I'm a teacher; it's official

So I'm done with my credential program, I finally received my California Single Subject Teaching Credential in Social Science. That means I'm qualified to teach U.S. History, World History, Economics and Government classes to grades 6-12 in any classroom in the country. That said, I have to do a 2 year series of professional development classes once a week once I have a job, called BITSA, in order to "clear" my credential. I have 5 years to complete that.

It feels good to have the credential done, though. It's the most rigorous teacher certification in the country, amounting to just under 2 years of full-time graduate level classes, over 50 hours of observation logged, and 3 months of hands-on student teaching (unpaid). Definitely harder than just getting a master's degree.

What's ironic is that this is probably the worst time in the history of California to become a teacher. The state is over its head in debt; the state budget is in freefall, and they're cutting money left and right. LAUSD has had to issue pink slips to 9,000 employees, about 5,000 of those are teachers. Now, pink slips aren't necessarily layoffs, but there is a hiring freeze and those with pink slips are looking for jobs already. Which isn't good for those just entering the workforce.

Luckily, we have a lot of expanding "charter" schools, which are schools outside of the local school district system. These are a little complicated to explain, but they are basically schools mandated by the state to operate with special funds in inner city areas, schools that don't have geologic layers of bureaucracy getting in the way of teaching innovation and resources reaching the students that need them most. Granted, there's worse pay, worse benefits and non ironclad union contract, but you'll be able to park your car safely in Watts and have a smartboard and 2 textbooks for every student. Which are definite bonuses.

Anyway, we'll see how it goes. I'm doing lots of substitute teaching and studying for the Math CSET. A little surfing when there's time off.