It seems like switching your major during college is almost an expected thing many students switch multiple times until they find what s right for them Perhaps I was an odd ball then I knew when I graduated from high school that I wanted to major in mechanical engineering and had already been accepted at Drexel University in Philadelphia Pennsylvania Once I got there I remained true to this course I liked mechanical engineering and earning a bachelors degree in the subject was something I have no regrets about even today as a high school physics teacher There was a time before I got my first full time engineering job when I gave some serious thought to becoming a high school teacher I was substitute teaching for some income during my search for an engineering job and was inspired by the interactions I had with high school students I found that I could identify with them understand the questions concerns they had over life adulthood careers and at the same time I had a large jump on them in the learning curve I felt I wanted to be able to give them the answers to things I had to struggle over and worry through Why should they have to deal with that garbage when they could be focusing on the more important things Discussion with my mother a retired teacher herself lead me away from the teaching path I had a promising career ahead of me in Engineering Time to earn back some of that tuition money I did start full time in Engineering soon enough with a job on the Webster New York Campus of Xerox Corporation This was considered a big deal I had a nice starting salary benefits a major employer that invested in it s employees people around me to learn the ropes from and room to grow Xerox along with the rest of the economy did have some problems with it s business and I soon made a job change I began working for another company with an increase in pay Just under 6 months after I started however this new company went through some major restructuring which included the elimination of the facility 1 I worked in I was one of many who lost their jobs Things were looking lean economically but I was able to start again with another employer about 7 months later This unfortunately did not last either and I found myself laid off again 6 months after amid a recession in early 2002 The job market for engineering was very poor during this time and a year after losing my job I was still without work Running out of unemployment benefits I began doing part time temporary work including substitute teaching Once again I felt an attraction to the teaching profession and environment I felt it was something that I could do and that I could help kids I spoke with friends family about the idea and got a lot of encouragement I started investigating what it would take to get licensed to teach mathematics and Physics at the High school level Looking at buffalo State college near where I lived I found it would take a couple years for me to get a teaching license for math When I went over and talked to the Physics folks however I found things were different I could get a special teaching license in less than a year that would allow me to teach while being mentored by a professional s This was my introduction to the concept of alternative certification It was around May 2003 when I found myself in the Sciences building at Buffalo State talking to a couple of the professors about this new program for Physics teachers the Transition B alternate certification that they had set up following New York State Department of Education guidelines My being out of work for an extended period made new training to facilitate my career change much more palatable Still I had to consider how much time and money this was all going to take The school year was almost over but September was a few short months away Would it actually be possible for me to be licensed to teach in so short a time The answer was that yes it was possible and in the end turned out to be very much a reality 2 For my own experience this career change was financially feasible Had I had a wife children I m not so certain I did have a house payment to make and working even part time during the summer institute classes was nearly impossible I had to really scrape financially but everything worked out Once I made the decision to join the program I fulfilled an observation requirement by sitting in on classes run by other teachers at the school where I had started subbing as well as at some other local schools I also took an evening class on exceptional education During this time I could work as a substitute teacher and do other jobs my own class was a pretty small part of my schedule July and parts of August were a reverse of this scenario I was taking the Summer Institute classes at Buff State think Boot Camp for a potential Physics Teacher These are very intensive how to teach Physics courses I mentioned before We went to classes about 40 hours a week for over two weeks spending a good portion of our evenings and weekends doing homework assignments It was during or right after the first course that I went with a couple hundred other teachers potential teachers from all around the area and took New York State s LAST Liberal Arts Sciences Test and Physics CST Content Specialty Test The first exam assesses basic academic skills can you correctly read write and interpret the English language and do high school level Mathematics The second as the name suggests is to determine if you know enough Physics to be able to teach it I found the test difficult requiring a high level of knowledge Honestly I felt that I had most likely failed the CST but to my pleasant surprise I had actually passed both exams With the State exams and my first tough course out of the way I went right back to Buff State and spent a second 2 weeks on an additional one of these courses just in case I hadn t had enough the first time around Lastly I rounded out the summer doing an 3 Independent study in Adolescent Psychology which allowed me to be a prospective candidate for a teaching job in September Several of us going through these summer programs were also eager for any news of new or potential job openings at schools in the region There wasn t a lot of real positive news until an opening in Batavia came to our attention A small Catholic High School was anticipating a need for a Physics teacher for the start of their school year after Labor Day I and a peer in the program went in for interviews
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