Well, I didn't ever really GO anywhere...except, back to school...yeah, finally borrowed six grand from the parental units, with a promise to pay it back when gainfully employed (please God) again...and went through the "doggie door" to enter a licensure/credentialling program at Worcester State University. This is a new program geared up to help educators comply with additional MA standards and licensing requirements for teachers. Basically: more hoops.
Of course, they would accept NO courses from my college days in New York. ("Must be from Massachusetts...") Of course my life in California these past 35 years counts for nothing--even though 99% of it has been involved with kids at risk and mostly about either educating the public or educating the kids, themselves...(I have come to internalize that all of this is karma, pure and simple...I angered some Teaching Spirits, early on, when I sought to enter the "real world" as a writer, first, a painter, second, and then, if necessary, to pursue being a teacher...WRONG! I've been reaping the rewards ever since...oh how I should have listened to everyone back here and just been an education major and a spinster school teacher from 1978 forward...sigh). So, my buddy, Helayne, already possessing an MA in ed, from said institution, but with no classroom experience (exactly mirroring my predictament but both of us having to jump through the same hoops to get into a High School classroom as teachers, in MA) suggested we begin by "Just taking two courses..." After meeting with one of the Deans, and submitting my resume, letters of reference and my Wells College transcripts--plus having the dough, up front, to take the two courses--we applied. Of course, they were the courses that anyone wanting to complete this program would have to take...but we went in, a bit undercover. (Details later...) Simultaneously, we had to prepare ourselves for the two hundred dollar test for professional credentialling...the MTELS...(another blog coming up...I can feel it...)...take them, also in January, pass three of them...( eight back to back hours of standardized testing...), apply "officially" to the program, get accepted...continue to take the requisite six full-courses, plus also CLEP (taking an exam) a basic psych course on human development...another almost hundred dollars plus book! It mattered not that all I've done is work, for decades, with at risk teens or that Helayne has been a nurse for 20 years, and has her degree in that! Even with the psych courses we already have taken over the years, the trainings and the on the job experience, it counts for nada! So, we are taking, this summer, three full courses in Diversity, Inclusion and Technology (if I get my cut and paste and PowerPoint skills finessed, I'll be happy) plus the CLEP in psych. If we don't pass the CLEP, we have to wait six months to take a new test or take a class somewhere. Either way, we won't be able to do our already-set up last semester of full on student teaching, which involved getting "mentor teachers" at Gardner High School, preparing for teaching, full-on, in various classes from the end of August to the middle of December, taking another simultaneous seminar in teaching, in Worcester and paying the last thousands of dollars to finally pass and get our first license.
But, after all that, we can be hired, legally, and teach. Then, I have to finish up my MA (first taking another set of exams to prove I can handle a Master's program--even though the six courses I've been taking at WSU ARE the same courses in their MA of ED program and I'm pulling a 4.0 average, as of today--which sort of proves I can handle the program, right? However, still more hoops to jump through...and more money to pay. I don't know how I am going to afford the final MA...I will apply for scholarships and grants, few and far between as they are...I hope to be hired somewhere, to work through it, but so far, nada (failed the Wal Mart personality test and so far, even Mickey D's hasn't returned my calls...). Further, I doubt the parental units will front the twenty thousand or so that the MA is going to ultimately cost...and my credit has gone south. Being unemployed for two and a half years will do that...soooooo, student loans are probably going to be tough. But I have five years to finish the MA and I will be able, I'm assured, apply at least a couple of the MA courses I've already taken at WSU, to my WSU MA in ED, if I take it there. We'll see...moolah is everything.
In addition, these summer courses MUST teach everything that the fall and winter and spring courses do, but packed into fewer weeks. Most folks didn't take three summer courses. Now, Helayne and I have discovered why. We are traveling to Worcester every day and are in class approx. three or four hours each day--no breaks. For Helayne, it is coming back to three teens and three cats and insecure unemployment benefits. For me, it is home to Dad, now 85 and still hanging in there as a city councilor, and Mom, still fighting lymphoma and the recent removal of her sigmoid colon. Thank God nurse sister Ann is still in residence with us, but it looks like she's going to be a homeowner, by November, if all the planets align. Maeve, the wonderdog, will split her time between here, at 88 Maple Street, and with Ann, on weekends. Maeve has just lived too long amid all of us at 88 and I don't think she could truly live, full time, anyplace else--nor would the parental units do well without her. For me, that is one sunbeam in this tsunami of despair.But, I'm healthy. I have a kayak--yet to be launched because of school scheduling and Mom's illnesses--and thanks to the parents (and Ann) I have a 1999 Subaru Legacy--bluegreen--four cylinders, with a rack on top and a radio inside. Her name is "Tortuga". My first Subaru. My childhood buddy, Ann Marie, hooked me up with a town mechanic that is a very cool and up front guy. Helayne knows his kids--they played baseball with her sons--so he is a known quantity. He only works and sells Subarus that he rescues from scrap heaps. They are "vintage", but they run like dreams and don't look too bad. This is NE. There is salty streets and much ice on the roads in winter. There is rust. But, I used to drive a Baja Bug that had its battery held on by bungee cords and plywood over the floorboards in the backseat because you could see the road whizzing by, ala Flinstones. So, a little rust is no big deal.
Tortuga spots a big silver "Om" and a "yin-yang" on her butt, as well as a dragonfly and a peace sign on her bumper. Tiny replica hiking boots, a blue dolphin, and a hand-made Indian Medicine Wheel hang from the rear-view mirror. Ann gave me an acrylic blanket that is a replica of the Irish flag, for the backseat, where Maeve loves to take rides with me. My Subaru is low slung-- looks like a surfer's wagon from the old days--and Maeve can hop in and out with ease--much better than her Mom's Jeep or her grandparents' Toyota. So, Maeve helps me keep my joy intact. I can't wait till I push the kayak on top, strap her down, and drive Maeve over to Helayne's pond, out back. I think the next trick is to teach both of them how to become paddlers, with me.
Later...
Of course, they would accept NO courses from my college days in New York. ("Must be from Massachusetts...") Of course my life in California these past 35 years counts for nothing--even though 99% of it has been involved with kids at risk and mostly about either educating the public or educating the kids, themselves...(I have come to internalize that all of this is karma, pure and simple...I angered some Teaching Spirits, early on, when I sought to enter the "real world" as a writer, first, a painter, second, and then, if necessary, to pursue being a teacher...WRONG! I've been reaping the rewards ever since...oh how I should have listened to everyone back here and just been an education major and a spinster school teacher from 1978 forward...sigh). So, my buddy, Helayne, already possessing an MA in ed, from said institution, but with no classroom experience (exactly mirroring my predictament but both of us having to jump through the same hoops to get into a High School classroom as teachers, in MA) suggested we begin by "Just taking two courses..." After meeting with one of the Deans, and submitting my resume, letters of reference and my Wells College transcripts--plus having the dough, up front, to take the two courses--we applied. Of course, they were the courses that anyone wanting to complete this program would have to take...but we went in, a bit undercover. (Details later...) Simultaneously, we had to prepare ourselves for the two hundred dollar test for professional credentialling...the MTELS...(another blog coming up...I can feel it...)...take them, also in January, pass three of them...( eight back to back hours of standardized testing...), apply "officially" to the program, get accepted...continue to take the requisite six full-courses, plus also CLEP (taking an exam) a basic psych course on human development...another almost hundred dollars plus book! It mattered not that all I've done is work, for decades, with at risk teens or that Helayne has been a nurse for 20 years, and has her degree in that! Even with the psych courses we already have taken over the years, the trainings and the on the job experience, it counts for nada! So, we are taking, this summer, three full courses in Diversity, Inclusion and Technology (if I get my cut and paste and PowerPoint skills finessed, I'll be happy) plus the CLEP in psych. If we don't pass the CLEP, we have to wait six months to take a new test or take a class somewhere. Either way, we won't be able to do our already-set up last semester of full on student teaching, which involved getting "mentor teachers" at Gardner High School, preparing for teaching, full-on, in various classes from the end of August to the middle of December, taking another simultaneous seminar in teaching, in Worcester and paying the last thousands of dollars to finally pass and get our first license.
