Teacher Certification

After anxiously hovering about my mailbox for the past few weeks, I finally received what I'd been waiting for: a letter from the State Department of Education.

I had applied to participate in alternative teacher certification. In order to do so, you must have an undergraduate degree in a a corresponding certifiable subject area and working experience in the field also.

When I first headed back to school and decided to pursue journalism rather than English Education, my plans were to eventually try to take part in the alternative certification process, though honestly, I thought I would work work on the staff of a publication of some sort before doing so. Honestly, my field is not a high-demand subject area, especially for most rural schools so I didn't think that being certified in that area alone would be especially helpful.

Then, I enrolled in grad school and put myself in the position where I had to be certified before I could graduate from the program. I quickly put my resume and application together for the Alternative Certification Program, then waited by my mailbox for about four weeks.

I'm so happy to report that I have been accepted into the program, I only have to take six additional professional education hours in addition to passing my certification tests and I can get my initial certification in both journalism and/or speech/drama/debate. Once I complete my graduate studies , I will also take the test to be certified as a librarian. As you can see, this provides several opportunities for me.

I've been spending a lot of time as a substitute teacher in our local school system and I feel increasingly comfortable there. There has always been an adventurous streak in me that wanted to have an unusual or unique job. Sure, it'd be really cool to be a freelance journalist who travels to all corners of the earth gathering news, meeting people and taking photos of exotic lands, but it's not very practical when you have kids to raise or if you actually enjoy hanging out with your husband or if you like being part of a community.

I guess I've come to realize that family and community are two of the most important things a person could have. School systems are rooted in community, or at least in all the places that I've lived. And really, are there many jobs that are better suited for family life? Top it off with the chance to influence and possibly change lives....what could be better?