An Apology and a Poem

I am so sorry I have not written much lately on this here blog. Blame my students. Well, actually, blame me for giving so many assignments!

You see, this 9-week grading period ends tomorrow and grades have to be in by Friday morning at 10:00 AM. I spent the last two weeks previous to this one studying for my ABCTE exams and so I am two weeks behind in grading.

Woe is me.

But I'm the masochist that assigns so many grades. Teachers are required to have a minimum of 18 grades per grading period. I have, um, about 40 per class. No lie.

So pretty much: WOE.

Despite all this, I still took the time to visit my little blog and leave my loyal readers this note. Oh, and I wrote a poem (yah, I know, I should be grading, but when the Muse pays a visit, you can't exactly kick her out! :p). I have no idea where this poem came from as I am very happy with my boyf, thankyouverymuch.

Thoughts & comments greatly appreciated.

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I dreamt of water

The night you left, I dreamt of water

Rippling, undulating sheets of blue

The same exact color of your eyes.

The sun glancing on it like an afterthought.

I carried the memory of you

Into my unconscious state:

The sugar-sweet cadence of your voice.

The bitter taste of your name on my tongue.

What happens when the whole of love suddenly disappears?

Is there anything left in its absence?

What happens when time ceases to matter?

Do the seconds fall away to oblivion?

Maybe I am like the after-image burned black onto a white wall

After the calculated obliteration of an atom bomb.

Maybe you are the forgotten ocean residing

In the barren recesses of my dessicated heart.

So apparently I'm "Distinguished."

This week I took the two exams I needed in order to complete my teaching certification with ABCTE: the Professional Teaching Knowledge Exam and English Language Arts (6-12) Exam. I found out about this certification program by complete accident -- my temporary teaching certificate expires on June 30th, and after taking the Florida teaching certification exams and thinking that was all I needed to be on track, I received a quite unwelcome surprise when my oh-so-wonderful state notified me I needed to take six education courses to complete my certification.

What?!

Yeah, that was pretty much my reaction. Plus a couple of expletives that are not worth repeating here on my family-friendly blog. So I fretted and fumed and was all set to murder myself via six classes in one semester at FIU while teaching full-time. (FYI: the tuition would've cost me over $5,000.00, not to mention the cost of my sanity and time.) I figured, this is what I have to do. It sucks, but I love teaching, so I will do it.

I forget how I found out about ABCTE. Possibly during my mad scramble online to research the different routes to certification. I registered to take my six classes of EPIC FAIL at the beginning of December. On December 18th, I found out about the program. How you had to pay $800.00 upfront and then just pass two exams in order to complete the program. No classes. No other work. Just pay the money and take the exams. That same day I dropped the six classes of EPIC FAIL at FIU and signed up with ABCTE.

Now the exams were the same ones I took previously, except that they were ABCTE's version and supposedly harder than Florida's exams. And yes, I did have to shell out $800.00, but I figured that was a deal compared to the $5,000+ I would've paid at FIU. So I was thrilled, yes. I couldn't believe there was no catch.

The catch was this -- ABCTE's exams are much harder than Florida's certification exams. I discovered this after taking some practice tests online. This made me order their CD-ROM Practice Tests, which I used to help me study in the last two weeks leading up to my first exam. Thank God I bought those CD-ROMs... I truly believe they helped me pass the tests. :-D

So I took the Education exam on Monday and scored a 295. You need a 270 to pass. I would've been happy with a flipping 270, but was pleased with the 295. The score sheet for the Education exam said I was "Proficient" and that was enough for me. Especially since I kept getting a 267 on the practice tests on the CD-ROM. :-0

On Wednesday I took my remaning test, English. You also need a 270 to pass on that one. I got a 354. :-) The score sheet said I was "Distinguished." This elicited a hearty chuckle from me.

So Reader, I am both Proficient and Distinguished. Does this mean I can pass GO and collect my $200.00? Not yet. I don't receive confirmation of my having passed either exam until my essays for both are scored. You need a 4 to pass. I'm really, really hoping I passed. I'm cautiously optimistic for now. ABTCE told me it usually takes a month for them to grade the essays...

It's going to be a long month!

At least I can use that time to start work on my next quest, THE THESIS.

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By the by, if you haven't taken my Bloggiversary Quiz yet, what are you waiting for?! The deadline is tomorrow. I will post the results then. :)