Lately, I have felt inadequate and regretful for my education and career path. I finished my MA in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) last May in 2018. My focus was adult ELL, but decided that there were few options than K12 for jobs. Instead, I transitioned to K12 and now work as a reading teacher at a local school. My MA did not have a licensure path, as that was not my initial decision to pursue an ELL career. I also do not have student teaching experience with K12 - only with adult students (which has a slightly different teaching approach). Now that I have been working in K12, I need to get my K12 ELL license to be able to teach in public or charter schools in my state. I could go back to do some additional coursework to fulfill the K12 strand, but I don't want to take any more loans out. Besides, my state has offered a tiered program to make it easier for teachers to obtain licensure. While there are options for me, I feel regretful as I should have pursued a different program at perhaps a different college in another subject. Or I should have just done an initial licensure - and then I would not be in this mess. My only option is to go abroad, teach at university, or pursue a license in K12 to teach in schools in the U.S.

My employer, in order to offer employment in ELL, I must complete licensure requirements by fall of the upcoming school year. This means testing and applying for one of the tiered programs. I recently read online that most schools accept a BA + licensure (content area) for anyone looking for employment. The only downside is the salary scale. With an MA, I have an advantage. I wish I had looked more into other programs and explored more about what I could have done. I could have taught Social Studies or even ELA.

I know when I tell my boyfriend about this, he will disagree with what I am telling you. I worked hard for my MA and nearly quit the program in my last semester because I was so overwhelmed with my thesis. I feel regretful, sad, inadequate, and keep looking back on what I could have done.