There's hope for me yet...

Yesterday I had my interview at SPU for admission to their Alternate Routes to Certification program. After being rejected by UW, it was so exciting to be asked to interview at SPU!! And this is definitely my first choice program. If I'm accepted, I would start classes in June and by August 2011 I would have my teaching certificate and my Masters in Teaching. Summer 2010 would be classes at SPU. Then in September, I would be placed in a local school where I would intern for the entire school year. During this year, I would take a few online classes, and one night a week I would head to SPU for class. Then in Summer 2011 I would take a few more classes at SPU to finish my Masters, and be ready to teach in September 2011! That's the hope anyway, if I am accepted this year. My interview went well, and I think I managed to conceal how nervous I was! At the end, I asked the director how big the program is. He said the cohort is usually about 40 students, but it may be larger this year because of the large number of applicants. There were about 25 people interviewing from the early admission group. I figure they will probably give between 10-15 spots to the early applicants, so that gives me around a 50% chance. Unfortunately, English teachers are not in high demand right now, and that puts me at a disadvantage. He explained that the ARC program was designed with the intention of intensive classes to quickly certify teachers in high-demand positions. Therefore, math, science and special ed teachers will make up a higher percentage of the accepted applicants than will english and humanities teachers. So now I just wait for about 3 weeks, until mid-February, when I will hear if I was accepted. It's frustrating to wait, and not be able to plan for the future yet, but I'm trying to be patient and stay positive! I know that whether I'm accepted this year or not, things will work out for the best. And while it would be discouraging to be rejected again, it wouldn't discourage me from my goal of becoming a teacher. So in about 3 weeks I should be posting either a very excited post or a very bummed out one!

Change of subject....I've been kind of stressed about my thesis lately, and feeling discouraged. It's hard for me to believe that I can write something worth publishing. I've been avoiding working on the project, not because I don't want to do it, but because I'm afraid that when I start writing, it won't be good enough. But tonight, armed with my Christmas presents from my dear sister Emily (she made me a Peter Pan notebook to record my thoughts in, and gave me Tinkerbell pencils), I headed to Starbucks and found the inspiration I needed. I wrote about 4 pages. And for the first time, it's actually writing that I can use! Everything I wrote can and will be expanded on, and I'm feeling like maybe I can handle this project after all!