I definitely don't want to teach at any religious school, so that rules out that track. The main problem I'm having is that I'm already in my sophomore year and haven't taken any education courses yet. I'm planning on doing study abroad next fall, which means that I won't be able to take enough education courses my final 3 semesters to get certified through undergrad work. The alternative teaching track seems very appealing to me. Would a public school actually hire me without any previous educational experience though, even if I am getting the certificate on the side by going to school?
Depending on what your content area is you can try the lateral entry route. This is a way for schools to fill positions that are in dire need of teachers ... things like science and math, for example. Basically, you sign a contract stating that you promise to become certified by going to school at night while teaching during the day. Generally, a lateral entry teacher can have between 3 and 5 years to get certified this way. The catch is if you are a content area where there is not a need, it will be tough for you to find a teaching job. If that is the case, perhaps subbing full time while you go to school at night to get certified is an option.
Too bad I'm an English major. Nobody loves us. Are there any people here that went the Grad school Masters in Teaching route? What kind of financial aid is available and how long did it take?
I actually did it the difficult way. I graduated with a degree in history and no education classes so I know your situation very well. It took me two and half years to get certified to teach high school after college. My advice would be to take as many education classes as you can and if you can, stay an extra year in college, get all the classes you need and get your student teaching out of the way. That is easy to do rather then doing what I did. I got my degree from UNCG and went to another school to get certified. They actually made me take more history classes in addition to education classes to meet their requirements for certification. If I had stayed at UNCG and just taken the ed classes it would have been a lot quicker.
Was the school you went to for your education courses in a different state from your undergrad? Definitely can't stay at my undergrad school longer than the bare minimum four years due to financial constraints. That's why the masters route looks good to me if the financing were available.
No problem. You're young. Seriously not a big deal. Awesome!! Btw, this might radically alter your life plans. In a great way! I wouldn't sweat it. Yep. Inner-city (and I'd imagine rural poor). I know that all the major school districts in large cities do so. LAUSD, for instance, has a great program. The other option is to get an MA from a school w/ a PhD program or a terminal MA w/ decent teaching assistantships. An MA is great b/c it allows you to pick where you want to work. The better and more prestigious the degree, the better job you'll get. And honestly, that is quite attractive, given that you are going to be teaching for 30+ years. You might as well have as many options as possible. My main message to you is ... enjoy the remainder of undergrad experience. Enjoy your classes. Enjoy your time abroad. Pick a grad program that appeals to you. Pick a route to your credential that you feel good about, that will stimulate you intellectually. Then, you take all those positives into the classroom and your joy of the subject will make your life a lot better. It will make you a better teacher. It's great to know your goals. But having been through that process (wanting to teach hs and coach sports to wanting to teach community college to wanting to teach university), I feel that the journey... the journey is what is important. And it will guide you in what you really want. I made plenty of teacher friends along the way. The ones that are the happiest are the ones that enjoyed their journey. In short... don't sweat not finishing a BA and a credential in 4 years. That's a rarity...
back to thread title... i hate when teachers discuss students and attempt to blacken their view of one... kids are kids... let the kids be... cripes... I have a girl in my class now who is seemingly frightened of the teachers here... intimidated... paranoid almost... not a healthy atmosophere for learning, imo... ---- I hate days when i feel like i haven't accomplished anything... ---- i hate getting observed because i feel like every single thing that isn't to the book will be rated down as poor... ---- and yes... NCLB is so bad, i hate not being able to teach anything except to that stupid test... ---- all in all, though, i can't hate too much, i certainly didn't choose this job for the money...
I sub. Ok, having said that, it is clear to all that I'm not a real teacher, even though I have the educational background of most real teachers and worked with kids for 30 years and taught Sunday School for 7. So what I hate about being a teacher is that highschool age kids today haven't been taught much of what I was taught by the time I was in 10th grade, except in math, where somehow they changed it since 1960, which is the last time I had a math class, other than statistics in college. Oh, and the kids have been allowed to talk so much that it takes 5 minutes of my time every class period to get them to stop chatting about the news of the day: Is Heather going out with Randy, etc?
I do love Fridays though. And I love it when kids say crazy things. I was talking about China and their use of steel and I asked the question, "what could steel be used for" ... and one of the replies I got was for a "chastity belt". Had to pause for a moment on that one.