But, after all that, we can be hired, legally, and teach. Then, I have to finish up my MA (first taking another set of exams to prove I can handle a Master's program--even though the six courses I've been taking at WSU ARE the same courses in their MA of ED program and I'm pulling a 4.0 average, as of today--which sort of proves I can handle the program, right? However, still more hoops to jump through...and more money to pay. I don't know how I am going to afford the final MA...I will apply for scholarships and grants, few and far between as they are...I hope to be hired somewhere, to work through it, but so far, nada (failed the Wal Mart personality test and so far, even Mickey D's hasn't returned my calls...). Further, I doubt the parental units will front the twenty thousand or so that the MA is going to ultimately cost...and my credit has gone south. Being unemployed for two and a half years will do that...soooooo, student loans are probably going to be tough. But I have five years to finish the MA and I will be able, I'm assured, apply at least a couple of the MA courses I've already taken at WSU, to my WSU MA in ED, if I take it there. We'll see...moolah is everything.
In addition, these summer courses MUST teach everything that the fall and winter and spring courses do, but packed into fewer weeks. Most folks didn't take three summer courses. Now, Helayne and I have discovered why. We are traveling to Worcester every day and are in class approx. three or four hours each day--no breaks. For Helayne, it is coming back to three teens and three cats and insecure unemployment benefits. For me, it is home to Dad, now 85 and still hanging in there as a city councilor, and Mom, still fighting lymphoma and the recent removal of her sigmoid colon. Thank God nurse sister Ann is still in residence with us, but it looks like she's going to be a homeowner, by November, if all the planets align. Maeve, the wonderdog, will split her time between here, at 88 Maple Street, and with Ann, on weekends. Maeve has just lived too long amid all of us at 88 and I don't think she could truly live, full time, anyplace else--nor would the parental units do well without her. For me, that is one sunbeam in this tsunami of despair.But, I'm healthy. I have a kayak--yet to be launched because of school scheduling and Mom's illnesses--and thanks to the parents (and Ann) I have a 1999 Subaru Legacy--bluegreen--four cylinders, with a rack on top and a radio inside. Her name is "Tortuga". My first Subaru. My childhood buddy, Ann Marie, hooked me up with a town mechanic that is a very cool and up front guy. Helayne knows his kids--they played baseball with her sons--so he is a known quantity. He only works and sells Subarus that he rescues from scrap heaps. They are "vintage", but they run like dreams and don't look too bad. This is NE. There is salty streets and much ice on the roads in winter. There is rust. But, I used to drive a Baja Bug that had its battery held on by bungee cords and plywood over the floorboards in the backseat because you could see the road whizzing by, ala Flinstones. So, a little rust is no big deal.
Tortuga spots a big silver "Om" and a "yin-yang" on her butt, as well as a dragonfly and a peace sign on her bumper. Tiny replica hiking boots, a blue dolphin, and a hand-made Indian Medicine Wheel hang from the rear-view mirror. Ann gave me an acrylic blanket that is a replica of the Irish flag, for the backseat, where Maeve loves to take rides with me. My Subaru is low slung-- looks like a surfer's wagon from the old days--and Maeve can hop in and out with ease--much better than her Mom's Jeep or her grandparents' Toyota. So, Maeve helps me keep my joy intact. I can't wait till I push the kayak on top, strap her down, and drive Maeve over to Helayne's pond, out back. I think the next trick is to teach both of them how to become paddlers, with me.
Later...
