I Did It!

Two years and 43 units later, I am on the brink of receiving my credential in elementary education. I have been teaching with an intern certificate, which allowed me to teach as credentialed staff in my own classroom with full salary and benefits. The only requirement was to be enrolled in and successfully complete this program. Once I take two finals, I will be done. My credential will be upgraded to a standard credential, highly qualified. It feels great to have accomplished this. I am going back to school as a middle aged mother of 5, and juggling it all was hard. I did not have a housewife cooking and cleaning for me. So, yes, I think I deserve to be proud of myself. And thankfully my family is doing just fine. They don't seem the worse for wear. If anything, I think I just gave them a great object lesson in doing hard things and not giving up. My husband has always given 200% to help us all, so he didn't have much more to offer. Even so, he squeaked out a little extra, we got more take out, and the house wasn't as clean. Priorities. I learned some things about myself along the way. I was smarter than I thought. I'm going into my finals with a 4.0. I also learned how to use all kinds of technology. I'm still not a crafty creative type of person, but that doesn't mean I don't have good ideas to implement in the classroom to create interesting lessons and keep kids engaged. My classroom isn't Pinterest worthy, but I still take education very seriously and get results with my students. I learned that I am a little competitive. I did not have to learn that I am sensitive. Like all strengths, the flip side can be a weakness. As I go into my third year of teaching, which will hopefully be in a new school and grade level, I will take the lessons I learned with me.