Da da da da!

I’m taking a field experience course this semester that requires 100 classroom hours, and I’ve been having a terrible time finding a teacher who will take me. I took a class last semester that required 60 hours, and we had faculty from different schools come in and present on the first day of class, just to tell a bit about the school and the types of exceptionalities of the students, and how many volunteers they would take. Then we basically just had to sign up, and that was that. Well this semester, same professor, we walk in and he basically says to us “If you know someone, you’d better call them, because we don’t have any placements for you.” The only people I know in this area are people I’ve met on campus, so I really only had one person to get in touch with and she wouldn’t respond to my emails. We’re not allowed to contact the Bowling Green City Schools because they have some sort of agreement with the university that prohibits us from doing so. I emailed the teaching assistant for advice and she had nothing for me. Many of the faculty members here are retired teachers, so I just started asking around it turns out one of my professors this semester is good friends with the woman I had initially tried to contact. So she told me “Oh, Lori doesn’t answer email.” and gave me a better way to get in touch with her.

So I am happy to report that today….I found a placement!

I’ll be going to Mayfair, which is a junior high school in Toledo that deals exclusively with students who have conduct disorders. Considering I’ve never worked with students of that age, or anyone with a conduct disorder, it should prove to be quite a learning experience.

I’m very excited. I won’t be able to stay long tomorrow because I have to be back on campus for class at 11:30, but I’m going in the morning to meet the teacher and students and set up a permanent schedule and such.

That’s a huge stress relief because if I hadn’t found a placement soon I would have had to drop it, which would have put me a semester behind for graduation. I still think it’s a little ridiculous. A certain number of classroom hours is required for licensure, and the university is required to provide those hours. “If you know someone, you’d better call them” is not a very efficient system for doing so, if you ask me.

~ by beautifullytragic on January 30, 2007.