Certifiable

I’ve always thought it might be fun, at some vague point many years in the future, to go back to college and try to pick up a math teaching certificate.

I decided yesterday that this semester would be a good time to start that process.

I took off during my eighth-hour planning period today to meet with an adviser at TCC, where I was told I would have to take a test to find out what math class I should enroll in this semester. The test results were about what you’d expect from an English teacher who hadn’t thought about math in over 15 years. Based on my score, I was told I really should sign up for the most basic algebra class in the catalog, but I could skip the prereqs and go straight to college algebra if I signed a waiver stating, in essence, that I understood that signing up for college algebra would be an exercise in futility.

I signed the waiver and enrolled in an eight-week class that started at 5:30 this evening, wondering if I might be making a colossal mistake that would serve only to waste $300.

Five minutes into class, I knew I’d made the right call. The instructor is awesome, and his review problems sandblasted all the rust right off of my math skills. I nearly wept for joy when we started working with imaginary numbers — a concept that delights me (and always has) at levels I cannot begin to explain or understand.

Math kicked my butt in high school. I intend to return the favor this semester….

Emily