Certification Update: I'm Now a Reading Specialist

The State of Georgia has now added reading (P-12) to my license there. My Georgia certifications are now listed as follows:

• EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION (P-5) [FLD808]
• MIDDLE GRADES (4-8) [FLD809]
• MIDDLE GRADES (4-8) - MATH [FLD851]
• MIDDLE GRADES (4-8) - SOCIAL SCIENCE [FLD854]
• READING (P-12) [FLD732]
• SP ED ADAPTED CURRICULUM (P-12) CONSULTATIVE [FLD805]
• SP ED GENERAL CURRICULUM (P-12) CONSULTATIVE [FLD798]
• SP ED GENERAL CURRICULUM CONSULTATIVE/ECE (P-5) [FLD708]
• SP ED LANGUAGE ARTS COGNITIVE LEVEL (P-5) [FLD930]
• SP ED MATH COGNITIVE LEVEL (P-5, 4-8) [FLD911]
• SP ED READING COGNITIVE LEVEL (P-5, 4-8, 6-12) [FLD952]
• SP ED SCIENCE COGNITIVE LEVEL (P-5) [FLD920]
• SP ED SOCIAL SCIENCE COGNITIVE LEVEL (P-5, 4-8, 6-12) [FLD942]

I'll submit the paperwork next week in West Virginia to have the reading certification transferred to my WV license. At the moment my WV license reflects the following eight active endorsements:

1. Type: 21-Professional Teaching Certificate
   Endorsement: Mathematics
   Assignment: 0509
   Status: Original Expiration Date: 06-30-2009
   
2. Type: 21-Professional Teaching Certificate
   Endorsement: Social Studies
   Assignment: 0509
   Status: Original Expiration Date: 06-30-2009
   
3. Type: 21-Professional Teaching Certificate
   Endorsement: Elementary Education
   Assignment: 0K06
   Status: Original Expiration Date: 06-30-2009
   
4. Type: 21-Professional Teaching Certificate
   Endorsement: Early Education
   Assignment: PK0K
   Status: Original Expiration Date: 06-30-2009
   
5. Type: 21-Professional Teaching Certificate
   Endorsement: Mentally Impaired-Mild-Moderate
   Assignment: 0KAD
   Status: Original Expiration Date: 06-30-2009
   
6. Type: 21-Professional Teaching Certificate
   Endorsement: Multi-Categorical (LD, BD, MI)
   Assignment: 0K06
   Status: Original Expiration Date: 06-30-2009
   
7. Type: 21-Professional Teaching Certificate
   Endorsement: Multi-Categorical (LD, BD, MI)
   Assignment: 05AD
   Status: Original Expiration Date: 06-30-2009
   
8. Type: 81-First Class Permit
   Endorsement: Multi-Categorical (LD, BD, MI)
   Assignment: 0KAD
   Status: Renewal Expiration Date: 06-30-2008
   

A certification specialist at the WV Department of Education has told me that an endorsement for autism will be added to my license, but that hasn't happened yet.

I also plan to ask for the preschool special needs endorsement in WV to be added to my license since all my special ed endorsements in Georgia include preschool and since Georgia does not have a specific endorsement for preschool special needs. We'll see how that goes...

The Drugs I'm On...

Spring comes late here in Appalachia. But it does come...

I've starter setting my Allegra out where I can find it when I pour my first cup of coffee of the morning. I usually have to put a drop or two of Visine with antihistamines before I can find my pills (or the coffee). Then it's the first dose of Sudafed (or some similar generic) for the day. There's also a nasal steroid, Nasonex, that goes with my first cup of coffee.

By ten or eleven in the morning I often need another dose of Sudafed. On bad days I may end up taking as many as four doses of the stuff. Occasionally I take a second all-day over-the-counter antihistamine. And then there's Musinex some nights to help break up the stuff that builds in my chest.

Between the mold that comes with spring rains, the grass pollens, the ragweed and the golden rod, the oak pollen, and whatever else I'm allergic to, spring is not exactly my favorite time of year.

The Bluebirds are Back

We saw the bluebirds for the first time this year on Wednesday morning, just before we left for Georgia. I looked in the box this morning and they've been busy. Since Wednesday they've built a nest and momma bird has laid three blue eggs.

Last year's baby birds were born in late May.

This is the fourth time in the last five years that we've had Eastern Bluebirds in the box...