Fully Certified

As I am typing I cannot believe I am typing these words, but life has its way of keeping you on your toes.  Earlier this week I officially became a fully certified teacher in South Carolina.

When I began college (at Winthrop University- Go Eagles!) I KNEW I was going to be a teacher and I KNEW I was going to teach in South Carolina.  Well I was right, but I was also so very wrong.

After graduating I taught second grade in a small rural town in South Carolina.  At the end of that school year Peter graduated and accepted a job in Richmond, VA.  We moved right after the school year ended and the next school year I taught second grade right in the heart of Richmond.

The process to become a fully certified teacher in South Carolina after you graduate is a two year process, but since I didn't teach in South Carolina for two years I never became fully certified here.  I am fully certified to teach in Virginia, the only other state I have been certified to teach in.  I didn't even apply for my full certificate until we lived in Texas, but I'm getting too far ahead of myself.

After about 11 months in Richmond we found out we were moving to Seattle, WA.  I interviewed at a handful of public schools there, but the requirements of public school teachers were just too far out of my comfort zone at that time.  {I had just taken a one-way flight to a place I'd never been before for cryin' out loud!}  I ended up accepting a position as a pre-kindergarten teacher at the most wonderful private school!  After about 8 or 9 months in Seattle we found out we were moving to Frisco, TX (just outside of Dallas).  When we moved to Frisco I accepted a position at a private preschool teaching pre-kindergarten and finished the requirements to become a fully certified teacher in Virginia.  Then I started applying for my Texas teaching certificate.

While all of this was going on I was offered my position as assistant director at a Montessori school.  While I was working in Seattle I became really interested in administration and it was like this opportunity fell from the sky into my lap, so I jumped on it.  I loved it and I stopped pursuing my Texas teaching certificate.  Of course after almost two years in Frisco, fate would have it that we would move back to South Carolina.

I wrestled with what to in terms of work for a short while (this was by far the quickest move we have made), but ultimately decided it was time to go back into the classroom, so that's what I did.  Because I never completed the second year of evaluation in South Carolina, but was fully certified to teach in another state I was told I would have to go through one semester of evaluation in order to become fully certified in South Carolina.

I worked SO hard and got a perfect score on each of the eight domains you're evaluated in, but in December of 2018 I got some disappointing news- the district had made a mistake and because I had only taught in Virginia for one year I had to go through a full school year of evaluation- just like a second year teacher in South Carolina would.

So it's been a long time coming, but I did it and I'm finally done!  Just like I always KNEW I would be, I am a fully certified teacher in South Carolina.  It just took me a few extra years to get there, but I wouldn't have it any other way!