getting ahead to be a teacher

Always do what you've always wanted to do, anna. You say getting a job is not easy? It's certainly a lot easier if you have a teacher's certificate from your state. You won't get rich but it's a living wage. There's a desperate shortage of teachers in most states these days, so getting a job should not be that hard. What to do to familiarize yourself fror a career in teaching? Go speak to a copunselor in the education department of your school or college. They will have all the inofrmation on certification requirments in California and will tell you exactly what courses you need to take and what you need to do to be certified. Best of luck to you from a fellow teacher for whom the choice of teaching was a mid-life career change. I went into it in Massachusetts after more than 35 years in the communications field (reporting, writing, editing mostly). Teaching is better.

As long as your teaching major is somewhat marketable, you'll have no trouble getting a job. Math, science, and special ed. are high on the demand list pretty much everywhere. English teachers are in medium demand (you'll have no trouble finding a job provided you're willing to move for it). I'm not at all sure about occupational education (high school business related classes usually fall into this category). Social studies and P.E. are really not at all in demand.

I was a year into a Ph.D. program when I decided to go for a teaching certificate. I do not regret my decision.

What subject/s, Mills?

I teach English, but I have majors in psychology and sociology as well.

Sounds luxurious. Post-secondary?

No, just secondary. I get to teach the ones who are forced to be there. I keep telling the principal we need to bring back flogging, but she just won't listen to reason. :wink:

LOL!!

My son and I were discussing my major, and when I told him I'd settled on teaching, he said I'd feel better about your safety if you became a covert spy for the CIA.

I wanted to go straight through to PhD and teach at a community college--but finances seem to be directing me to...<middle school...oh God, I said it>. I can't help but to be excited, though. I want to excite them. My son says I'm headed for heartbreak on a runaway locomotive...

Would you mind if I ask some questions about your work?

I DO plan to take about ten years of classes part-time, while I teach, and get the PhD eventually, if I live that long.

Well, there are good reasons why school teachers in America stay in the profession for only five years on average. I rather doubt I'll be a school teacher forever. For all their quirks, though, I do like working with the kids.

Fire away.

My plan is similar, but I'm currently debating in what subject to get the Ph.D. The only Ph.D. program for what I had been pursuing before teaching within commuting distance would require me to repeat almost all of my M.A. course work.

You have to really love the job and know what your in for.

Which i do. I got my first full time appointment 3 weeks ago.

I have never done anything so amazing in my life.

You walk into the classroom and your just on and its awesome.

The kids are fantastic....


and to just know your teaching to make a difference...

No one else sleeps better at night.... thats if your lessons for the next day are ready!

Good luck with it all

Thanks MrsDuchamp!

Mills--

I just want the PhD to teach post-secondary.

What is the degree you want?

<good grief--I had no idea the burn out is so bad.>

And--teaching English (dreamy to me)--do you create your own format--choose your own books, inject whatever elements you feel will enhance interest? or are you held to strict guidelines by administration?

No worries...


i know over here they have a cirriculum where everything is set out like texts and such.. but you teach it the way u want

basically to the kids needs... you apply the knowledge in ways which will help them in lif elong learning.

I was pursuing a doctorate in sociology. I still enjoy the subject, but I've got a bit of a problem with repeating several semesters of graduate coursework.


Teaching is one of the lowest paying professions compared to others with similar educational requirements (years of college, professional ceritification tests, etc.). As a teacher, you will also bear the brunt of society's blame for the state of our schools and our students' relatively low performance on standardized tests. As a teacher, you will hear how incompetent you are frequently from a wide variety of sources. You will be expected to acheive positive results with inadequate resources. I suspect all of that contributes heavily to said burnout. That being said, however, as a veteran teacher I have a fairly high level of autonomy and summers off is an excellent bonus.


This varies to some degree by school district. You definitely won't be able to choose the textbook, and literature not in the textbook will be limited to what the department/school district has available. Where I'm at, we have a list of specific pieces of literature, grammar, etc., that we must teach each quarter, but we choose how to teach it and, usually, there's ample time to add in some additional literature not on the list.

