Getting a job at a private HS -- 1-2 years in the future.
April 7, 2014 5:35 AM Subscribe
Piggybacking off of this question to a certain extent -- what can I do now to make myself more attractive for teaching positions at privates high schools when I finish up my Ph.D.?
As my question history shows, I've been ambivalent about finishing up the degree--but now I'm a good way through the diss, and definitely going to finish up in two years, although if my partner gets a TT job next year, I will likely follow him to wherever he ends up in the fall of 2016.
So, knowing what I know about the job market, I'm much more interested in finding a stable gig teaching at a private HS. I have some experience teaching HS age students --a yearly (2 week) summer course, and a program I've pioneered to work with local HS students on their college application essays.
I can teach literature, writing, and possibly creative writing (depending on the school's interest in a strong publication record--is this a thing? I published a lot ~5 years ago when I was doing an M.F.A. but did not complete the degree and do not write poetry anymore). I don't know any foreign languages and couldn't coach any sports (unless teaching ashtanga yoga counts, which I doubt).
Should I try to squeeze in an adolescent psych class? An online ESL certification? What could I do now to help me in the future?
As my question history shows, I've been ambivalent about finishing up the degree--but now I'm a good way through the diss, and definitely going to finish up in two years, although if my partner gets a TT job next year, I will likely follow him to wherever he ends up in the fall of 2016.
So, knowing what I know about the job market, I'm much more interested in finding a stable gig teaching at a private HS. I have some experience teaching HS age students --a yearly (2 week) summer course, and a program I've pioneered to work with local HS students on their college application essays.
I can teach literature, writing, and possibly creative writing (depending on the school's interest in a strong publication record--is this a thing? I published a lot ~5 years ago when I was doing an M.F.A. but did not complete the degree and do not write poetry anymore). I don't know any foreign languages and couldn't coach any sports (unless teaching ashtanga yoga counts, which I doubt).
Should I try to squeeze in an adolescent psych class? An online ESL certification? What could I do now to help me in the future?
If you want to teach in a private high school, you won't have to worry about ESL or anything like that.
What I'd do is find out what you'd need to become certified in your current state. Most state cerifications will transfer. