Always learning

With the changes to the Next Generation Science Standards, I have to get a new credential.  If I had known that by writing the new curriculum I would be working myself out of a job, I might have thought twice about putting in all of the work.  Those of us 'veteran' teachers-older than about 40 years of age or so-have old credentials and those credentials don't match to what the new standards say we should know.  It's actually kind of funny that I've been teaching the information for 18 years and wrote the new information that everyone in the department is now going to be teaching, but I'm not qualified to teach it because the piece of paper given to me by the state of California is too old. 

I've been talking with the guy who understands way more than I do at the county office and he's been talking to the people at the state.  It seems that my district is one of the first in the state to come across these problems so things may work themselves out as more and more districts come on board the NGSS train and more and more teachers come face to face with the problem of their credential not meeting the requirements. In my department, there is one other teacher who is refusing to update her credential.  She is nearing the end of her career and just doesn't feel like it is worth her time and effort to study and pay for a test to get a few more years out of teaching a curriculum she doesn't like. I see her point. The tests aren't cheap and getting a new credential isn't cheap either, but if teachers aren't willing to show students we are willing or able to make changes and keep learning, what message are we sending them?

So, I'm working my way through this and many other books.  I took a college class on Physics this summer and I will pass that test.  I plan to spend many days in the AP Physics class this year working on the math portion.  If you don't use the math, it becomes a distant memory. I think my students will enjoy watching me struggle through and I know I will be proud when I've checked this difficult task off my to do list.