Mid-term Update

In my "home" state, I'm in a program for career-changers seeking to become teachers. I missed the deadline to enter a similar program in the state in which my youngest children live, so I had to go a different route there. Because I'm not in the program in that state, my odds of getting a job there are lower, but presumably still pretty good, particularly now that I've passed the Assessment for the Certification of Educators (ACE) in that state.



Anyway, the final interview for the career changers program was Thursday, and it seemed pretty clear I passed that hurdle, based on the end-of-interview conversation. Moreover, the lead person for this program was very careful to state that, because of the budget cuts, even people who are in the program may not have jobs until December or January. But then the other people in the room spent a lot of time trying to avoid completely undermining what the lead person said while still indicating that, as someone with a masters in math, I am almost certainly going to have a job in August. So I guess the probable worst case at this point is that I'll have a job in the home state. Still obviously would prefer a job where the kids live, of course, but we'll see.

One new wrinkle as of noon today... E's mom lost her job. (That now puts E's mom, KB's mom and me all out of work. Sheesh.) Anyway, there's a solid chance she'll need to leave the state to find a new job. So at this point, my taking a job in the home state for a year and then figuring out what to do based on where E's mom (and E) have landed is actually looking like a solid option.

Meanwhile, K is a lawyer. Or at least, a graduate of law school. Or at least, a person who has gone through the graduation ceremonies at law school, and is merely awaiting notice that she's passed all her last semester courses making her officially an actual graduate of law school. The bar exam in July will, as I understand it, finally determine lawyerhood. Whatever, it's a pretty cool thing. And, as an added bonus, I learned how to play Flip Cup, a game I wish I'd known about 30 years ago. (Did it exist?)

Funding FedEx

So my ACE scores arrived in the mail yesterday, giving me the last piece of paper I needed to complete the various applications, making today a "fill out forms and fax them everywhere" kind of day. Several thoughts on that:

1. It is absurd that I have to send my transcripts to every single county to which I want to apply. One school charges $5 per transcript, so that was $20, on top of the $20 I'd previously spent for 4 previous requests. The other schools fortunately don't charge, but two of them also do not allow emailed or web requests, so I had to fax them, at $2.50 per fax... times 2 schools times 4 requests... another $20.

2. It is equally absurd that counties can't access the fact that I passed the ACE. So I had to fax my ACE scores to 4 counties... $10.

3. "ACE scores" is a misnomer... for some reason I haven't been able to completely follow, but vaguely understand as having to do with discrimination (according the the website), ACE doesn't report passing scores - only that I passed. So I don't actually know what I scored. I guess that doesn't matter to me, and maybe it shouldn't matter to schools looking to hire math teachers, because the test doesn't come remotely close to assessing whether the examinee can teach, or in fact if the examinee actually understands very much math. Whatever. I passed.

4. Not working in an office with an internet connection, a copy machine and a fax machine makes this process absurdly expensive. I probably spent $75 today at FedEx Kinkos, and that's only half of the total applications.

5. Still, it's done (nearly). I have to mail (!) forms to my references to complete, along with a couple of other ticky-tack things for a county I don't really want to work in. But when THAT is done, I'm through applying and can sit back and wait for the offers to roll in. Yippie.

Last but not least, got a nice email today from a contact of KB's mom. (KB's mom is a fiend about networking). This contact works with something called IB World Schools, which is embedded in a lot of school districts. Anyway, she seems to believe there are lots of unfilled math positions around town, so that's a good thing.

Job Hunt

I'm looking for teaching jobs, and the process is excruciating, largely because there doesn't seem to be any way to understand the jargon, the requirements, the steps you have to take or anything else about the process unless you're either a freshly minted education graduate, or have gone through it before. I fit neither category.

So I'm struggling to complete on-line applications that "require" I be certified, which I'm not, only to learn what I actually need to do is send the county a copy of my Assessment for the Certification of Educators (ACE) exam scores. Where is that noted on the website? Nowhere. How do I know to do that? I don't, unless I call. By the way, you'd think if you just passed an exam entitled "Assessment for Certification," you'd be certified. Nope. How do I know? Not from any websites, that's for sure.

Oh, and one other thing -- every county is different, with a different application process. So you have to get your transcripts, references and SAT scores sent to each one separately. The transcripts from one school cost money ($5 each, but I have two transcripts from there, so it's $10 per county), and I have to fax the request to each school. No longer having a fax machine, it's $4 per county ($1 per page). Most of the reference requests are on-line, but some aren't. And on, and on. I think I'm giving up for today, and back to it tomorrow.

C25K

So I've been following the "Couch to 5K" program my daughter told me about, and feeling pretty good about my progress, even though I stretched week 2 into two weeks for various reasons. Finished up week 3 today, and thinking "okay, it's getting harder, but still doable, and a nice progression each week - a little tougher, but nothing I can't handle." Week 1 was easy, week 2 was maybe 20% harder, then week 3 was maybe 20% harder than that. Then, I take a look at week 4. It's gotta be twice as hard as week 3. I'm gonna die. If I never do another blog entry, you'll know what happened. Sue my daughter.

Day Two

Started the C25P program, and sat in the sun for a while. Tough duty.

Day One

I got outside some today, and got back into the C25K program, so it was a good day. No writing, but that's tomorrow, along with beginning the packing process. I think I'll take the laptop to the pool, so I can cover the "get outside" thing, too.

E's mom and I exchanged emails, and I think she's going to offer to let me stay at her place for some extended period of time. That will be both an interesting conversation, and a fascinating development, should it happen.

Just another Wednesday

I'm now committed to the whole "high school math teacher" thing, and I'm very happy about that.

There's not really much to do on that front until I get my transcripts from one of my alma maters, because I can't apply for anything until I know what my grades were. Which is fine, because no hiring decisions for 2009-10 will be made until about May anyway.

In the meantime, though, I need (want) to get started on a number of things for my mental and physical health. 1. Back on the C25K program, which I slipped off of last week. 2. Implementation of a C25P program (Couch to 5 Pages) that gets me writing the book I keep claiming I want to write. 3. Get outside a lot during the day. I have this huge opportunity for a short window in time, and I really ought to take advantage of it.

More in this space as it happens.