How my teaching certification works

I have one week and one day left until I start Student Teaching. I am still terrified. Here is the break down of how my degree, certification and student teaching all intertwine:

• I am getting my Bachelor of Arts in the School of Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Texas at Dallas. The degree is technically a General Studies degree that is normally blank with a few core courses.

• My degree plan, however was filled out by the Teacher Development Center. If you follow all of the required steps and finish everything that the TDC tells you to, you are guaranteed to graduate with your full certification. They made sure I had all of the courses I needed to graduate and be skilled in my area. To be in the program you need to have a certain GPA, number of hours and high grades in education courses (such as Educational Psychology). Once you are in the program you take classes like Classroom Management and World History for Teachers (best class ever!)

• My Certification area is 8-12 Social Studies. Social Studies includes 8th and 11th grade US History, 10th grade World History, 9th grade Geography, Government, Economics, Sociology and Psychology. I had to take courses in all of them. 3 hours of Psych and Sociology, 6 hours of Econ and Government, 12 hours of History and 24 hours of Geography. In this case, Geography is my primary focus and History is my secondary. This means that I am more qualified and more likely to teach those classes in the future.

• Part of the program requires early field experience. To obtain this, I completed tutoring hours in a middle school and observed in a Dallas ISD high school. I have some interesting stories from these early encounters with teaching, but that is for another post. Another part of my program actually helps me develop tools I can use to get a job and use in the classroom. I've made lesson plans, developed a teaching portfolio, and I will even have official references to use on the job hunt through the teacher development center! The TDC is amazing- they have even given us materials that will help us write resumes that are teaching-centric and tips on how to interview for a position.

• The last part of both the Teacher Certification program and my degree plan is to Student Teach. Student Teaching is a full time unpaid internship. We have to pass two certification tests to student teach (everybody has to take them to teach, period)- a Pedagogy exam and a certification area exam (8-12 Social Studies). I was lucky enough to pass on my first try (it's expensive!) and was able to sign up for student teaching this fall. We get to choose a district in the area and the TDC works hard to match us with a teacher in our subjects in one of the schools. I will be in 11th grade US History this semester at a high school in one of the Dallas suburbs.

• This December, when I finish my student teaching I will be able to graduate. Upon graduation I will be a fully qualified student teacher complete with the tools I need to get a job.

I've been working towards student teaching for several years. Most teachers that go through university certification do not just wake up one day and think "I'll give teaching a go." It takes a pretty good amount of premeditation. I'm qualified. I can do this.