The appointment at “Adult Ed. U” went well — I got my letter of eligibility for Foundational-level Math and they will waive the prerequisite courses because of the TFE exam. All except the computer class, which they said they would let me apply for permission to test out of. I got the letter yesterday denying my request to test out of it. Turns out you have to have at least one course on your transcript that has been taken at “Adult Ed. U” with at least a “B” before they will let you test out of anything. I figured they would have to get their money some way. Good news is that at this school, the computer class isn’t a prerequisite for the intern credential, it is only required before completing the program. So now the plan is to register for one of the intern classes while I’m teaching and then re-apply for permission to test out of the computer class. There is no way I’m going to pay $1300 for a class on Microsoft Office if I can test out of it for $50!
While most of my program is in a holding pattern until I actually land a job, they did get me set up with Taskstream and encourage me to go ahead and complete Part I of the TPA exam, which is now required of all California credential applicants. I worked on it in bits and pieces while the kids were otherwise occupied, and I was surprised to see tonight when I checked that I already had my score after submitting it on Tuesday. I got a 3 out of 4, which is passing, and all I care about. I probably only put a “3″ amount of effort into it. From what I understand, I can’t complete tasks 2 through 4 until I have my own classroom.
Now that I’m eligible to apply for jobs, I have been checking Edjoin about 50 times a day. The first secondary math teacher opening popped up earlier this week, but my husband talked me out of applying for it because it’s in a pretty tough school (ranked a “2″ in CA, which is pretty bad since 10 is the highest). I was excited to see that another job was posted today in a district that’s much better and also close to home, and I’ve already submitted my application for it. This one closes pretty quickly, so at least I shouldn’t have to wait too long to hear back. I have no idea what my chances are as an intern. I know the districts are supposed to give preference to fully credentialed teachers over interns, so we’ll see!
