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I don’t know why I feel even slightly surprised by how quickly grad school has gone by, but I am. I almost feel silly admitting it.

I’m sitting at my desk with what I’m sure my computer thinks (or at least is acting like) there are a million Google Chrome windows open. Most of them are job related things. Fine…and Facebook…and Pinterest (I don’t know what it is about Pinterest!) I remember starting this program in the fall of 2011, and it doesn’t seem like it was that long ago. I’m not going to be ridiculous and say it seems like yesterday, because that would constitute the longest day ever. I’ll say it seems more like the month before last…or six months ago. Not two years.I say all of that to let you know I’m taking the Assessment of Professional Teaching, the APT for short, on Saturday. It’s the last test teacher candidates need to take in Illinois to receive their teaching license.

What’s on the test, you ask? The APT is intended to assess a teacher candidate’s understanding of things like how students learn and develop, how student learning is affected, how to assess, how to plan and deliver instruction, how to adapt instruction, how to use technology in the classroom, classroom management, and a range of other aspects of the teaching profession.

It’s a 120 question multiple choice exam with two writing/constructed response sections. There are four levels of the APT: birth to third grade, kindergarten through ninth grade, sixth through twelfth grade, and kindergarten through twelfth grade. As an art teacher seeking a K-12 license, I’m taking the APT K-12 exam. You can download a copy of a sample test from the Illinois Licensure Testing System here. With all of the preparation I feel I’ve gotten from the Art Education program at Columbia, I’m feeling pretty relaxed about Saturday.  But, I’ll still be cozying up to that practice test tomorrow evening, just to be sure!

Wish me luck!