While my actual student teaching experience won't occur until the spring of 2012, I need to make my decisions this semester, & fairly soon I might add. When I first started college I never even imagined that doing my student teaching outside of Minnesota was even an option. Then a year ago I found out that we had the option to do half in South Africa, I was sold. Turns out I really have a bunch of options. I almost wish I didn't have so many options haha. There are so many different options now that I am struggling with which one to make. A week ago another option was added, the one that I had finally settled on because it would have been one of the cheapest & still exciting. That option has now been removed, go figure.
Within the past year this is where my options have gone:
1. MN (I had no idea that other options were possible)
2. South Africa
3. Ireland
4. England
5. Clueless
So why the changing of the mind? Well obviously I dropped the staying in MN option quickly because I wanted to see the world. Then, a friend told me about how she was going to Ireland. Way cool I've always wanted to go there & I'd have a friendly face in a foreign country. But as of now Ireland only has elementary schools available plus signing up for that program, even if Ireland opens up, the can in reality place me anywhere they feel they want to; I'm pretty sure it would still be in Europe somewhere though. Then came England, the Alnwick program to be exact. It is the study abroad program that I have always wanted to do. (See here for the kick ass details) I'm not going to lie, of course a semester in Europe is a selling point all in itself, but what sold me? The first 2 Harry Potter movies were filmed in the castle that I would get to live in for that semester. Go ahead. Laugh. I know I'm a nerd haha. But now that option has been taken away for reasons that I'm not entirely sure of.
So that leaves me in quite the predicament. Where do I go? Which would be the most exciting? Which is the most financially reasonable?
So what are my options anyway? I can:
1. Stay in MN (really that's not an option I'm even entertaining.)
2. Go to Texas (this also is one of my last resorts. It's the closest to home but I can go to TX anytime)
3. Go to South Africa (when else will I be able to say I've been to Africa?? Airfare & room & bored is taken care of. The way it is set up though I would have to do SA first & have a 30-40 hr flight back to MN & have to teach the very next morning.)
4. Go to a host country school through UNI (I could be placed in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Scotland, or England. Other countries are possibilites if a school is found. This was my Ireland option that has so far been shot down due to the lack of a seconday school opening. While I would LOVE to go to any of these countries & can put in a request, they basically can place me wherever they want. If I ended up in Europe I could take a couple weeks after to travel around Europe. However, I have to pay for my own travel/living expenses unless placed with a host family which isn't always an option. I also don't know how I feel about possibly not knowing where I'm going until a couple weeks or less before I leave)
5. I could teach at a Department of Defense school. (This option is basically the same as #4 as it's through UNI again except that I could be placed at any US military base around the world. Pros & cons are the same. Which includes that I would have to pay out of state tuition to do this & #4)
6. I could teach at a Native American school (This is also through UNI which means the whole out of state tuition thing. However this would only be in the US obviously in places with high NA populations. This also isn't really an option that I'm entertaing as I would like to leave the US if possible & if I can't I'd rather pay my in state tuition & go to TX than pay twice as much to go to a different US state.)
See what I mean about endless options?! I literally have a half a dozen options. If there's more I'm not sure I want to know. So basically I have a lot of pro/con lists ahead of me as well as finances to figure out. Congrats if you actually read all of that by the way :). Any input on what options you would choose would be greatly appreciated.
Within the past year this is where my options have gone:
1. MN (I had no idea that other options were possible)
2. South Africa
3. Ireland
4. England
5. Clueless
So why the changing of the mind? Well obviously I dropped the staying in MN option quickly because I wanted to see the world. Then, a friend told me about how she was going to Ireland. Way cool I've always wanted to go there & I'd have a friendly face in a foreign country. But as of now Ireland only has elementary schools available plus signing up for that program, even if Ireland opens up, the can in reality place me anywhere they feel they want to; I'm pretty sure it would still be in Europe somewhere though. Then came England, the Alnwick program to be exact. It is the study abroad program that I have always wanted to do. (See here for the kick ass details) I'm not going to lie, of course a semester in Europe is a selling point all in itself, but what sold me? The first 2 Harry Potter movies were filmed in the castle that I would get to live in for that semester. Go ahead. Laugh. I know I'm a nerd haha. But now that option has been taken away for reasons that I'm not entirely sure of.
So that leaves me in quite the predicament. Where do I go? Which would be the most exciting? Which is the most financially reasonable?
So what are my options anyway? I can:
1. Stay in MN (really that's not an option I'm even entertaining.)
2. Go to Texas (this also is one of my last resorts. It's the closest to home but I can go to TX anytime)
3. Go to South Africa (when else will I be able to say I've been to Africa?? Airfare & room & bored is taken care of. The way it is set up though I would have to do SA first & have a 30-40 hr flight back to MN & have to teach the very next morning.)
4. Go to a host country school through UNI (I could be placed in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Scotland, or England. Other countries are possibilites if a school is found. This was my Ireland option that has so far been shot down due to the lack of a seconday school opening. While I would LOVE to go to any of these countries & can put in a request, they basically can place me wherever they want. If I ended up in Europe I could take a couple weeks after to travel around Europe. However, I have to pay for my own travel/living expenses unless placed with a host family which isn't always an option. I also don't know how I feel about possibly not knowing where I'm going until a couple weeks or less before I leave)
5. I could teach at a Department of Defense school. (This option is basically the same as #4 as it's through UNI again except that I could be placed at any US military base around the world. Pros & cons are the same. Which includes that I would have to pay out of state tuition to do this & #4)
6. I could teach at a Native American school (This is also through UNI which means the whole out of state tuition thing. However this would only be in the US obviously in places with high NA populations. This also isn't really an option that I'm entertaing as I would like to leave the US if possible & if I can't I'd rather pay my in state tuition & go to TX than pay twice as much to go to a different US state.)
See what I mean about endless options?! I literally have a half a dozen options. If there's more I'm not sure I want to know. So basically I have a lot of pro/con lists ahead of me as well as finances to figure out. Congrats if you actually read all of that by the way :). Any input on what options you would choose would be greatly appreciated.
No comments:
Post a Comment