Preparing to be a Seconday Math Teacher in Washington State

Hello World!

My name is Jim Bogesvang. It’s Nov 19, 2008 and I'm just about to end the first quarter of the MS Edu plus Secondary certification in Math Education.

Teaching high school math is something I've visualized since completing high school for myself. This is largely what drove me to obtain a BS in Math (California State Polytechnic University) and an MS in Statistics (Oregon State University). However, work experience with the USDA Forest Service followed by statistical consulting at OSU caused me to divert toward industry. Nonetheless, throughout my schooling and career, I tutored or taught and the desire remains today.

Through just plain good luck, I met Jason who teaches math at Rose Hill Jr High. I had just moved into a new neighborhood and Jason lives across the street. As we introduced ourselves I remember saying "teaching math was my original plan." For the next five years we fly fished and hiked together and occasionally talked about teaching. Then, last summer, Jason suggested I volunteer to teach with him at Redmond high school’s summer Math Camp. I did and loved it.

While involved with Math Camp, I met Kurt Snyder. During a conversation it came out that we both attended an info session connected with the MS Edu and Secondary Certification at University Washington Bothell. Kurt was enrolled and informed me that it was not too late for me to apply. I did and with help from the UW administration, I was guided smoothly through the process.

The program has been a great experience. For starters, I wanted to learn more about writing (as in basic composition). The UW application process, WEST-B, a Future Teacher of Washington scholarship application and several projects have given me plenty of practice and reason snoop through The Little English Handbook. Moreover, I am enjoying my classmates.

During my career, one trait that I think distinguished me is I seek out opportunities to and gain satisfaction from helping others. In fact, I usually worked into positions that allowed me to help other resolve technical problems. From what I can tell of my cohort, I think this is a core competency of those who aspire to teach.

I also relish the opportunity to engage in intellectual conversations. My peers in the Adolescent Development class I’m taking routinely blow me away at their depth of understanding, astute observations and sheer brain power. I’m absolutely serious that I wish these folk were around to help me unravel some of the problems I faced during my career in industry. Moreover, there are several practicing teachers who offer up insightful “day in the life” anecdotes.

Another big surprise has been all the web functionality that I learned about through Technology in the Classroom class. Having consistently worked in or around information technology and business intelligence, I thought I had a pretty good handle on technology. That could not have been further from the truth. Had I known about Wiki, Voice Thread, and Digital Story … I would have saved my previous employers buckets in licensing fees and simply better value. That’s' enough about me.

My initial post will be about preparing for the WEST-B, the Washing Educator Skills Test – Basic. For starters, take advantage of the practice test. I was required to generate two essays; however, I found the reading comprehension and math sections of the practice test were about half as long as the actual test.