I am one of those people who never decided what she wanted
to be when she grew up: Jill of all
Trades mistress of none. In
college, I tried out a dozen majors, among them a math major. I started out as an economics major and
finished with an Art History degree, which pretty much gives you the idea.
I went on to earn a Master’s
degree in Architecture, planning on becoming the next Frank Lloyd Wright (minus
the soap opera bits). I only worked
briefly in architecture before becoming enthralled with my young children and
deciding to home school them, leaving any sort of career
ambitions behind for many years.
I came to teaching reluctantly after a divorce. By dusting off my unused Architecture degree
and taking a few education courses, l qualified as a teacher of Computer Aided
Design and Architecture. Ten years in, I
am a competent but not inspiring teacher who oscillates between the delights
and the despairs all teachers are familiar with. After so many years of teaching one subject,
I was looking for a change.
In the twenty some years since I earned my B.A., I had never quite forgotten the idea of a math major. Now the notion morphed into an
ambition to earn math teaching credential. Two years ago, I finally committed to earning the necessary 21 credits that would bolster the meager 9 credits I had earned way back when. With the help of strong coffee and
many backrubs from my husband, I sacrificed our summers to courses in calculus,
finite math, probability, and so on.
Timing, it turns out, it everything. I
finished the credential barely in time to avoid the latest round of teacher
layoffs. Just three weeks before school opened
for the fall semester, I was placed in my new position. Not only did the universe bless me with the
chance to teach math, but my new school is a magnet school only a few minutes
from my home. Clear evidence that the
toast does sometimes land butter side up.
With soaring optimism and great ambition, I have embarked on my first
year of teaching math—officially stamped “highly qualified” but with no math teaching
experience!
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