Last year when Mike and I moved here, I had no idea what I'd be doing for a job during the 2015-16 school year. We came here in faith that something would come open for me to do. I desperately wanted to teach and in order to do so, I had to apply for a Texas teaching certificate. When notification finally came in the mail in early June that I indeed had been granted a one-year probationary one, I breathed a sigh of relief. Without a teaching certificate from the state of Texas, I wasn't going to be considered for anything that came open.
One week later as Mike and I were headed over to Byers for their annual car show, we came through the small town of Petrolia, Texas. I didn't think much about it on the way over but as we came home I suddenly had this thought that perhaps there was a school there. If there was a school there, then maybe they might still be in need of teachers. Sure enough, there were openings for two teachers in the elementary building. Something told me that God had a reason for me to be there. Two weeks later, I was offered the position that I have this year. It all worked out according to the plans of someone way more advanced in the creating of things than I will ever profess to be.
All year long I have known that I must begin to study and prepare myself for taking the tests. That time of study has now arrived and study I must in order to pass the two tests that are required of me. If I told you that it was going to be a piece of cake to do so, then I would not be telling the truth. It is hard, difficult in ways that I had long ago forgotten. One of the tests involves questions from all aspects of the curriculum and subject areas. My old nemesis, "mathematics", is just one part of it. As I worked through the first practice test in math earlier today, I could feel my stress level growing. All of a sudden I was having flashbacks to 1965, the year I was a fifth grader at Haven Grade School and my charter membership to the "I Hate Math!" club was conceived. Math is NOT my thing and there's no way to get around it. Never has been and never will be. But because I want to be a teacher, I will continue to try and even though some of it is really not fun at all, it's necessary. One thing is for certain.......
I commiserate with my students.
I believe in the concept of lifelong learning and I'm finding out that's a good attitude to take, especially at this point in time. Many of the things in the preparatory manuals that I ordered from Amazon are things that I've learned over the course of the 6 decades that I've been around on this planet called Earth. There are a few things, ok really a lot of things, that I swear I have never heard of before. Yet as they say here in this part of the world, I'm soon fixing to learn them all.
And so because I am a teacher and intend to be for at least 2 years more, it's time to turn off this computer for the night and practice what I preach to all of my students. I've got one more chapter of math to look at before my eyes close in sleep. Hopefully that will be in my bed and not sitting here in front of the computer screen.
No matter what it takes to get my certificate, I'm up for it. There would have been plenty of other jobs that I might have done in life, other choices that would have given me a much heftier paycheck than teaching does. It would not have mattered. I love kids and teaching them what they need to know. The bonus checks are pretty dang good in my line of work.
And so I am a teacher.
It's never too late to learn something new!
No comments:
Post a Comment