Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Stepping into the World of Teaching!

On my first day of college this semester, I was surprisingly informed by Dr. O’Brien that all my paperwork for student teaching would need to be complete by the middle of March. I originally, thought to myself that this paperwork would only involve me signing my name a few times and perhaps give some additional information about myself. I therefore asked Dr. O’Brien if she could bring the necessary paperwork for me, during our next class. After forgetting to bring it to me twice, I went directly to the Education Department where I learned about the unfortunately comprehensive amount of work I would need to complete to student teach next fall.

One of the key requirements for me to student teach is to take the Praxis. That very night I looked for places to take this test. However, I ran into a problem, for I did not know which Praxis I needed to take. I went online and found out that Social Studies requires the Content Knowledge Test. I confirmed this with Dr. O’Brien. After completing the paperwork, I registered to take this test in March. The price for this test is $130.

I then had to fill out paperwork for the Education Department. My transcripts from UCC and St. Peter’s had to be forwarded to that department. I had to decide where I wanted to do my student teaching, with whom and it what department. This was a very hard decision to come to. I loved my Sophomore Field Experience at Ronald E. McNair Academic High School and I wanted this new experience to be as enjoyable. After finally deciding what schools to teach at, I have to find out which school I will be at and then find out if that district needs a substitute license for student teaching. If that is the case, then I’ll have to travel that road in the future. I hope to have all this work completed before the beginning of March.

2 comments:

Dr. Luongo said...

Joe,

Sounds like you are having a difficult time getting through the red tape... Do not let the details stress you out, though. In the end, it will work out.

It may help to share this experience with your peers (as you did here on this blog). What Praxis test did you end up having to take?

What do you suggest to your peers to do to help avoid this problem in their futures?

riverai said...

what? We have to pay $130 to take a test that our futures depend on whether we pass it or not. That doesn't sound fair to me. Thanx for the useful information.