The Teaching Life

Okay.  

[beingtheteacher-blog]

Credential Program: Part 1

Now that you’re in the credential program, what should you be expecting? Credential programs are all so different, I’m sure. However, I will give you an insight on just exactly how my experience with the credential program went.

First off, it was an amazing program! Looking back, I learned more than I realized especially when it came to interviews and I found I was able to easily answer the questions based on complex situations, terminology, and overall how am I a good fit as a teacher. I’m telling you, I thought I came out of the program only scratching the surface. Nope. I learned a LOT. 

When I first entered the “class” which was literally an classroom in an elementary school where, little did I know, we were to spend the rest of the year bonding and making memories in that class, I was stunned. There were only about 34 of us. Small class, but big potential for connecting with everyone.

Let’s go further down the line...CATs. These things were more difficult than my assignments in undergrad. We had three of them to do plus a case study for literacy. Wait, but what are CATs? What is the CAT? 

Content Area Task. If it were to be compared to an actual feline, I’d say it was a lion. Make that three lions for three CATs. They were basically hefty assignments we had a whole semester to do - assess your school site, create a hypothetical lesson, and answer a lot of repetitive questions based on the lesson you have created. Each of my CAT assignments were close to 50-60 pages each. There are page limits for the commentaries, but they’re endless. One of the page limits was to be “no more than 10 pages.” Make sure you save your file and have a backup. Trust me on this one. One of my classmates walked in to class the night after it was due and she looked like pure death...her files were corrupted by the time she was almost done. Therefore, she had to redo them. Keep in mind the checklists that you may have. It’ll come in handy. Also, use your classmates as support. You’ll need it. Anyway, the CATs should include (but not limited to): 

student sample work (assessments only), lesson plans for a whole unit, the curriculum plan, student interview, text support, resources, and a long commentary

Try doing that three times for three different subject areas PLUS your literary case study. I’ll get to the case study some other time. I’ll let the CAT sink its teeth in. 

[beingtheteacher-blog]

The Beginning

Hi. I’m here to inform you of the struggles you will face of becoming a teacher and being one. For the past two years I have worked my butt off and now I’m stuck. I don’t want people to go through the same problems I did so that is why I created a tumblr in hopes that maybe an aspiring teacher will have googled something along the lines of “is being a teacher hard?” and stumbled upon this. I’m here to help. And to vent. 

So you finished your undergrad and got a degree or something. You want to be a teacher (specifically K-6). Now, you are about to embark on a journey towards receiving your teaching credential! All you have to do is:

1. Fulfill prerequisite classes (about 5)

2. Pass your CBEST. Easiest test you’ll ever take 

3. Pass your CSETS (all of them)

4. Get a TB test done

5. Get your fingerprints scanned (and pay a hefty $85) 

6. Apply to your desired credential program (include a narrative, letters of recommendation, proof of your degree, transcript...and pay a hefty $70) 

7. Possibly interview to land a position in the program

8. GET IN 

Awesome. Once you have finished all of those, then maybe, MAYBE, you’ll get accepted. Let me tell you, although I got accepted, I didn’t do it without screaming and pulling my hair and wiping mascara off my eyes. I thought this was the hardest part: getting accepted. However, it’s not. It has been, by far, the easiest struggle of my credential journey. And, thus, we move on to the program itself...