So I hate my job and have been thinking of what I want to do with my life. I am seriously thinking about teaching. Has anyone on this board gone through the alternative certification to become a teacher? Do you have any tips about the process?
One of my good friend's is doing it right now while teaching his first year at Mayde Creek high. I'm seriously considering doing it myself next year. ITeachTexas is supposed to be a very handy website. I'd recommend starting the process soon if you really want to do it. My friend waited until June to start it and ended up not being a full-time teacher, but a permanent sub for this year.
I have my teaching certification. One thing you should know that you may not realize is that teachers put in <b><u>a ton</u></b> of extra work, especially in their first few years. Expect to spend a lot of late nights up until 2 am lesson planning. Also, teachers put up with a lot of ****. It all depends on the students. If you have a good, well-behaved class, teaching can be very rewarding. If you don't, it can be the most frustrating job on earth. Unfortunately, 80% of kids today are little bastards, so there's not much of a chance of getting good classes. I'm going to do the overseas thing teaching English pretty soon. That might be something for you to consider.
If you're teaching below high school level, do you actually need a degree in something to teach? I'm pretty sure I could teach 7th grade algebra. Two words: Teacher's Edition!
A lot of it depends on your co-workers. My friend's been really lucky with his fellow teachers helping him out on the lesson plans, tests and all that. He said after this year, the workload in this regard will be very minimal. He will be frustrated by his kids. He thinks it's kinda funny now that none of them give a damn about their work. Of course, when only eight sets of parents show up to Parents' Night out of his 140 kids, it's no wonder they don't care. I can see that part wearing down on him as the year goes on. It's one of the cons for me.
lol, you think you hate your job now? also, everything is about standardized testing now. that "no child left behind" program, yea, it'll really do wonders for your sanity. so i've been told from my ex-g/f. lol, i don't think a day went by when i DIDN'T hear about how bad her day was.
tuturials, grading papers, making copies, laminating copies, spending several days preparing your room, teacher-parent conferences (read: listen to parents b**** at you about how their kid would never do what you just caught them doing). oh yea, you also have to deal with politics amongst your fellow co-workers.
There are lesson plans, which will change, and require re-planning as the state, school, district, and administration have different requirements, and areas they need to focus on. In California teachers must also continue to take classes related to their profession which requires class time and additional homework. Many, if not all schools, require or strongly suggest(read require) participation in one or more committees which will require extra time and planning. Lesson planning will also change based on your class, and you may have to do 3 or 4 modified lesson plans for each of the lessons you want to do, in order to best teach the different students and their different learning modalities. Then once all the plans are made you will have to make posters/powerpoint presentations/model stories/print out photos/hunt down and bring in realia, and other things depending on the students and their background. For instance I have 3rd graders that can't really ever play outside because of their dangerous neighborhood and yet they read stories about kids flying kites, and have to answer questions on it when they are tested. Then it is necessary to bring in a kite, demonstrate etc. just so they start out taking the test with as close to the same knowledge as other students. Of course you will need to make copies, locate and bring in additional reading material, grade tests, homework, and all that good stuff. A lot of it depends on what grades you are teaching, the background of your students etc. It is very rewarding, but there is a lot of extra work early on. The other poster who mentioned about helpful colleagues is exactly right. Sharing the load makes it much easier, and helps cut down on some of the time commitement required.
This just happened at the shcool where my wife taught for 6 years before she couldn't take it anymore. Good luck... Teacher wants no jail for kid in hair-burning By Scott E. Williams The Daily News Published September 8, 2006 SANTA FE — The teacher of a boy facing a possible jail sentence after being charged with setting the teacher’s hair on fire said she hoped the boy would remain free. Rachel Brauer, 25, started her teaching career at Santa Fe High School last month. Last week, she and her class were in the school library. As she leaned over a table to help a student with a question, another student reportedly crept behind her and held a lit cigarette lighter to her hair. Brauer was not injured and missed no work, but the small fire singed about 5 inches of her hair. School district police took the 16-year-old boy into custody. He was later charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Brauer could not be reached for comment Thursday, but earlier this week she sent The Daily News an e-mail in which she expressed hope the boy would receive probation. “I do not want the student’s life to be destroyed by a stupid mistake; therefore, I want the student to receive no jail time,” she wrote. “I do want the student to be on probation and do community service, as well as have his record sealed at 18.” Prosecutor Ella Anderson heads the district attorney’s office’s family division, which prosecutes cases with juvenile defendants. Anderson said Thursday the boy would stand trial as a juvenile, not as an adult. That means the charge could carry anything from probation to a term of confinement at a juvenile facility that would end when the boy reached adulthood. At that point, officials would determine whether to release him or send him to an adult prison for a specific length of time. The total confinement period could not exceed 20 years. Family division prosecutor Paige Santell said she could not comment on discussions between her office and Brauer. However, she said the wishes of a victim generally played “a considerable role” in how prosecutors approached cases. http://news.galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=044e147a16cb147a
FranchiseBlade and macalu hit on most of it. Aside from lesson planning, I found the most time-consuming thing to be marking and just generally getting yourself prepared to teach the stuff. I.e. if you are doing a lecture, you have to make sure you know or memorize what you will be talking about. If you are giving overhead notes, you have to prepare the overhead. If you are playing a fun game (i.e. History Jeopardy Review Class) you have to actually create the game (draw it out on the board or build something out of cardboard, etc..). Teachers who have seniority and have been teaching the exact same course for ten years can probably just go in and give a lesson with minimal preparation. Most teachers, though, have to grind it out by doing a ton of prep work. "Winging it" won't fly.
This is what I've heard...As long as you don't have little turds, this could be a great opportunity...I use to hear teachers don't get paid much, but its enough to survive... What a little turd for lighting his teacher's hair on fire...Send him to jail....
my wife did alternative certification this past year. I'll ask her what program she did. She's waiting until next year to start teaching though because she wants to teach art.
In response to what some of the posters have said, I'm going to say that both my parents were teachers and I didn't see them doing nearly as much work as some of these posters report. They were well respected teachers, and my father even went on to become the national principal of the year for the Bureau of Indian Affairs after he went into administration. At first, you might have a lot of work, but I know that my parents developed a way to get things done quickly while they were at work. I think it's just getting practice and having an efficient routnie. Also, don't forget the summer and holiday breaks.
SCF, i'm not a teacher but my ex-g/f is. she teaches 5th grade for HISD. she's quite efficient and her students score very high on their standardized tests. she's considered the best teacher at her school and the most prepared. she has a routine and still almost everyday, she's working a 12 hour day. go in at 7, get out around 7.
I have already done that, spent two years in Korea. Thinking about teaching in Japan for a few years, but that is only a few years and I am back to square one when I get back. Thanks everyone for the info.
My wife is a teacher, but she got her certification the more traditional way. One of her paraprofessionals just got her alternative certification, though, through Region X (we're in the Dallas area) on nights/weekends and is teaching in the Plano ISD now. My wife claims that it's much harder to get hired with an alternative certification, but the one example of a person we personally know who has it (the former para I mentioned) got a job with little problem in a very good suburban district (no matter what Bill O'Reilly says).