I decided to be an English teacher for two reasons: (1) I love literature and writing, and (2) English is a marketable teaching major and I already had a minor in it when I decided to go back for a teaching certificate. Unfortunately, I've found that literature is a relatively small part of teaching English and many schools (most in my district) expect English teachers to teach a highly artificial and formulaic method of writing to their students. Then there's grammar, vocabulary/word usage and decoding, and proficiency test prep. I frequently find myself feeling like a juggler suffering from ADHD. Of course, a nice weekend curled up with 200 students essays to grade and you will give serious consideration to opening your wrists. :wink:

But the kids keep you on your toes. They keep you coming back everyday. I know that for some of my kids I'm one of the few sources of positive adult attention they'll see that day; the 85 minutes I have with them every other day is more time then they have with their parents in many cases. The kids do need you and you will be a significant factor in their future success.

That was touching.

My Comp 2 professor says that is the only drawback--for him--he'll spend the Thanksgiving holidaysreading a couple hundred papers.

I'm glad for your students sake they have someone like you. I can tell you care about them. I worry that that may not be the case so often.

What would you want to do with sociology?

Wow its good to read about everyone's teaching experience. I am 18 and just finished school this year. Now that I am into college, where all our teachers are PhDs, I have realized that a degree of PhD is a must if you want to make it big in the world of teaching.

The schoolteachers were only postgraduates though my school is considered one of the top schools in India. And though some of them were eloquent, they could never arouse such interest in me for my subjects. The teachers here in college interpret concepts in such a comprehensible manner that never do I feel a disinclination to attend college.

Our Professor of Genetics is one of the most amusing teachers that I have ever been taught by. He employs the technique of comparing real life scenarios to genetic principles very successfully. It's like every genetic theory reminds him of some interesting events or aspects of his life or contemporary world happenings. This he carries out without actually frittering much time away. This really transforms his lectures into audio-visual treats.

What techniques are you guys out there planning to use to get your concepts across? May be, because I am student (young at that), I can comment on its efficacy….

I think teaching is what you make of it-and where you teach. Most of the teachers in my area have been teaching upwards of 25-40 years. I'm thinking about knocking some of them off so I can get a job:) The two biggest problems I have see in trying to get a teaching job are politics and coaching. The school districts around me are more interested in hiring a coach who is a poor teacher than hiring a teacher who is a poor coach.
I've seen that people who are certified in higher level maths and sciences(as well as Special Ed, are sought after the most.
As for Spidey's comment, A good teacher never uses one technique. Your teaching styles and methods must constantly be in flux based on: students, time of day, subjects, time of day, time of year etc. (and no, there wasn't a typo). To use just one technique is to make your classes become stagnent.
When I finish my deployment I will be back on the streets trying to find a full time position. It's not easy on my end because there is nothing traditional about me. School districts are not looking to hire a person in their mid 40's who only has sub teaching on the reusme. It doesn't matter that I have taught in other areas for over 20 years.
Ahhhhh, I'm being bitter and synical again.
Just keep your minds open and be creative in your teaching.

I know...it's almost enough to bring a trickle to your eye. :wink:

Isn't that what graduate teaching assistants are for?


Most teachers start out caring but have that beaten out of them.


Be a college professor and research those areas that interest me. Unfortunately, there's not much of a demand for sociology professors which leaves whoring one's self out as a researcher for private interests.

spidergal: I've not personally observed any correlation between years of postgraduate education and teaching skill, though most primary and secondary (high school) education teachers have master's degrees.

As for methods--I favored electro-shock reinforcement, but they tell me I can't use that anymore. :wink:

As ralpheb mentioned, we tend to use a variety of methods (e.g., occasionally I forgo flogging in favor of thumbscrews). Actually, I plan to have my students act out scenes from either Antigone or Julius Caesar with 'Fandango' paper bag puppets of their own making. This sort of activity has been shown to enhance student understanding of literary works on multiple levels.

ralpheb: U.S. citizen? Certified with a teaching major in something other that P.E., art, or social studies? Clean criminal record? Willing to move? If you answered yes to these four questions, you could probably get hired by the Clark County School District in Nevada. If interested, here's their website. The pay is pretty much average (which means a lot less than states like New York and Michigan), but there's no state income tax and, let's face, you'd be living in or very close to the entertainment capital of the world.