Being a teacher

One of my biggest pet peeves in life is when people make comments about teachers. They say that we have one of the easiest jobs, we're always off, we have summers off. They claim teachers are doing "glorified babysitting." Which, any teacher will tell you, IT IS SO NOT!

I always knew I wanted to be a foreign language teacher since about 8th grade. Thanks to having one awesome teacher who inspired me into pursuing this passion (my entire college admissions essay was about my middle school foreign language teacher) I never really regretted my decision. I did my undergraduate degree in education, but had to drop it two weeks before graduation because they weren't going to let me student teach (long big stupid story about the department having a student teaching requirement for the foreign language teachers and no one could pass it). Eventually, I pursued my masters in education (when I originally wanted to go for Teaching English as a Second Language). I completed it in 1.5 years and in May 2011, I graduated!

However, I feel so frustrated with it. I know every state has different requirements for a teaching degree. In NYS, we have to pass a bunch of different certification exams: Liberal Arts & Sciences Test (LAST), Assessment of Teaching Skills Written (ATS-W), and the Content Specialty Test (CST). Elementary teachers take a multi-subject CST for their degree. All these tests are $89 a pop to take and if you miss by one point, you have to retake it. Some people have had to take their CST 3 times (me and other friends included) because they test you on the most RANDOM information. Then, it's $100 to get fingerprinted (at least that is good for life!). Then, you have to take a child abuse workshop, safe violence workshop, an autism workshop if you're getting a special education degree. Also, applying for your certificates is $50 a certificate and every 5 years you have to renew them (that part doesn't bother me so much). The amount of money I have spent becoming a teacher disgusts me.

I have my degree in Adolescence Education Spanish for grades 7-12 with an extension for grades 5 & 6. I also took four classes, a Students with Disabilities CST and the autism workshop after I did my masters to get my Special Education generalist degree. Only NYS likes taking forever to review your transcripts. I applied in APRIL, my transcripts were "ready for review" in AUGUST, and they just got reviewed in NOVEMBER! I got my letter the other day telling me I am deficient in 6 S.H math credits. So basically, I have to go back to school and take 2 math classes....and I haven't taken math since I was a senior in HIGH SCHOOL! It' just annoys me that you have to go through all these hoops and hurdles to get the degree. They don't even tell you what kinds of math classes you need to take. I want to take the easiest ones possible! Math was probably my worst subject in school (I detest it with a passion!) 

I am going to try to take it at the community college. I figure it would be way cheaper taking it there then where I got my masters (a private school). This just pisses me off because now its more money to add to the debt that I am trying to pay off! It is just never ending. And, I think I am going to wait until the summer to take it because there is way too much on my plate right now. There is no way I could factor in taking classes while working 3 jobs, one of which being in a school all day. My other option is to take it online, which I may also do but somehow I feel I would learn the math better in a classroom.

I didn't originally go to school to work as a special education teacher. But in a job market where the teaching jobs are far and few, ANYTHING that can make me stand out is better. And just for some laughter, here are a few of my favorite teacher e-cards: