High school hasn't even started for Nick yet and I'm already finding it overwhelming. Ok, more for Nick than myself, but as the parent trying to help him figure things out, it's still overwhelming.
I don't remember it being this difficult.
First off, when I was in 9th grade, that was still jr high for me.
My schedule was pretty much the following-
1- student government
2 math
3 seminary
4 english
5 science
6 social studies
7- teacher's assistant.
Simple. Easy. My biggest stress in High school as far as scheduling was concerned was I had to pick some kind of art class to take because I needed art credits. Which is why I ended up sticking it out in Sophomore girls choir during my senior year. I was that desperate.
Nick is in High school, and only has 6 periods with which to work with. 8 if he goes to school early (starting at 6:30) and stays an hour later. Basically 9 straight hours of school.
The problem is fitting everything in. Between the required classes to graduate, orchestra, drama, German, seminary and this other program which is basically almost like picking a college major and working towards it, starting in the 9th grade, it's too much. (which, while I respect Nick's desire to be a teacher, I changed my mind 14 times between 9th grade and by the time I was handed my diploma. To tell you the truth- I STILL don't know what I want to be when I grow up, so how the heck are these kids supposed to pick a major?!?!)
Nick wants to be a jr high/high school history teacher. They have a program for that, and they tell you which classes to take and focus your classes towards a teaching degree and when you are senior you can get an internship or something if you find yourself with all your requirements out of the way. To me it sounds like a class for hopeful pre-school teachers, but Nick assures me they can gear it towards secondary education as well.
We went to the school tonight for a back- to- school night and sought all sorts of advice for filling out his high school registration form. Everybody had their own opinions. At one point we were asked what he was planning on majoring and minoring in and what kind of scholarship he planned on getting for college. And depending on who we talked to, they'd give different advice. They all thought their own particular class was the best and would be the most beneficial later in life. One teacher told me how much money we would be able to save on college German text books if we took German 3 and 4 in high school rather than in college. It wasn't until later that it occurred to me that I didn't have to take a foreign language in college, and who is to say Nick will have to or even want to take German then either?
Most were in agreement that Nick should drop drama, my guess is it doesn't get much respect with the other departments, however that is one of Nick's very favorite classes. He truly feels the most comfortable surrounded by all those other drama geeks. A place where he can be liked and accepted as himself. He could still do after school drama club, which is fun too, but I wonder how that would be different than taking 8 classes instead of 7 anyway?
I think one teacher wanted to suggest we drop seminary as it earns him zero credits, but my guess is I could have probably sued if I even perceived in the slightest amount that she was belittling my religious beliefs. (not that I would have, I would have been annoyed, but that's it.)
One teacher suggested he drop orchestra, because that is the least flexible class. All his other classes would have to work around that one. (hers- the teacher prep program) At this point, that's not gonna happen.
One teacher thought taking summer school just to get classes like English out of the way was a good idea, another not so much.
Also, just to confuse the matter, some of the upper classes have prerequisites, so he needs to figure out what he wants to take as a junior or senior and plan for that and take the appropriate classes as a freshman or sophomore. I don't think I knew what the word prerequisite meant until I went to college.
Basically we have about 3 days to figure out what Nick wants to major and minor in in college, what kind of a scholarship he wants to get, then make the hard choices and tailor his entire high school career towards that goal.
And as luck would have it, Nick's jr high counselor just left on maternity leave.
I don't remember it being this difficult.
First off, when I was in 9th grade, that was still jr high for me.
My schedule was pretty much the following-
1- student government
2 math
3 seminary
4 english
5 science
6 social studies
7- teacher's assistant.
Simple. Easy. My biggest stress in High school as far as scheduling was concerned was I had to pick some kind of art class to take because I needed art credits. Which is why I ended up sticking it out in Sophomore girls choir during my senior year. I was that desperate.
Nick is in High school, and only has 6 periods with which to work with. 8 if he goes to school early (starting at 6:30) and stays an hour later. Basically 9 straight hours of school.
The problem is fitting everything in. Between the required classes to graduate, orchestra, drama, German, seminary and this other program which is basically almost like picking a college major and working towards it, starting in the 9th grade, it's too much. (which, while I respect Nick's desire to be a teacher, I changed my mind 14 times between 9th grade and by the time I was handed my diploma. To tell you the truth- I STILL don't know what I want to be when I grow up, so how the heck are these kids supposed to pick a major?!?!)
Nick wants to be a jr high/high school history teacher. They have a program for that, and they tell you which classes to take and focus your classes towards a teaching degree and when you are senior you can get an internship or something if you find yourself with all your requirements out of the way. To me it sounds like a class for hopeful pre-school teachers, but Nick assures me they can gear it towards secondary education as well.
We went to the school tonight for a back- to- school night and sought all sorts of advice for filling out his high school registration form. Everybody had their own opinions. At one point we were asked what he was planning on majoring and minoring in and what kind of scholarship he planned on getting for college. And depending on who we talked to, they'd give different advice. They all thought their own particular class was the best and would be the most beneficial later in life. One teacher told me how much money we would be able to save on college German text books if we took German 3 and 4 in high school rather than in college. It wasn't until later that it occurred to me that I didn't have to take a foreign language in college, and who is to say Nick will have to or even want to take German then either?
Most were in agreement that Nick should drop drama, my guess is it doesn't get much respect with the other departments, however that is one of Nick's very favorite classes. He truly feels the most comfortable surrounded by all those other drama geeks. A place where he can be liked and accepted as himself. He could still do after school drama club, which is fun too, but I wonder how that would be different than taking 8 classes instead of 7 anyway?
I think one teacher wanted to suggest we drop seminary as it earns him zero credits, but my guess is I could have probably sued if I even perceived in the slightest amount that she was belittling my religious beliefs. (not that I would have, I would have been annoyed, but that's it.)
One teacher suggested he drop orchestra, because that is the least flexible class. All his other classes would have to work around that one. (hers- the teacher prep program) At this point, that's not gonna happen.
One teacher thought taking summer school just to get classes like English out of the way was a good idea, another not so much.
Also, just to confuse the matter, some of the upper classes have prerequisites, so he needs to figure out what he wants to take as a junior or senior and plan for that and take the appropriate classes as a freshman or sophomore. I don't think I knew what the word prerequisite meant until I went to college.
Basically we have about 3 days to figure out what Nick wants to major and minor in in college, what kind of a scholarship he wants to get, then make the hard choices and tailor his entire high school career towards that goal.
And as luck would have it, Nick's jr high counselor just left on maternity leave.
2 comments:
As an educator, all I can say is that expecting children to make lifelong decisions in 8th grade is too much pressure. And really quite an injustice. Best of luck making the decision. Keep us posted.
Just my two cents, but if Nick really wants to be a History teacher he should first plan to take AP U.S. and Euro History his junior or senior year and then work the ret of his schedule around that.
If he majors in History in college then he'll probably need a B.A. so he'll have to have a certain amount of language credits. If German is his language of choice, he'll probably have to take AP German to get transferable credit to college so he should plan to take that too.
He should also plan to take AP English since he'll be doing a lot of writing for a history major.
Then he can plan in all the prerequisite for for the AP classes he wants to take.
I think I would blow off the pre-teaching stuff unless he can fit it in somewhere, since really how hard is teaching. He can always get his certification in college.
I had a really excellent AP History teacher in high school and she had a masters in History, so it may be that he need not take the Education major pathway at all.
He should definitely take some music or art (drama included) but he may need to choose just one to focus on.
Can he take early morning seminary? That would free up a class.
Anyway, just some ideas. It's exciting to see Nick already planning for his future.
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