To Be A Teacher

If you're not familiar with the adventurous process of becoming a licensed teacher, you are truly missing out on what feels like a giant scavenger hunt.  When Emerson first became a teacher, he at least had the assistance of Utah Valley University in getting everything together to be submitted to Utah's State Office of Education.  For the special education endorsement, Weber State University submitted the information on the classes he completed.  Emerson had to get evaluations done on his student teaching and submit them and then pass the Praxis exam (which he did).  We finally got the last of his teacher's work sample/portfolio together and sent it in on Monday.  Since Emerson's level 1 teaching license expires this month, he's been working on upgrading to his level 2 license.  That involved another Praxis exam (passed!) and getting recommendations and other paperwork signed.  The paperwork was actually the toughest part since his former boss at Heritage was not very accommodating. We also had to get paperwork signed by his current employer. Everything's now on its way to the state and he should be all upgraded and ready to go soon.  Our hope is that having the special education endorsement completed will open a few more doors.  Job openings for teachers in Utah are pretty limited and they're much pickier.  The really great news is that UVU plans to have Emerson teach the same special populations PE class next year.