Murphy’s Law pt. 1

My children used to watch a show called Murphy’s Law. The main character was a boy named Milo Murphy. If you’ve never heard of Murphy’s Law it goes something like this “If something can go wrong, it will go wrong.” In the show, Milo had a backpack that was always filled with random helpful things because he never knew when something was going to go wrong, he just knew that it would. Each episode was filled with strange and random accidents like zoo animals being released, or breakers tripping during a school dance. Milo would pull something out of his backpack and in the end everything worked out.

I kind of feel like my schooling is following Murphy’s Law. I’m getting near the end of my program and I’m hoping to be finished before next Christmas. The first part of the program is just all the classes. At WGU I’ve been able to accellorate a number of classes and I’ve managed to cut down my program by at least a year. However, now I’m at a point where I need to take some Praxis tests that are required by the state. These tests are not provided by the school. I need to schedule them and pay for them on my own. For the dual licensure program there are 3 tests that I need to take. The first one is a Basic Skills. This one has 3 sections: reading, writing, and math. In order for me to do any formal classroom observations or student teaching I need to pass this test. Additionally, I need to take a Core Subjects test that has 4 parts: Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies, and a Special Education Praxis test. I also need to have to be fingerprinted and have a background check done along with getting additional insurance to be in a classroom.

The first problem came when I tried to get to my field experience checklist. Field experience is what they call the time when you are in a classroom either observing or teaching. The landing page for my field experience checklist wouldn’t load. At first I thought they were just doing some maintenance on the site so I decided to check back a few days later. Well, it still wouldn’t load so I emailed my mentor. She told me she would take care of it. I forgot about if for about a month while I was finishing up a class, but when I once again went to see what I needed to do, the page still wouldn’t load. This time I took a screenshot and sent it to my mentor in case it was something on my end. She once again told me she would take care of it and in a few days it was up and working for me. Yay! It was a little confusing, but I thought I knew what to do next, so I scheduled my core subjects praxis. I felt confident about math, but less confident about social studies. I studied, took practice tests, talked to fellow teachers, and did whatever I could to be ready for the test. During Christmas break I went to a testing center 2 hours away, sat down at a computer, and spent 2 1/2 hours taking this test. Then I had to wait another 2 weeks to get the results that I passed!

I was so excited! I emailed my mentor and I asked her for clarification on the Special Education test. That’s when I learned that I still needed to take my Basic Skills, that the core subjects test was not the first one required for me to move on, and yes, I there was a third praxis that I needed. Slightly disheartened that I needed to pay for another test so quickly, I figured out a time for me to take the Basic Skills. Once again I traveled 2 hours to go to a testing center. I had planned to stay with some family, but they got sick the weekend I was going over so I ended up staying in a hotel. Then, on the way to the testing center I got pulled over for having expired tags on my license plate and I couldn’t find the proof of insurance, so I got a ticket. I was right in front of the testing center when I got pulled over.

I spent another 2 hours anxiously answering questions in front of a computer monitor, while also trying to clear my mind of the chaos of the morning. At the end of the test I found it strange that they didn’t give me a raw score like the first test had, but didn’t think much of it. I went home to await my results. The results came sooner than anticipated, but they were not good. In fact, they weren’t anything. I was told that instead of submitting my test, it was canceled. All of that time, money, and stress was for nothing. I tried to fight it, but I was told that there was nothing they could do. My test was canceled, supposedly by me, and if I wanted to retake it I would have to wait 28 days and pay for it again.