The Ravings of Demented Rabbits

Hoops

So I've been talking about this whole "I'm trying to get into grad school for teaching" thing for a while now, but I haven't really talked about what that entails. It turns out that it's pretty complicated, especially compared to what it took to get into college for my bachelor's, which pretty much involved me taking the SAT, sending my results off to some places with some transcripts, and having them go "Dude. You're like, SO in."

Not so much this time around, as it turns out.

The first step is applying to Western Oregon University for admission as a graduate student. For normal people, this requires above a 3.0 GPA, plus transcripts. Since I'm special and don't have a greater than 3.0 GPA, I got to take the Miller Analogies Test, which was that whole emu thing. Since I got monster scores on said test, I feel good about my application, which has since been sent off, and I should hear about soon. Assuming I am accepted, that's step 1 in the Master's of Arts in Teaching (MAT) Program application.

Step 2 is nominally the Praxis I, in reading, 'riting, and 'rithmatic flavors. Kind of the big brother to the SAT, as it were. I have yet to take this, because the test date can vary. Having since taken my first set of Praxis IIs, the Praxis I is my next step.

Step 3 is a set of Praxis II tests for the subject area I want to teach, which is in this case social studies. That would be what I just spent Saturday taking.

Step 4 is getting a recommendation from one of my old professors saying that I'm not actually a loser. First I must locate said professors.

Step 5 is at least 30 hours of classroom experience in an actual HS classroom doing...whatever. Happily, having gone down and talked to the nice folks at the HS, they're going to let me come down and volunteer at some point in early September. So that's all cool.

Step 6 is 3 random essays about "Why you want to be a teacher" and such. No worries.

Step 7 is actually sort of optional, but if you want a good job later you have to do it, because nobody hires straight history teachers. So I get to take another set of Praxis IIs in mid-September to pick up another endorsement besides social studies. Current contenders are basic math and english. Science would be, but having not taken a science class since back in the day, well. This bears thought.

And then I send all this stuff in and hopefully they let me in, and then I start school in January.

Posted by Dwip at August 8, 2005 12:31 PM