When I finished my master's in literacy back in 2006 I swore I would never go back to school again. I was tired, felt old (even though I was only 26), and couldn't imagine studying anything else. I left my pre-k teaching position at HeadStart in 2008 for several reasons. In retrospect it was probably a good decision, but if I had known then just how impossible finding a job was I may have stayed in that position for longer. Unfortunately I'm not alone in the situation of having two certifications (+ 1 in NJ) and not being able to get a full time teaching job. Sometime back in April I was discussing this conundrum with a friend and she told me that principals these days are tossing out resumes with two or less certifications because budgets are constantly being cut and they need to be able to move teachers around to different positions. Unfortunately the only way to get another certification is to go back to school....but for what sort of degree?
I don't ever want to be a principal, so anything in leadership was out of the question. Since I've been working in a special ed classroom for the past 3 years it only made sense to actually be certified in special ed, except that all of the special ed programs I looked at took 3 years to complete and required another student teaching experience. "Are you serious?" I thought. There was no way I was spending the next 3 years of my life in grad school. Financially I couldn't afford it and honestly special ed isn't my passion. I could get my certificate in Autism, but I don't really feel like I'd make a good Autism teacher.
So I prayed and told God that if He wanted me to go back to school He'd have to show me a program which was shorter than three years, offer classes I'd enjoy taking, and be able to afford it financially. By the end of the day He showed me His program. My grad school alma mater, LIU, just "happens" to have an advanced certificate in childhood special education program for teachers who already possess a masters and at least one teaching certificate. It is only a 21 credit degree and the courses offered actually sounded really interesting because they revolve around a variety of disabilities and there's a course in how to handle special ed students in the mainstream classroom, which is something I really want to learn more about.
I applied and got accepted with 6 transfer credits from my literacy major and a 25% tuition reduction as an alumni. So, this means I can start classes this fall and be done by next June! My bill will probably come out to somewhere in the $14,000 range, which isn't as bad as it could be, but still rather overwhelming to me. Especially since I'll need to cut down on my hours at work in order to go to school. Right now I'm in the process of applying for various scholarships and praying I get some more financial aid. Every little bit helps because I honestly don't know how I'm going to pay that much money. I have to keep reminding myself to take things one day at a time though :).
