Pros & Cons

My decision to return to education has had periods of crazy activity and complete lulls. Let's face it, there are very few positions open mid-way through a school year. That being said, I have applied to three positions in the Springfield area, and one position for an online school (that could be kind of cool, right?). After today I will be on two substitute lists, though both are pretty small districts, and in the process of getting on two more. I even applied for a job with the state as a social worker (my Bachelor's degree qualifies me), and I would take it if offered, and see what that was like. It's for being the person that places children in different homes. What do I want to do? Honestly, I want my former employer to offer me a position, even a part-time one. A part-time teaching position would be amazing, though very hard to come by, as it really only works with teaching single subject (middle/high school), or something else pretty specialized usually.

I have my sub bag ready to go, and my binder full of information. If you have subbed before, maybe you can give me some pointers. Do I hand out business cards, leave little goodies? How have you networked before to be a preferred sub that gets lots of calls?

I met with Northwest Christian University yesterday about possibly enrolling in their school counseling program. It is a two-year program, and at the end I would hold a second Master's degree and a state license for school counseling. The thing that I thought was really cool was that if I take an additional four classes and do extra internship hours at the end, I can also graduate with a state license to be a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), and have the option as well to do adult counseling in a practice and/or eventually on my own. Truth be told, I am way more interested in school counseling, because I want to work with students and schools, but still, how awesome is that?! I laughed and told Barrett that I guess I will just collect degrees, but in all honesty, it would be great to have 3 degrees and 3 state licenses, making three completely different (but definitely intertwined) careers available. I could teach, counsel students, or counsel, not to mention all the other possible job titles that would work for working college level, like admissions counselor, career counselor, program director to name a few.

 OR....







So...pros and cons?

Pros:                                                                                  Cons:                                                             
-I like being a student                                                          -being a student for 2-2 1/2 more years
-deferred student loans & ability to get loans for program     -borrowing even more on student loans
-job possibilities                                                                  -would I look overqualified?
-the classes look amazingly interesting                                  -the internship requirement makes working  
-I could work as I study                                                          full-time the second year pretty impossible

That's the latest. :)
Hope your day is amazing!