Rachel K. Doing History

We've begun our social studies methods strand in my Master in Teaching Program at last! Our instructor is the head of the MIT program, and she is the inventor of Storypath, which is an amazing social studies curriculum. 

Right now we are "Doing History" in class. We've created personal timelines and yesterday we wrote about specific events in our lives in class. Then, for homework, we each had to talk to someone about our historical event (a primary source). I talked about the nine months of my life that I refer to fondly as "Lifeapocalypse," during which I had absolutely no idea how to become a teacher. I had just quit my job at Starbucks, and I was trying to figure out what direction to tumble in next.

Today we had to write a historical account of our event that comes from multiple perspectives, or primary sources. Here is my combined history as remembered by myself and Kevin:

Lifeapocalypse: A Brief History 
     Lifeapocalypse describes the months of March 2010 until around June of the same year, during which a 25-year old called Rachel K. Sreebny quit her job at Starbucks and began her journey in pedagogy. The events that led up to Sreebny's resignation from the coffee conglomerate are not clear, though it is documented that Starbucks introduced a line of lunch sandwiches during the same time. Reports also show that the weather in Seattle during this time was cold, and an unseasonable bummer.
     Upon leaving Starbucks, Sreebny was reported to have spent two straight days on her couch watching Jeopardy on her DVR; the Direct TV account was canceled a month later, though it is speculated that this was due to financial constraints more so than a proclivity for sloth. In fact, Sreebny was said to have been rather "industrious" by those who knew her well.
     In a personal account by Kevin Costello, Sreebny's boyfriend at the time, she was said to have spent only a short time on the couch during Lifeapocalypse. Not long after she had formally severed ties with her barista position did she begin, "plotting, scheming and color-coding..." in an alleged wall-sized calendar constructed by hand, and affixed to the dining room wall.
     Costello recalls fondly that Sreebny studied a lot of math, which he helped her with in his spare time outside of being a Microsoft employee. "(She) seemed like she felt she wasn't doing enough, but she was already on track for graduate school like a week after talking about it." Costello also remembers that Sreebny spoke often of graduate school notions, sometimes while donning a makeshift cape made out of a Snuggie.
     According to Sreebny's blog entry, dated March 8 2010 and entitled, "Rachel K. Restart," Sreebny claims, "I need to start focusing on what I need to do to find the path I know I want to take in life." This informal goal statement marked the beginning of Lifeapocalypse, which would unofficially come to an end the following March in 2011 when Sreebny began her Master in Teaching Program at Seattle University. As Costello summarized in his personal account of the event, "[She] went from job to no job, but it was the good kind of job to no job." 

Rachel K. UW & the Return of Lifeapocalypse

The news that I had been accepted to the University of Washington Masters in Teaching Program came over my iPod e-mail around 4:30pm while I was in the middle of a closing shift at Makeda Coffee. I was so stunned that I had to read it over about three times (iPod screens are very small). Finally I was convinced enough to tell my boss the good news, which she was excited to hear! 

I spent the rest of the shift texting and calling people between customers and then excitedly bounded down to Capitol Hill to tell Kevin the good news in PERSON and to go see a midnight showing of "Indiana Jones: The Temple of Doom," which is the silliest Indiana Jones movie ever. So many alligators. 

I spent that weekend feeling very excited because THE THINGS I HAVE BEEN WORKING FOR ARE NOW LEADING TO SOMETHING FRUITFUL! SO FULL OF FRUIT ARE THEY! 

Then again, I have three more prerequisite courses that I need to sign up for, get into, and get B's in before I can go to this masters program. Rats. 

So, Lifeapocalypse returns in a new form. I managed to register for a US History class (Reconstruction and onwards,) but I have yet to be fully enrolled in the educational psychology or multi ethnic studies courses that I need to secure my place at UW in June. Basically I've earned the acceptance, but I'm not yet accepted... which is really stressful. 

I've spent the past week trying to feel happy, but mostly feeling inundated and worried about courses. I'm waitlisted for these classes at UW, but I won't know if I have a seat in them until the first week of classes (January 3rd, which is 4 days before my reply to UW is due.) I have tried unsuccessfully to enroll in the community college lifespan psych course, but the professor wouldn't let me on the wait list without Psych 101 under my belt... even though the psych class is a 200 level (really?) 

The Plan B is going to happen as soon as I have a few hours to bus it up to North Seattle Community College to try and appeal to the psych professors up there to let me into their classes. 

Nothing is easy, everything is still up in the air, and I know I should stop worrying and remember to celebrate this incredibly VICTORY that my hard work has finally paid off with. I'm hoping that the classes will all work out and I can start blogging about REAL TEACHER THINGS and not DEEPLY ROOTED NON-MATRICULATED ANXIETY. 

I should hear back from Seattle University in a few more weeks. I interviewed with them awhile ago, but forgot to write about it. All in all it was pretty unspectacular. I really liked the UW candidates in the group interview a lot better, which is something to consider if I end up having to decide between the programs. 

I hope my next blog post is an optimistic and cheery one!