Educational Edification - Learning How to Teach

At least for the time being, I've figured out what I want to do with the rest of my life:

I want to teach! I know, stop laughing. You can put away your children later, lock them up, and otherwise let me know that you do not approve of me.

But for now let me indulge in a little bit of my own saga of the job search. It can be boring at times, and frustrating as well, but hopefully you can allow me this diatribe for the sake of my mental health.

Won't you?

I wouldn't be that worried about my own employability were I not caught in a veritable Catch-22. You see, I waited until March to begin looking for teaching jobs. It's not the worst time, by any means, but it's not that many steps above looking in August for an immediate, full-time job.

The thing is, I have a degree - I have two of them - from UGA and my GPA is satisfactory and all of that.

HOWEVER,

I am not certified to teach in this state (and/or any other state) and must pass a certification exam to be able to teach. The problem is, the next GACE is in May, and that's way past the acceptable time to be looking for a teaching position. Most schools have probably already begun to look at their vacancies for holes and such.

And, since most of the application process takes place online, I can give no proclamation, like, "Hey! I know I haven't been certified YET, but I'm going to take a certification exam." No no no. That won't do at all. I'll need to already have been certified to apply successfully for a job, even one as a provisional teaching license.

Which makes for the second strike against me: why hire a fuddy-duddy English guy when you can have a full-blown education major?

Ah, jeez, this sucks. I really want to teach now. I know what you're saying: why didn't you get off your hump and do it before then? And, actually, I have an answer for that astute accusation.

I didn't really begin to get excited about the idea of teaching until last week, when my roommate, who is a teacher at one of the local high schools - Go Glads! - showed me around during Spring Break. I felt all sorts of nostalgia and desperately desired to teach. Now that the effect of the trip has worn off, I STILL want to teach.

Oh well. Wish me luck, if you can find it in your heart. Sorry I've been such a slacker with the posting lately. By the way, I've begun the third novel and it's going well. I'm already almost 60 pages into it, and I think it's the most solid of my works yet. It's about a sort-of hit man chasing down a serial killer in Atlanta after his friend becomes one of the killer's victims.