Taking a 180

So my life has been going through a bit of a transition the past two months. So in case any of you don’t know already, I thought I would share what has been going on. Although I have been extremely hesitant to say the least to start down this path… I believe this is where God is leading me at this time. Beginning next week I am going to be a public high school math teacher. Officially. Aaaaah! To say I am nervous/scared/anxious/uncertain is an understatement. The past few months have been filled with certification classes and seminars, studying studying studying, researching school districts and applying for jobs (applying for teaching jobs is a whole other ball game – like applying for a job and school at the same time), interviewing, and contemplating.

After going through the whole graduate school application process this spring, I was accepted into the University of Houston’s MBA program. However after reflecting on it more, I determined I could not afford to go into further debt by going to grad school with my uncertain medical future, especially to get a degree in something I reeeeeeeeeeally didn’t care about. So, I decided to go down this teaching path for many reasons… one of the main being my health situation. My chronic back pain still being such of an issue, and after two years of doctors, surgeries, and therapies with there being no resolution in sight, I realized there was no way I could sit for 40 hours a week at a desk (which is where reverting back to accounting or most business jobs would take me). So when thinking what in the world can I do that I don’t have to really sit all day – teaching is the only plausible option that came to mind. In my past I have always swore I would never be a teacher. My life motto has become : Never. Say. Never. However, I do have a heart and passion for high school students and see the need of love, guidance, and teaching they are lacking so it was natural that if it came down to it, I would want to teach them. I chose math because I have always been a number person and for the most part math has always come easy to me… with the realization that this is not usually the case for most students. Plus, there is a huge demand statewide for high school math teachers (because NO ONE wants to take the freakin’ test you have to pass!) so I figured this would be the best way to guarantee getting a job for this fall.

It is more official as of yesterday because I got my test scores back. You see, I had to pass a Texas Math Grades 8-12 content test in order to be able to teach high school math (if I don’t pass I could only be in the classroom as a “permanent substitute”). The problem is I was told by pretty much every person I spoke to that this math test was unpassable – my certification program people told me not to take it, current math teachers who had been teaching 20+ years, everyone. And I heard many people had to take the test over and over multiple times in order to pass. Great. No wonder there are no math teachers. So I have been studying my booty off for about six weeks… my mind being filled with ellipses, matrices, statistics, probability, trigonometry, surface areas, derivatives, radii, don’t even get me started its been ridiculous. So I took the test this past Friday. OMG I felt like my brain had been raped. Seriously. It was so hard and so long. It was a five hour test that took me every millisecond the five hours to complete it without budging. If you took a bathroom or water break, it took away from your test time so I persevered through it and didn’t move. I really had no idea how I did but I found out yesterday… that I passed. Yeaaaaaa! Dude 85% baby. Guess I am more of a smarty pants than I thought. I am so relieved if only because I never have to take that test again. Ever!

So that said, I have accepted a position at a high school in Houston (no not Houston ISD) to be an Algebra I teacher this coming school year. It is school comprised (97%) of “economically disadvantaged” students as I call them, so that is going to be a challenge in and of itself but I feel this is where I can make the most impact. Okay well honestly this is the school I feel like God wants me to make the most impact because if it were really up to me I would have chosen a much more comfortable situation. Yep that’s that. I am going to have to start getting used to hearing “Miss Wilson” without looking behind my back thinking my mom’s there…

NO I have no intention of ever wearing a knit wool vest covered in anything resembling an apple, Christmas tree, Halloween pumpkin or any other holiday symbol. I still have a rep to protect.

ruthie