LAUSD? What area? I used to do South Gate/Bell/Watts for 2 years. I avoided jr. high like the plague... One thing I loved about subbing is that a class will give you 20 seconds to pontificate. They'll actually listen to you, for 20 seconds, but they'll listen attentively. I used to talk about college, making the social transition from high school to adulthood (jrs and srs were especially interested in leaving the whole adolescent pack mentality), how teachers don't get jack crap if you do your homework... they have you do it for... YOUR benefit. (That would always blow them away. They had no idea that their teachers acted in certain ways b/c they wanted what was best for the students. Go figure.) Once I had their attention, I would go over how certain assignments (essays, tests) were important for later on in the semester and for the following academic year. In short, I would review all the stuff that their teachers had been pounding away at. The interesting thing is that it was as if they were listening to it for the first time! Just tells you how much they tune their teachers out. [/substitute rant]
I HATED subbing. I always got called for the worst schools. My second day of subbing, one girl came up and asked to borrow a pair of scissors. I found her a pair in the desk, she went back to her seat, pulled a plastic apron from her bag and started giving her girlfriend a haircut in the back of the room. It took about 10 or 20 seconds before the shock of it wore off and I could tell them to stop (which really ticked off the girlfriend, because I made them stop before her cut was done).
The key is being nice and professional w/ the person in charge of subs for the individual school. Show that you take teaching seriously and develop a good rapport w/ other teachers. I was always uber cool and would do favors to these ladies (never met a guy in this position) and it always paid dividends. The one time that I was really cool w/ a secretary and she just took advantage of that (Cool!! I'll send the sub to cover for one unmanageble class), when she asked if I wanted to come back the next day I said no. She was shocked that I was no longer amenable to her whims, and she changed stopped taking advantage of my generosity.
I loved teaching at the inner city alternative high school that I was at last year. It was in one of the roughest neighborhoods in Chicago. I drove 90 minutes one way each day! So roughly 3 hours a day commuting took a lot out of me, but I still loved teaching at that high school. All of my students either were kicked out or dropped out of the garbage, war zone, drug infested schools filled with teachers who can't teach to save their @ss, but still make 20-30k more a year than I do. All of the really tough b@d ass students got along great with me. Almost every student in the school was in a gang. More than 75% of the female students were teen mothers. Many students had been in and out of juvie or jail. They were: 95% Mexican-American 4% African-American 1% Puerto-Rican American I was the only white male in their lives that wasn't a cop or judge. Once I established respect and trust, we had a lot of fun and learned a great deal from one another. Even though, I saw a 12yo shoot and kill a 17yo only a 100 yards from me and had very little school resources; I'm so very glad that I took that job and it was a life changing experience.
a pet peeve of mine... teachers that continously complain about how bad their kids are ... everyday at lunch, i hear a group of teachers badmouthing their kids. highly annoying. not like these are 25 year vets near retirement either. these are young teachers like me. if it is that bad, change what you do in class orget out and do something else. pet peeve.
Right now I'm hating Valentine's Day because my kids just ate soooo much candy at lunch. Silent reading time has never been so noisy.
I sub in the Anaheim Union High School District. They don't call me Mr. Stilton. I've taught English, Spanish, French, Special Ed, History, and I sat in on a Math class, as coverage. Had no idea what they were doing. Something about matrices. Oh, well. A couple of days ago, I had a Special Ed class, and there were 13 boys and one girl the first hour. Felt sorry for the girl. Second hour, this kid who could not speak for more than 8 seconds without calling someone "Fool!", which I recognize is the cultural equivalent of "Dude" for kids who are in psychological pain, rolled in. I had him in 3 of the next 4 periods, and he pretty much did the absolute minimum to keep from being referred to the detention center. To me, it's discouraging because I know that his future is very edgy, whether he will get shot in a drive-by, or get arrested for some kind of crime. He wasn't a bad kid, just lost in the shuffle. He'll never have the benefit of a teacher who can inspire him, since, no matter how wonderful a Special Ed teacher is, there just isn't enough time to sort out what's gotten into that boy and still pay attention to the entirety of what is demanded when one has around 15 learning handicapped kids in a classroom where the dominant culture is gangsta or cholo. The next day, I had 4 periods of French and 1 of Spanish. What a dream.
-Colleagues that are idiots. -Teachers who are out to get other teachers. Or being undervalued by other staff. -School boards that have NO idea what they are doing. (and decide not to uphold parts of a contract) -Girls dressing like sluts, and guys wearing pants below their asses. -Having students and other teachers think you don't teach a "real class" -Being asked "Did I miss anything in class yesterday?" or "Are we doing anything today?"
Wait, you guys never had a student miss class then come up and say, "did we do anything important in class last time?" I usually go with something like, "well, I did about 45 minutes of shadow puppets on the overhead projector, and followed that up with my imitation of Richard Nixon singing famous broadway showtunes."