Going on Week 3

I found out today that since I’ve just arrived in the UK and only under a Visa, I can’t take my teacher training courses with “home” status tuition. I’d be shelling out $18k for two terms just to undergo training that will do nothing more than get me a teaching license in England.  Not worth it.  Ignorance was bliss for a while and I had this grand master plan how I’d work in the summer, then go back to school in the Fall.  Now I’m just going to have to work and keep on looking for a school online in the States to keep up my credentials until we get back.  Until then I’ll just have to try and find some kind of job without the Qualified Teacher Status here; teacher’s aide if they’ll let me.  I can always go to a temp agency or the Job Centre and find something non school related if the system won’t have me.

I’m now torn between the idea of getting an Learning and Technology degree from WGU (as the information states, this is for school media specialists) or the Ed Specialist program at Liberty University.

It’s mildly disappointing but it’s fine in the fact that I don’t have to try and force any kind of plans on myself.  Usually I’m full of organization and plans but now, heck, I can’t make any because I don’t know what’s around the corner.  I’m just enjoying being here with Steve and seeing what life, school and career offer me next.

So I have Librarians as Instructional Partners and Library Management as my courses this term.  So far I’m a bit disappointed with my “fun” class of the Instructional Partners class.  School Librarian classes before were cool.  This one is full of wikis with information all over the place instead of just in the main class webpage.  Then we have a ton of (groan) partner work.  (I should have known.)  But since it’s my last term, the class is paid for and it’s technically an elective, I’ll grin and bear it.  The Library Management class is my main focus so I have to get an A in that and grab that degree in May.  Hooray! Anyway, I did a few things for my class that I wanted to post.

Librarians as Instructional Partners Online Discussion

First, my Librarians as Instructional Partners class required me to make a short video of myself as a portrait of what kind of collaborator I am based on a couple of (not really accurate I don’t think) personality tests. 

My Jung Typology test says that I am an INFJ: Introverted 11%, Intuitive 25%, Feeling 38% and Judging 67%. I really don’t feel that is my personality at all, however. I find the term “judging” to sound harsh rather and assessing, carefully thinking through, planning and organizing, which is what I do. Hartzell Needs Assessment indicates a balance of needs for achievement, power and affirmation. I had four questions that I answered with a 1 or 2 on each section.

http://animoto.com/play/WLtn5kUsQFBJwj3lzjNvYg#

Secondly, today I had to post my reason for wanting to be a school librarian and, thus, collaborator with school teachers:

I love books and I love being important

It sounds silly but it’s true. I love the idea of being a go-to person of importance. I’ve been an English teacher. I’ve had librarians who are very helpful, on top of their game, and always willing to help. That’s the kind of librarian a teacher needs as a collaborator and as a kind of support system. I will say though, sadly, I’ve run into school librarians who weren’t as helpful when I needed interviews or help on assignments in my other classes. I want to do the best I can, learn as much as I can, and play a major role in the function of my future school. I love the idea of being the one whom people come to for help whether they are students or teachers. I know that principals rely a lot of the librarians for teacher training in new technologies or resources. The school librarian is an essential part of the school. My love for learning, literature and, let’s face it, books, is why I want to be a classroom-library collaborator.

School, school and more school

While this site is predominately for my library studies information, I have a lot of education that will branch of and tie into the library career plan.  So while I say this is a site about my endeavors in librarianship, I still need to discuss my steps toward teaching.  As I said before, I hope to get into a school library but with 0 library jobs available in my new town, my only option is to go back into teaching.  With that said, I have two conundrums to work out.  First, for my FL Professional Teaching Certificate I need 6 credit hours to keep my certificate from expiring within my 5 years if I’m not in the classroom.  While Brevard County Schools said for me to just take a couple of non-degree seeking classes at University of Phoenix. After thinking about it, if I can help it, I’d rather take a couple classes toward an actual degree instead of tossing out $1000 to keep a certificate (in one state) up to date. 
What it’s kind of confusing, and maybe a bit disappointing to me, is that colleges seem to be like car lots these days.  If you show any interest in their program, they jump on it full force and will call and email relentlessly.  No, I don’t want to chat, I want information sent to me in the mail so I can look over the curriculum.  If I want to ask questions I’ll email or call.  I’ve had tons of messages left on my voicemail (over things that can be addressed in email, mind you).  When I went to interview for a position as a college recruiter for a private college in Daytona Beach a while back, they were interested in people who had business and sales backgrounds.  Granted, the kind of schools I want to get into are not the ones who chase you down, so I’m glad to have found reviews about the school I was going to sign on with.  What I had a hard time with is that advisors not only call constantly, they email the exact same information.  I was asked to apply 3-4 times.  Both GCU and Univ of Phoenix said that I had to reapply with my new, married name, change my degree plan, etc. with a whole new application form.  That means a bunch of application accounts and major confusion on both my and the advisors’ parts. 
The other thing that got me was their insistence that I apply for Financial Aid.  I explained to them that I already have my financial aid application tied in with TWU and I wouldn’t jeopardize messing that up for anything, especially since I’ll graduate after this coming term.  I contacted FAFSA about GCU saying to just add their school code so they could “see where I’m at.”  FAFSA said that I could add the school code and tell GCU not to do anything with the application because you can only get Financial Aid from one school at a time.  I didn’t trust some random school I didn’t know to not do anything with my financial information if they already knew I had no intention of taking out loans.  Still, the school continued to say, with every email enquiry about my application, that I had to apply (for the 3rd, 4th time) and fill out the FAFSA information, including Promissory Note for them.  When I finally flat out declined to do so they said, “Oh, no problem, you only need to do that if you’re going to take out a loan with us anyway.  Um…so why did they keep pressuring me to do that when I told them I wasn’t going to take loans out ahead of time?  Major red flag.
After all this back and forth stuff, I finally stumbled across Pitt Online which has an MEd in English program. There was no pressure to apply, maybe an email here or there from an actual person who had answers to my questions.  I found out that they are ranked #64 in U.S. News and World Report for 2011 and I would way rather have a state college on my transcript than an all-online school that seems a bit dodgy to begin with.  I talked to an advisor this morning and she was very helpful and talked to me about both of the Education programs that were available online.  The only hitch is some of the classes may require fieldwork or being in the classroom to utilize the course assignments but I may very well be doing that soon. Plus after NU got me to take classes and then claimed I was at my limit with financial aid until the very end (they’re tricky fellas) I can’t get my transcripts to them.  
Aside from all of this, yes, I still have to work on my U.K. Qualified Teacher Status (QTS).  I had mentioned before that the first school I applied for wanted my GCSE exam scores which, of course, I don’t have because I graduated from an American high school.  I was denied flat out for not having UK test scores.  The second school, however, was invited me for an interview in January.  I emailed the professor in charge of the PGCE whom I will interview with and asked if my lack of GSCE UK high school test scores is a problem.  I got an email back saying, “as far as I can tell, you're eligible, which is why you've been called for interview.”  Awesome news that made me very encouraged to go ahead and try to get to England sooner than I’d planned (by a week) and get to that interview. 
With all this stuff in motion, I’m thinking of making, yet another, blog to document my teaching endeavors.  I still have another term for the library studies, and I still plan on ending up as a school librarian but on my way to getting my dream job, I’m going to have to jump a few hoops.  I’ll want to document that too.
UPDATE: Turns out being hornswagged by National University means that UPitt won't accept me. I'll have to go back to GCU after all since it is a MEd degree I seek (not a Master's of Arts in Teaching or something similar.) Here's hoping it ends up okay.