The Journey Begins!

For the purposes of this blog, my name is A.N. I wasn't always a special ed teacher. I started out as a social worker. During my position at that company, I worked with foster parents. I was specifically their worker and made sure their homes were compliant with all of our agency rules.

The agency was relatively new but was interconnected with other government child welfare agencies around the city. There really is no way to describe that job. I sat behind a desk about 75% of the time and would walk around foster parent's homes the other 25%.

The job was excruciatingly boring. I rarely had enough work to do, while the girl whose cubicle was adjacent to mine was increasingly busy. She rarely left early and rarely took days off. I, on the other hand, was so not busy that I was screaming in boredom.

While there, another member on our "team" (unit made up of 7-10 workers under an immediate supervisor) became my friend. She was extremely kind and friendly and almost "too good". We became friends and would often email or go for walks on our lunch hour. Her name was Izzy.

I began to scour the Internet frantically for another job, any job, to get me out of this place. I applied to numerous child welfare agencies. I had calls for interviews and did embark them. One day, while I was still bored and unhappy, I saw an ad on a job website to become a teacher. It was an alternative certification program.

I read about it for days, putting off applying. There was a deadline, but I had time, and I wanted to make sure it was something I could really see myself doing. It was a program that takes professionals from other careers and puts them in high-needs schools to be teachers. The opportunities at that time were for bilingual, math, science, and special education needs. My degree in social work seemed to best fit into special education.

It would be a life changing opportunity. Within two years of being this program, I would not only have my teaching certificate, already been teaching for those two years, but also have a Master's degree. Besides these important parts, I would also need to move into the city I would be teaching at. I could not live in an outlying suburb.

After discussing it with my husband, I applied. The application process involved resumes, letters of reference, transcripts, an application (of course), essays on specific teaching questions, and a "rigorous" interview process. I applied with fervor and fear.

Shortly after, as I was walking to the bathroom from my cubicle with Izzy, we discussed other job opportunities. She told me she had applied to this program. I couldn't believe my ears! I told her I had too. She did not believe me. We discussed it in excitement, and what we would do to prepare for the interview day.

Neither of us knew about the huge changes that waited ahead for us.