PESG

Today we had a meeting with PESG and took our first official steps (according to the State of Michigan) towards our professional careers in (possibly) Michigan.

PESG stands for the Professional Education Services Group, they are the largest educational employment service in the Great Lakes Region. In addition, they specialize in placing qualified substitutes classrooms based on local school districts' need. Throughout the summer we have had to watch and learn multiple modules on the PESG website to qualify our cohort for substitute teaching. An example of a few are being qualified in

• Allergy Management
• Bloodborne Pathogens
• FERPA
• Guide For Substitute Teachers
• Hazardous Communications
• Sexual Harassment
• St and Fed Laws K12

In addition, we needed to get fingerprinted! However exciting this sounds, I had a rather frustrating experience trying to get fingerprinted. Alas, it was the day that I moved part of my stuff from Columbus, OH to Ann Arbor, MI. I moved part of my stuff into my new apartment and headed an hour and 15 minutes southeast towards Wayne where the only L1 Fingerprinting station that was open past 6pm was located. I drove there and looked for it for two hours to no avail. Frustrated, I drove to Novi and had dinner with my father. The next morning, I tried again to go to another L1 Fingerprinting station and they told me that their connection with PESG was down and asked me to go the next business day, which would be the following Monday. I eventually got fingerprinted, and finished the ordeal, and was informed that the Wayne location had closed down. Their website states that it is updated everyday and refreshes each day with the date and time that the information was supposedly "verified."

Anyway, we brought our passports and all other sorts of information as well as money to pay for the registration. Who knew that to become a teacher, one had to pay so much and jump through so many hoops? (ICHAT, PESG, Fingerprinting, etc). Anyway, in order to keep my fingerprints in the system for next year, I must work as a substitute for one day this school year. Who knows, maybe next year I will stay in Michigan?

My Teaching Placement

It has been a crazy few weeks since my last post. Between a vehicular collision occurring in Columbus, Ohio in August, to my best friend getting married on Saturday, I have had my fair share of experiences. In the midst of these happenings, is my student teaching assignment in an actual high school in Michigan!

I have been paired with a Teaching Mentor and it has been a blast so far. The classes that he will be teaching (some of which I will be taking over next semester) are three freshman Civics/Economics classes, APUSH (United States Government), and AP Government and Politics. He has a tough love approach to the students. As I observed how the class was managed the first day, he mandated that all bags and personal belongings must be placed in the front of the classrooms (this includes cell phones, purses, etc) and that students are only to bring a pencil and paper/notebook to their seats. And if there was a worry as to the safety of expensive items such as phones, calculators etc, then the students were advised not keep them in their lockers! This is just one example of the classroom management that I had observed.

He began the class with big bolded letters on the whiteboard "YOU MUST PASS THIS CLASS TO GRADUATE." He followed this up with statistics, saying that one in three of them statistically are not going to be able to graduate. He went on to explain that if they fail this class, they will be back next year to take it again as it is a required class for graduation. He impressed it upon the students that they needed and were able to pass this class. At this point, he launches into an explanation of how he will help them. In his explanation, he kills two birds with one stone. He explains the structure of the class which will help them study for the test.

So an ideal class that he has laid out looks like this: Without the teacher needing to say anything, students walk in and immediately place all their belongings except a pencil and paper in the front, find their assigned seat and begin to furiously copy down the questions and vocabulary words. -- And that was exactly how my second day in school was like, these students caught on fast.

The high school is a very interesting, there are striking disparities throughout the school! One can see their priorities by observing what is around in the school. There are Smartboards in every classroom, yet the computers are not so up to date and thus lag when playing videos and opening programs. They have a very very beautiful library, which contrasts with their bathrooms which look like they were last renovated in the 60's! While every classroom has a Smartboard, each teachers' supplies for the year consist of two yellow notebooks, and two boxes of pens.

Nevertheless, I have my own ID, keys, and desk! I am still adjusting to students calling me Mr. Tan. I will be sure to let you all know when I get used to it.