New Term Kickoff

I haven't bothered to update this in a while, but I think I've found the perfect use for this blog now that the new term has started.

This is the semester I student teach and I have to keep a journal, so why not here? Mandatory workshops were this past Wednesday-Friday. I wasn't feeling too keen on them at first, but they wound up going very well. My school actually has some decent services they offer, but you would never know because they don't publicize them very well! We had a meeting on developing a credential file and the placement office at our school will keep one for us. SO USEFUL. They totally should have told us about this before our first clinicals, though. I can't very well go back to my first clinical place and ask them for a reference. 1) The guy retired (thank god, because he was really down on his kids and should not have been teaching anymore) and 2) even if he wasn't, I doubt he'd remember me after two or three years. I may ask the woman at my middle clinical; she was nice and she may remember me. She seemed to think I was decent (always a help!).

Second day of workshops, we had team building activities with the PE crew. Dude, that was actually very fun. The only bad thing was how stinking hot it was that day. I was sweating just standing. Oh, and that was Thursday; the day that Chicago almost blew away in the storm from hell. I'm telling you, I got out of workshops, made it to Touhy Ave, and then...You know the saying "come hell or high water"? I think I experienced that literally. It got pitch black and the wind came roaring out of nowhere. WGN was like, "Uh, yeah, tornado warnings!" NO, REALLY. I think I see Toto flying by.

But back to workshops: I think there were some really good ideas for team building activities. One, the channels, I've done through team building at work. I hope our facilitator, Eric, emails us the activities like he said he would.

I think my seminar group is going to be pretty tight. Two of them I've known through previous classes. Met our supervisor yesterday and that went well. I've got some reading and prep work to do for next Thursday's meeting.

The one mega-bad thing: STILL NOT PLACED AT A SCHOOL. I am getting beyond frustrated with this. I'm sorry, but we have to hand in our application for student teaching one year in advance. There is no reason why we shouldn't be placed well before the term starts. I acknowledge that the CEST office has made tremendous strides in improving the process, but this is driving me insane. (Don't even get me started on the evil harpy that used to run that office; she still makes my blood boil.)

I am one of seven students still without a placement at this point. At least the director is trying to find me a place in the 'burbs instead of having to drive into the city. Honest to god, an extra $70/week in gas money is just not something I can swing to do a city school. Keeping my fingers crossed that I will get placed no later than Monday. I shouldn't complain too much, yet; I don't have some of the ridiculous commutes I've heard from other students. Some city folk got placed up here in the 'burbs; poor AS lives in Skokie, doesn't even drive and got stuck with going to Cicero. That's at least a two hour commute on public transport! Powers that be, spare me from that! Although if I don't get placed by Tuesday, I think I may cave and tell them they can place me in Chicago, so long as it's within walking distance of the Metra line. (And believe me, I will take them a map and circle the exact area so there is no confusion.)

Buddy-A called me today to check up. She just had her first week of her new teaching gig and so far, so good. I hope I land with as much good fortune as she did as far as getting a job goes. That storm from Thursday really socked her neighborhood in Chicago, though. She's still without power. (ComEd won't even give an estimate of when the power will be back, definitely not a good sign.) She said the trees were just ripped out. Joan Cusack's old house has a huge tree on top of it; guess she won't be selling it too quickly now! So A and the hub are at his parents' house in Barrington for the time being.

In other testing and professional development news:

• Signed up to take the Social Sciences: Political Science test in October. If I pass, that will be one more subject I'll be endorsed to teach. (Just think: I could pull a trifecta of English, history and political science. I will be the "dirty liberal" my family fears. But that's another post.) That was $86 down the drain, though. Ouch.
  
• Finally signed up for membership in the National Council of Teachers of English. I should have done this a while ago (and gone to conferences), but never got around to it. I admit that a big impetus to do it now is the fact that I need to put something in my professional development slot for my final program portfolio!
• Also spent the dosh to join the IRA. Ha ha, no, not that IRA. I mean the International Reading Association. I also bought a subscription to the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. I did a review on an excellent article from that journal about a year ago.
  

Oooh, the chick here in the coffee shop is playing guitar and singing "Closer to Fine" (?) by the Indigo Girls and she's not half bad...

Greetings and Salutations

Instead of constantly whining about wanting to be in Europe and "OMG, how do I get a teaching job over there?", I have decided to do something constructive. I'm going to gather whatever information I can find and put it all down in this little blog.

I want to teach in Europe. England would be great, but I don't think I'll be too entirely picky if someone will give me a decent salary and good working conditions.

After almost FOUR years, I am getting close to finishing my degree and will FINALLY be able to teach. I went to a small, private four year college in Iowa for my undergrad degrees. I graduated cum laude with a double major in English (literature) and Western European Civilization (equivalent to history, more or less). I believe my minors are Spanish and political science (sorry, don't remember those too well!). That was in 1999. You can't do too much with either unless you're a teacher.

I farted about in the corporate world for a while. After I got laid off twice within a calendar year, I decided that the universe was telling me to go back to school like I always said I was going to. I've been attending Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago since 2003 (while working full time). I'm going to earn my Masters in Teaching, Secondary Education/Language Arts this coming December (2007). I will actually be student teaching this fall. I'm alternately scared and relieved. Scared because OMG I finally have to put everything I've learned to use; relieved because I am sick to death of getting the runaround at school. (How many hoops can you be told to jump through? I've lost count.) Seriously, for someone who has been working and paying the bills for years now, it can get extremely annoying when the school you attend doesn't treat you like an adult. (I think they're too used to the snot-nosed undergrads who still have mommy doing their laundry at home.)

Anyhow, I have passed all the tests so far: Illinois Basic Skills exam (seriously, if you actually have to study to pass this, you should not be teaching), the English content area exam, and the pedagogy test. I'm going to take the history content exam next Saturday, actually. I don't need that one to graduate, but I do want it so I can be qualified to teach history in addition to English; it's all about marketability!

Some days I suffer from the "WHAT AM I DOING WITH MY LIFE?" syndrome combined with a side helping of "AM I ANY GOOD?", but then I discover I may actually have a clue after all. Case in point: my research proposal that I made for my master's thesis class was actually put into use by a friend/peer of mine this semester and she said it worked a treat. So YAY for me.

What's the plan?
Once I graduate I will begin searching for a teaching position around home. But in three-five years, I want to teach overseas. Most of the places I've been researching want that much experience at least.

Meanwhile, I think I'll spend that time teaching (duh) and possibly earning another qualification or degree. Current darling: Latin. I miss Latin from high school. I want to be able to teach that as well!