Beginning the process of renewing my teacher certification and I’m reacquainting myself with the horrid feeling of being a cog in a massive bureaucracy. I had a “Level One” social studies certification that I had let lapse. Do I apply for “Level Two”, having taught for five years, completed an induction program, and ensured that the school district will certify me as not having been rated unsatisfactory? Or do I first figure out how to get the necessary Act 48 credits to “activate” my old certification?

Looking at the state website, I see that I’d done 58 hours of in-service training. I was short 62 hours. I think maybe my Ph.D. would count.

I called an awesome employee at the school district (HR is a very, very different kind of place than it was fifteen years ago; someone (I think it’s Paul Vallas) deserves credit for this turnaround). She told me that I would receive my Level Two certification in the mail. Then, I’d receive a letter saying my certification was inactive. She recommended I call the registrar at Penn who would have a way of turning my Ph.D. course hours into Act 48 hours, that they’d be able to do this directly. I’m dubious but I’m going to the registrar’s office to find out.

I’m at the beginning of this process but I already remember that sinking feeling that whatever experiences I’ve had that would make me a good teacher are essentially irrelevant. This teacher world — one I want come back to — is far from the academic world. I think about academic conferences and the daily life in a university as a tenure track professor; no one questions your right to be there. There’s a hiring process but once annointed, that’s it, you’re good, you have your occasional issues with students and peers, but there’s no barrage of paperwork, no figuring out what you need to do to keep your job.