When my husband and I decided to start a family, one very big decision to make was in regards to childcare. Do we do daycare or does one of us stay home? Hands down we chose being at home and I was beyond thrilled to be a stay-at-home mom. It was hard work but very rewarding. I took part-time jobs here and there to help out with bills and to have some extra money. I ended up getting a job as a server at Applebees about 8 years ago. I worked nights while my husband worked days teaching 2nd grade. It worked perfectly for our family and we all got used to the schedule. A few years ago, I started to feel that a change was needed. Our kids were getting to the age of being more independent and we were finding our summers being gulped up by camping and family activities. Being a server has its perks, but weekends and holidays off is not one of them. I had graduated in 1996 with a BS in Corporate Wellness and was not seeing that as the career to re-enter with. With much discussion, we decided that going back to school to get my teaching license was the best fit for our family, and I was very excited about this! :)
The first step in starting a Teacher Licensure Program is to take the MTLE, Minnesota Teacher License Examination, in the areas of reading, writing, and math. Now, I hadn't cracked a textbook in over 15 years and this turned out to be quite a test! Thankfully, I have a husband who teaches and a few friends who are excellent in math, an area I have struggled with. I studied for a month or so and went and took the test. It turns out that I didn't pass the math portion. Ugh. That was a little hard to swallow but I kept a positive attitude and was happy that I was close to passing after being away from school for as long as I had been. I have rescheduled the math portion of the MTLE for August 19th and after taking Mathematics for Elementary School Teachers this summer, I am confident that I will pass the exam!
The final chapter in our text is all about Algebraic Equations and Coordinate Geometry, all of which is a huge portion of the MTLE. I found this particular chapter the most exciting chapter out of the text mainly because I know this is helping me tremendously for the upcoming exam. As I read through the text, I was thankful that many of the equations and problem solving techniques were familiar to me and that I was actually able to understand them. The terms slope, linear function, quadratic equation, factorization, midpoint, distance between points on a graph, and circle equation theorem sprinkled the entire chapter. Any fear I may have had for math has been squished! This course has helped me see that math is filled with equations and formulas, all of which are very logical and basically easy to input and solve once the time is taken to understand all that is taking place. I am excited to get back into the classroom for observation with my mentor and help students with math with a confidence unparalleled to 3 months ago. The culmination of this class has further confirmed that choosing a teaching path has been the right decision for me and my family.
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