[Griff]

Many many reasons... I started subbing again to see if I still had the itch. I took all the assignments so I could look at the whole system and found that my best moments were working with individuals and small groups of kids in the resource rooms. PA and NY are at odds when it comes to special ed. PA is an inclusion (the sp ed teacher assists the classroom teacher) state and NY leans toward pulling kids out as necessary, although I did some classroom work at the middle school. I find it easier to empathize with the sp ed kids than kids with all the tools who don't use them. I also had a couple of crazy moments that I really didn't understand with an emotionally challeged kid and I'm just intrigued.

I'm not absolutely certain that I'll stick with the kids though. I did a semester of volunteer work in college with adults trying to get their GEDs and I found it to be very rewarding. That opens up prison work and a bunch of other areas. Right now, I need to find out how people with disabilities learn and how to assess disabilities. The program will be applicable to learners of all ages so this is where I'll start.

NY has a screwier certification system than PA. In NY its more about jumping through hoops because of the incredible bureacracy. PA is tougher in terms of classwork but the requirements are related to learning to teach. My temporary cert in NY will run out just before I get my Masters completed so I'm going to get my PA cert with my degree and try to play the NY system at the same time. All the rules will be rewritten before I graduate but thats where I am now.