ACCEPTED!

In case you are one of the two people who read our blog and missed my super-awesome Facebook status update last week...

Britty's going to grad school!

One day mid-March, Joe came home from work/school and mentioned there was a Special Ed. program I might be interested in. Suddenly, I was obsessed with the idea, and emailed Joe's friend that night who got me in touch with someone who could get me an interview the next week. I finalized my application, completed my interviews, and took the MAT within two weeks, and then waited...and waited...and waited.

And one week ago I got the news: I'm in! I never, ever, EVER thought I would go back to school, but this program is so me! I'm just going to steal the description of the program from GSEHD's website instead of trying to explain it:

Special Education for Children with Emotional and Behavioral Disabilities

The program for teaching students with emotional and behavioral disabilities (EBD) provides training for teachers of students with EBD in the psychoeducational theoretical framework. Graduate students in the program gain the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to facilitate effective instruction and improve outcomes for troubled students, grades K-8.  

The full-time program for teaching children with EBD is a 39 credit hour, one-year program of study, wherein graduate interns complete a two-semester clinical internship during the school day and attend course work at night. This model is centered on the daily team-teaching experience at one of the three professional development schools (PDSs) partnered with the University.

Our full-time program prepares teachers of elementary-aged students with EBD in a PDS model. PDSs provide a clinical component to teacher preparation that mirrors a medical school model. Graduate interns are thoroughly immersed in school environments and become active in the daily operation of all aspects of the school program while taking university courses in the evenings. Each training classroom has a master teacher and a team of two graduate interns. Throughout the year, graduate interns practice:

1) planning and delivering effective instruction,
2) implementing positive behavioral interventions, and
3) expressing qualities of professionalism and the skill of self-reflection. 

This intensive training speeds up socialization to the field through having graduate interns experience “life on the front lines” with the guidance and interpretation of on-site master teachers. In addition, university faculty and staff provide supervision to each of the graduate interns bi-weekly, which includes observation of a lesson, anecdotal notes, videotaping, and immediate feedback. A weekly seminar accompanies this internship, serving several purposes:

a) supporting the intern cohort, b) sharing experiences, c) teaching new concepts, d) reexamining theory, and e) refining skills.

These are rigorous and demanding training experiences. The results, however, are that graduates are ready to assume the role of special educators as if they have a year of experience, rather than as neophytes. Graduate interns have the advantage of working with many professionals whose experiences and practices contribute to their developing philosophy and practice.

A HUGE thank you to my super supportive, awesome husband Joe who gave me the idea, believed I could get in, and is hereby committing himself to at least another year of working at GW so we can both benefit from his employee tuition discount. I'm already tired thinking of the super long work/school days ahead of me, but Joe had been doing super long work/school days for a year and a half! It will all make sense in a few years when we come out of this with two graduate degrees and no debt...right?

I start in seven weeks!