Got out for a good ride this AM on the new bike after our Starbucks date. Surprisingly the dog park was mostly snow free and not too muddy so I did laps for a couple hours and took it up and down a couple other hills around my house. No pictures but I'll post some more when I get outside on nicer trails. The Mountain King impressed today, it's not a 2.4 (or a 2.2 really) but it does bite really well in the corners which is what I want out of an all purpose front tire. No major downsides noticed yet but it does take a little more english on the bars to change directions on fast singletrack turns. Still going through the annoying new bike tweaks like brake and bar positioning but so far I'm really happy. More to come...
This afternoon I spent some more time studying for my Praxis II test. This time I missed 3 questions with only 1 that I was clueless on and I timed 20 questions in about 55 minutes. Still need to get faster and work on those triangle rules but I'm getting better.
January is over tomorrow and I'm dangerously close to breaking my mileage record. Baring any major catastrophe I think I'll take down the January 2007 record of 1007 miles.
Showing posts with label teaching. Show all posts
Showing posts with label teaching. Show all posts
Friday, January 30
Wednesday, August 20
Teaching High School Math and Science?
A while back I submitted an alternative teaching license application to the Colorado Department of Education as some of you already know. This morning I got a big envelope with the results of their review of my transcript and so far I'm pretty happy. I'm qualified in terms of coursework to teach secondary math pending passing the PRAXIS or PLACE math subject test. Considering I've done math for engineering beyond differential equations that should be a given but I don't make the rules. In science they say I'm just missing 6 credit hours of biology which I actually may already have but I need to contact the CDE about that. I'm hoping they missed the credits given for my 5 (highest score) on the AP Biology test in high which CU has recognized on my college transcript. Either way I need to rectify that through coursework or my transcript and also take the science subject area tests on the PRAXIS or PLACE.
So my next steps look like this:
1) Schedule my tests since I'll need those regardless. I've looked at the material and it's no problem as long as I do a little studying and review. Some stuff has been years since I've covered it but I'm confident in my overall understanding.
2) Contact the CDE and see if I can use my current coursework and life experience (testing in a laboratory for my last job) to round out my needed 6 biology credits.
3) Take some community college or online biology classes if the CDE still deems me deficient in that area.
If I can take care of that stuff then I should earn a letter of eligibility with which to apply to schools directly for one of several alternative teaching programs. My guess is the latest I would start teaching would be one year from now but of course that is still dependent on a few things out of my control. I would prefer (I think) to teach science but at the very least it would be nice to have both math and science endorsements to fall back on.
Yikes it's all a little scary but I think it's a good thing. I've always considered being a teacher but money had been a big road block. Now that Marni and I own a house and have a good handle on our finances and what teachers can earn, it seems like a reasonable career for both of us. Sure it will never give me six figures but it's a career where I feel like I can make a difference which is more than I've been able to say about most of the jobs I've held to this point.
So my next steps look like this:
1) Schedule my tests since I'll need those regardless. I've looked at the material and it's no problem as long as I do a little studying and review. Some stuff has been years since I've covered it but I'm confident in my overall understanding.
2) Contact the CDE and see if I can use my current coursework and life experience (testing in a laboratory for my last job) to round out my needed 6 biology credits.
3) Take some community college or online biology classes if the CDE still deems me deficient in that area.
If I can take care of that stuff then I should earn a letter of eligibility with which to apply to schools directly for one of several alternative teaching programs. My guess is the latest I would start teaching would be one year from now but of course that is still dependent on a few things out of my control. I would prefer (I think) to teach science but at the very least it would be nice to have both math and science endorsements to fall back on.
Yikes it's all a little scary but I think it's a good thing. I've always considered being a teacher but money had been a big road block. Now that Marni and I own a house and have a good handle on our finances and what teachers can earn, it seems like a reasonable career for both of us. Sure it will never give me six figures but it's a career where I feel like I can make a difference which is more than I've been able to say about most of the jobs I've held to this point.
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