After twelve years in education...

I am no longer an intern. Thank goodness. For crying out loud. Geesh.

It's been a two-year saga. I knew that going from a career in private schools and higher education would mean that I'd need to jump through some hoops to get to teach in public education. But, as I've said before, I never thought that every time I made it through a hoop, they would make the next hoop smaller and light it on fire. 

I have a MATESL degree from a well-respected program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I spent a year teaching overseas in a k-12 environment. I came home to spend a year working as an intern at Utah State University in their intensive English Language Institute. From there, I moved to NW Indiana to a private high school where I taught ESL for three years and then worked in the student leadership program for three years. From there, I moved to Kentucky for an ill-fated job at an experiential learning place. From there, I moved to another part of Kentucky to take a job teaching ESL at the middle school level. BUT...the public school requires a pedigree that I didn't have, so I needed to get to work.

After much wrangling, many phone calls, and several strings being pulled by people above me in the system (to whom I am forever going to be grateful), I found out that I would only need to do a portfolio demonstrating my teaching experience and compliance with the New Teacher Standards for the state of Kentucky. Upon successful submission of that portfolio, I would be able to take several tests and then, I thought, I would have the necessary pedigree to teach ESL. Prior to the wrangling, phone calls, and string pulling, I was actually told that in order to be eligible to teach in Kentucky Public Schools, I would need to complete a second bachelor's degree or, alternatively, get another Master's degree in an area that I'm not remotely interested in and spend a year teaching in that area. I was grateful for the string-pulling. 

So I spent a full six months of the last school year compiling a teaching portfolio with sample teaching units, reflective pieces, and other documentation (references, notes from students, student work samples) to try to accurately reflect my ability to teach English and English as a Second Language (because Kentucky is just starting to offer the option of English as a Second Language as a standalone certificate, I needed to get my teaching certificate in another area first and then get the ESL endorsement). I was quite proud of my 127 page teaching portfolio and even more pleased when I finally submitted it and it was accepted.

The next step was to spend $435.00 on Praxis tests over English Literature, Teaching Methods, ESL, and the like. That was another two months of studying--I had to review works of literature I hadn't looked at in 10 years. Most people take these tests immediately upon graduation from their programs--I've been out of school since 1997. It was fun to do all that reading, but with a wedding about to happen last June, I would have liked to have had the time for other things! I took (and passed) my last Praxis test the weekend before our wedding last June. I was all set! (Or so I thought).

When we started school this last August, a teacher whom I admire and respect in my building came to me and said, "Kim, I'm going to be your resource teacher for this year. You're my intern!" I smiled in that polite, "I have no clue what you are talking about" kind of a way and said I'd look forward to that. Then I stopped and said, "Wait. Intern?" That conversation began a whole other round of wrangling and resume-submission and argument with everyone from the superintendent on up through the head of the department of education. It turns out that anyone coming into the state of Kentucky with less than three years of teaching experience is required to go through an intern year. 

Wait. I have three years experience. 

Ay, there's the rub. Those three years experience have to be following certification. 

But I got my certification based on my experience. [Imagine three different phone calls with this line being said by me followed by silence on the other end of the line]. 

We filed protest after protest, but they all fell on deaf ears. Regardless of the lack of logic of it all, I ended up an intern after twelve years of teaching. And an intern position meant another portfolio, 70 hours of conferencing, meetings, observations... sigh. And, it meant that I still didn't actually have my teaching certificate--I just had my intern certificate.

Fortunately, it's been a good year. I've gone through some more hoops (although not as many as some had to go through!), and I've just today completed the internship. When I got home, I paid the $35.00 via ePay for my teaching certificate, and I will hope to see it in the mail in the next few weeks. Phew.

But seriously. All this drama. I consider myself highly qualified to teach, honestly. And I had to spend two years proving it before the state would officially let me have a classroom. I can understand why people who don't take a traditional route to education can get discouraged by the process. I was also very lucky to have incredibly strong advocates in my principal and the superintendent of schools. Still, it was such a lot of work that a lot of people had to do when someone with their finger on the right button in Frankfort just needed to say, "Stop the madness!" 

Now, I'll write about my position on tenure in another post (don't think it should exist), but I do wish that more people would have to prove themselves as qualified to KEEP their classroom in public education. They should have to go through what I had to go through just to get a classroom. But it's amazing how much work it all was. I'm glad that it's over. (We did have a celebratory DQ blizzard on the way home!)