budcrew08 said:
pressboxramblings07 said:
For those who want to teach in Texas:
The Web site www.iteachtexas.com offers an alternative route to teacher certification, and all of the coursework is done online. You never step foot into the classroom until you are ready to teach.
If you have a degree with a 2.5 GPA you are accepted into the program. The only upfront costs are a $50 application fee and a $375 fee that has to be paid before they send you the coursework. You have to finish the coursework in six months, but it can be done in as fast as two. After you complete the coursework, you start your internship (a one-year teaching position as a highly qualified teacher; you are paid the same as a first-year teacher), and once you are finished with your first year, you take the PPR Test and are certified.
While you are in the middle of the coursework, you can still search for teaching positions and obtain jobs since you can prove you are in an alternative program. There is a huge teacher job fair in Arlington on May 4 -- the NCTASPA job fair. You can Google it. Schools from all over the state will be there.
If by chance your degree is in math or science, or you get certified in either one, you will get hired fast and schools will fight for you. Teaching shortages in those subjects are crazy.
The total cost of the program is around $4,200. But after you pay the two fees up front ($425 total), you can get on a payment plan and not have to pay anything until you start teaching.
I have yet to find a school district in the Metroplex that pays first-year teachers less than $40,000/year, and most have been $44-45K. Insurance can be expensive depending on the district, but it's good coin for teachers.
I'm about to start the program so I can start teaching in August. PM me if you want more details.
Other states are much more complicated, including two that I would be involved with: N.Y. and VT.
I just left journalism for a teaching job in Florida and I'd have to say the Florida certification process is the easiest of all I researched.
Requirements are a degree w/ a 2.5 GPA and either a major in the teaching field or a passing score on the Florida teacher subject exam in the teaching field.
If you meet those simple requirements, you can get a three-year certificate that allows you teach while completing a few additional requirements for the five-year certificate.
To get the three-year cert., you must pass the FBI background check and have a job offer in an approved school (nearly all schools in Florida meet that requirement).
The requirements for the five-year cert. are completion of a teacher prep. program (nearly every college/university in the state has a prep. program for lateral entry teachers and they are fairly inexpensive) and pass a few more exams. You have three years to complete these requirements.
While Florida is in rough shape with respect to school budgeting, there are jobs to be had, especially in math, science, ESE and English. Go to www.teachinflorida.com or each district's site (typically www.///nameofcounty///.k12.fl.us for opps and aps.
I decided in December to leave journalism for education. I applied for a statement of status of eligibility from www.fldoe.org/edcert and had my transcripts sent to them. I then registered online for teacher subject exams, which I took in Atlanta during January. The exam results were automatically sent to the DOE, which then issued my eligibility letter.
Once you receive your eligibility letter stating you meet the requirements for a three-year certificate, you are eligible to be hired.
I immediately began applying for jobs via teachinflorida.com and the various district sites. It was a bad time of year for job searching (most hiring is done during the late spring and early summer), but I immediately received an interview offer from a high school near Tampa. I turned down the offer because the job was not guaranteed beyond the current school year.
A few weeks went by and then I received offers for interviews at two different public charter schools on opposite ends of the state. I turned one down, but decided to interview at the other. Things went well and I had an offer about a week later.
It's not my ideal job because it is a year-round school and I want summers off, but I get six weeks paid vacation per year, in addition to nine holidays and some additional sick days. I also receive a higher salary than the school district's nine-month staff.
Another great benefit is the school will pay for any training/education I want to complete (including books), so I'm going to complete the teacher prep. courses as part of a Master of Education that I won't pay a penny for.
There is a teacher here at the school who complains a lot about the job, but I just laugh. I just left a job that required crazy hours, offered very little pay (you know you are paid poorly when you get a big raise by becoming a teacher). I didn't have a single paid day off during the last year at my old job, but I received two paid days off during my first week here at the school. Hmm, I wonder if I made the right decision?
Anyway, if you would like advice on breaking into the teaching profession in Florida, just let me know.
