Moving to Arizona was not in any way a planned out event. I sort of just spiraled downward into a depression that I didn't think I could get out without just leaving everything behind me and starting completely over.
While I'd love to actually talk about this and make people understand what I did, To truly realize what happened, I realize that it ultimately will not matter. So I won't. And that's not really what this blog is about anyways.
What I really wanted to talk about is teaching. I graduated in May with my Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education. BUT - I did my education at a super accelerated rate and feel like I missed out on a lot by doing that. Additionally, I put a lot of work into packets to apply for jobs and interviewing. I received a national award for my Praxis test scores. I was very confident when I graduated that I would get a job.
When I didn't, I got pretty discouraged. Then I started subbing and made a lot of realizations - one being that I really don't like teaching little kids. And that I lacked the endorsement I needed to teach Junior High - which I love. Discouraged to the max.
And so when I came to Arizona I decided NOT to get my Arizona teaching license and to just get a job as a secretary or something. My step-father once told me I need to just get whatever job I can with a Bachelor's Degree. So I was going to just do that.
However, I tried that and it turned out to not exactly be my cup of tea. For many reasons. The job I did was...ridiculous. So I came home Thursday night and decided to just throw a couple more resumes out at some schools. Just for a last ditch effort of supporting myself without anyone's help.
Well...pow...got an email thursday night. Went in for an interview Friday morning. Have a second interview tomorrow. But to get this job, I had to get finger printed and get my paperwork in to get my license in Arizona. Things are quite a bit different here, as far as licensing goes. There is an actual fingerprint card that you have to get that you carry with you. It is pretty expensive...70 bucks...plus the 15 dollars you pay to have someone fingerprint you. So that is what I did today. Got fingerprinted and sent off for my card.
While I'd love to actually talk about this and make people understand what I did, To truly realize what happened, I realize that it ultimately will not matter. So I won't. And that's not really what this blog is about anyways.
What I really wanted to talk about is teaching. I graduated in May with my Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education. BUT - I did my education at a super accelerated rate and feel like I missed out on a lot by doing that. Additionally, I put a lot of work into packets to apply for jobs and interviewing. I received a national award for my Praxis test scores. I was very confident when I graduated that I would get a job.
When I didn't, I got pretty discouraged. Then I started subbing and made a lot of realizations - one being that I really don't like teaching little kids. And that I lacked the endorsement I needed to teach Junior High - which I love. Discouraged to the max.
And so when I came to Arizona I decided NOT to get my Arizona teaching license and to just get a job as a secretary or something. My step-father once told me I need to just get whatever job I can with a Bachelor's Degree. So I was going to just do that.
However, I tried that and it turned out to not exactly be my cup of tea. For many reasons. The job I did was...ridiculous. So I came home Thursday night and decided to just throw a couple more resumes out at some schools. Just for a last ditch effort of supporting myself without anyone's help.
Well...pow...got an email thursday night. Went in for an interview Friday morning. Have a second interview tomorrow. But to get this job, I had to get finger printed and get my paperwork in to get my license in Arizona. Things are quite a bit different here, as far as licensing goes. There is an actual fingerprint card that you have to get that you carry with you. It is pretty expensive...70 bucks...plus the 15 dollars you pay to have someone fingerprint you. So that is what I did today. Got fingerprinted and sent off for my card.
I then had everything I need to apply for my Reciprocal License (Which I put in the mail on my way home tonight). Which is also bizarre. Here - there are different types of licenses. A reciprocal license is a license that allows you to teach for one year, if you are licensed in another state. In that one year, you have to complete the additional requirements for a provisional license. For me this means I must take an Arizona Constitution college class and complete a 60 hour Structured English Immersion class. Let me just tell you - this class costs 750 dollars and runs for many months of weekends. But appears to be valuable.Once I complete these 2 things, I can apply for a provisional license. Which is a 3 year thing. If you complete the necessary things for that, you can then apply for a standard license (what I already hold in Wyoming).
That was lots of information - for those of you interested in how it all works. But it really comes down to taking leaps of "faith". Being an atheist I'm not sure I am comfortable with the word faith right now. I suppose it is faith in myself really. I have done a lot of things in the last two months that took a lot of leaping. I stepped out on my own to take care of myself. I was drowning and knew I had leap or risk not waking up the next day. And now I must leap again. Spending nearly all the money I had left to pay for the license was definitely a leap. Risking a lot to hopefully get this job (which by the way is an 8th grade classroom at an inner city school in Phoenix - exactly the kind of situation I wanted).
I keep saying it but I'll say it again. For the first time in a long time, I feel like things are working out for us. This is just one more step in my "taking my life into my own hands" journey. It's all paid for and in the mail. The rest is up to me. Tomorrow. To seal a step into my future.
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