Oh, Teacher!

Yesterday I decided to take a look at local teaching opportunities. I discovered that the Cab Calloway School for the Arts in my native town is looking for two drama teachers.

First problem, I am not a certified teacher. Yes, I have taught every age group in seminars and special classes but I am not a certified teacher for the secondary school. There are alternative routes to certification that can be earned while on the job. I checked this out too and discovered that there are only certain fields the program will sponsor such an alternative track. The closest field to drama is English. A few years ago, I tried this tact as an alternative to certification and was told that Drama wasn't sponsored by this alternative program. This time I decided I would challenge that.

I got in contact with the program director and pointed out that in order to get certified as a teacher of drama, I had to pass the Praxis II test in English. There isn't a drama section in the Praxis exam. Furthermore, in drama class if teaching playwrighting or using any test, I had to teach text analysis; critical reading of scripts and thinking as an actor are skills born in the language arts classes. Indeed, when I was a student in this very same school district my English classes were my introduction to drama. I read Shakespeare. I played Hamlet in a loose production because no one else wanted to. I read Beckett's "Waiting for Godot" which made a powerful artistic impact on me.

So why can't I fit into this program?

Well, the dean of the school I applied to and the director of this program now agree with me. I have an interview at the school tomorrow at 9 a.m.

Thing is, I do love this part-time gig I have working in intellectual property. I have been waiting for it to go full-time. However, if I get offered the full-time teaching job, I think I will ask if I can keep this part-time gig to work after school hours. It's not that many more hours, the money is good and I enjoy the work. It might get old after awhile, I don't know, but that's the tact I am going to take should I get hired for the teaching position.

Keep your eyes and fingers crossed for me, please.