Oh to be a Teacher…

Tuesday I start “Student Teaching”. Student teaching is a one of the last steps you do to get a Missouri teaching certificate. It is basically an internship in someone else’s classroom, where you have graduated duties, so that you start off doing nothing and end up doing everything. The first week you just watch the real teacher, the second week you take attendance, the third week you teach one class, the second week you take over two classes, etc. At least that is how it is supposed to work. The teacher you are with can make you do whatever he or she wants to, so I really have no idea what’s going to happen. I only met with my teacher one time briefly and we basically just said hi and that was it.

The big problem with student teaching is you don’t get paid. Plus you have to pay the university for twelve credit hours. It is really designed for a young person that is in college. Student teaching would be their last semester and the culmination of their studies before they go out into the real world. That may work out great for college kids, but for big dummies like me who decide to try teaching when they are 38 years old and have been working in the real world for YEARS, it can be quite a hardship. I decided to try this teaching thing about three years ago when I realized I didn’t want to work in a laboratory the rest of my life. So while I took one or two night classes every semester, whenever I got any “extra” money, such as overtime or a tax refund, I socked it away in a savings account because I knew I had this student teaching thing coming up. And now it’s here.

Believe it or not, what I am worried about most is what I am going to wear. Working in a lab for all these years, all I ever wore was blue jeans and semi-nice shirts. I had one dress that I wore if I ever had to go to a wedding or funeral. That was it. So the last couple of weeks I have been on a clothes-buying spree. Now, my idea of a clothes-buying spree is probably not the same as your idea of a clothes-buying spree. I went to the mall but all they had was weird, bizarre stuff a clown might like. So I went to Wal-Mart and spent about $100, went to K-Mart and spent about the same, then I went to some garage sales and a resale shop where I spent a total of twelve dollars-- and now I’m all set. I have slacks and skirts and dresses out the wazoo. Now if I only knew how to iron!