Tuesday, July 5, 2011

One Step Closer to Teaching...

About a month ago I had to take an exam called the Praxis. There are several different Praxises, but this one was a content test of literature and composition. So basically I took it to prove I know enough to be a qualified English teacher.

I hate taking tests, especially ones with a duration of two hours. I was very nervous for it, which Steph and Steve were witnesses of since they were at our apartment the night before and I was freaking out that I could only find four mechanical pencils (when it actually turned out that I learned later that night that the test doesn't allow mechanical pencils so Brandon picked up some regular pencils for me.)

ANYWAYS....

When I finished the test I felt content. I didn't feel like I failed it but I also didn't feel like I aced it.

Well I got the results today and I passed! I got a 170 out of 200, which isn't really that great since the passing score for Utah is 168. At the same time though it is a high enough score that I can teach in pretty much every state except Vermont, Virginia, and Connecticut (You need to score at least a 172) and some other states that don't use the Praxis system.

The part that killed me was the literature part. The majority of that section is here is a passage now tell me who wrote it and what the book is. I mean I read a lot, but not that much. In the other two sections I did really well on. I was only one or two points off from getting them all right.

I only have to take one more Praxis exam which is basically a test on classroom management, which I am not too worried about.

I really am excited to start teaching next year and even though I only get pretty average grades I am confident I am going to be a good teacher.

1 comment: