Expired License to Teach

On my birthday my substitute teaching license expired. :( Not that I didn't get a lot of use out of it! I obtained the substitute license in 2001 and had it for six years, expiring on my birthday. Oh well. I'll probably never work as a teacher again, but that's okay.

I also saw my original three year standard license listed. It has been expired for almost 26 years. I was planning on being a History teacher, but that didn't pan out. I had a miserable time student teaching at a high school near that other H town. I didn't get along with my mentor teacher in fact I had to call in my prof to help clear the air. The mentor teacher would correct my outlines over and over. Why couldn't he let me do it my way?

Then after I graduated I had many letters sent out to high schools throughout Kansas and only got one interview in a small town. Even then, they told me upfront that they were looking for a coach and then a teacher. Like I would/could coach football, why did they even bother interviewing me? So after that I substituted around the R county area for a few months. Did I enjoy it? No. Some early mornings I refused to go in and work. When I moved to the W town for another higher paying job I was still getting substitute job calls even though I had moved. They were desperate for subs.

Fast forward twenty-one years later...I would have taken all the jobs that were offered in H town but wasn't offered many jobs. I switched from high school to elementary ed thinking it would be easier. It was not. I would only get called for para jobs and be treated like a speck of dirt in one classroom. Some paras, whom I had to deal with didn't like me. On the other hand, there have been other paras I have worked with whom I have great respect for and thank them for making my job easier. A great deal of these paras have either moved out of the district or got out of teaching completely.

Now I am out of teaching completely. I feel so much better about my recent career choice. :)