure I'd actually be able to work for people like that anyway.
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The Rushmore State, Oklahoma, and Weather
I would recommend applying at the suburban school districts of Broken Arrow, Jenks, Bixby, Union, Owasso, etc. I wouldn't move anywhere without first securing employment.
I just returned from a trip back East and the economy out that way is poor compared to that of the Tulsa area. We have been a bubble in the sea of economic adversity.
Special Ed. and Teosl are both high demand areas in Tulsa as well as the rest of the state. You shouldn't have any problem finding a job. The cost of living will be less but so will your salary. In Oklahoma you will pay into Social Security. Only a handful of districts do so in Texas which may cause problems years from now if you should decide to relocate from Texas with a spouse. (GPO) I hear that Nebraska has different certification requirements in different districts instead of uniform state requirements. A call to the Oklahoma State Dept. of Education in OKC will confirm your
certificate's reciprocity with Oklahoma. Good luck.
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