I'm Officially a Licensed Teacher!

Proof that I am, in fact, licensed to teach in the State of Oregon! You can access this same page (and any other teacher that you have ever had in Oregon) at this website: Teacher Standards and Practices Commission - License Inquiry (you don't have to know anything other than their last name). Pretty cool, huh?
Hello wonderful former students!

I hope and trust that everyone had another great week. I am down to my last week at Lewis and Clark, and even though I technically haven't graduated yet, I did receive my teaching license in the mail this week! Very exciting times, though it may not do me much good because there has been a grand total of TWO jobs in the State of Oregon posted for High School Social Studies this summer so far to apply to. Still haven't heard back from either of them. Bad times to be a new teacher - but as I said to you all many times this year, I am confident that is will all work out somehow, and plus, there is absolutely nothing that could top teaching you guys! :-)

In fact, funny story: last year on this day, July 10th, 2008, I had my first ever meeting with Mrs. DeFrance and Mrs. Ashdown, where they interviewed me to determine if I would be a good fit for Westview. I got the word back from Lewis and Clark about an hour after the interview - they loved me, and I was in! Fast forward to now, and I cannot believe what an amazing year it was! Way too fast, if you ask me.

So yes, anyway, I am officially done with my Masters Degree requirements next Wednesday at 5:00 PM. That is when my last class gets out. However, it seems like an incredibly tall task to get there! Here's a sampling of the work that is due for me this next week:

1) Memorize three pages of Mock Trial testimony for Monday. Mr. Sanderson has us arguing a sexual harassment case and I am supposed to be the expert witness - a clinical psychologist. I've never memorized lines from a script before, so this will be interesting!

2) Teach lesson on why the economy completely collapsed last year. This is actually incredibly interesting, even though it is very complex. Because even us teachers have a hard time understanding it all, Mr. Copley (he came in to visit Period 1 one day, remember) had us all read the transcripts to these NPR programs which do a phenomenal job of breaking it all down. It is a little much, but if you are curious as to what the heck is going on and why the government had to bail the banks out and all of that, I would highly recommend this. Just incredible.

This American Life - Episode #355 - The Giant Pool of Money.

This American Life - Episode #365 - Another Frightening Show About the Economy.

The link to listen is the orange button next to "Full Episode" on the left side.

3) Remake my old lesson plans on either Rwanda or Nigeria to accommodate ESL learners better. This an assignment from the English Language Learner class I am taking. Basically, I have to redo 3 of my old lessons to do better at reaching everyone in the class.

4) Mr. Sanderson has us doing a curriculum development project, which involves creating an entirely new unit for the future. Mine is on teaching the Fourth Amendment - Search and Seizure. You guys would love it, I am sure! :-)

5) Write up reflections and thoughts on economic reading and discussion. Two to three pages.

And that isn't even all of it! You can see why I have been super busy! I will be even more busy this weekend, because tomorrow (Saturday) morning, I am heading down to Gold Beach, Oregon for my childhood best friend's wedding. It is a 6 hour drive, and my entire family is going down and spending the night, as my friend, John Traut, has been my next door neighbor for 19 years. Remember JTrizzOut from the music video? Here's a picture of me and him a couple of years ago:


From left to right, Clarke Miller, Ryan Bowen (speaking of Ryan, you should be delighted to hear that the organization he is working with over in Rwanda, Play for Hope, just won a $10,000 grant! woo hoo!), Tarah (John's soon to be wife), John, and me.
Super exciting, but it also means that I have to be memorizing script the entire drive down! Lots to do! I can't wait to finally be able to take some pictures - it has been way too long since I have had the opportunity to! I will try to post some of them if they turn out good. Until then, everyone seriously needs to be checking out Mary Hare's Flickr, which is just ridiculously good. You have a ton of talent Mary! :-)

That should just about do it for the update, everyone! I promise to be more communicative when I get done with school! Have a fantastic week!

And now, to end the post, I present:

The most random classes that I am now endorsed to be able to teach:

Middle School -
Drama (haha - maybe I would bring my sister in as a guest speaker for 80% of the time)

High School -
Anthropology
AP Macroeconomics (you know after taking a class at Lewis and Clark this summer, this actually wouldn't be a disaster, I hope)
Business Law (I know next to nothing about this)
Eastern Religions
IB Theory of Knowledge
Modern Intellectual History (what does that even mean?)

You see, this is why I love teaching Social Studies - it is EVERYTHING! You really have to know something about every subject there is!

Until next time, keep enjoying summer! Let me know what you are up to!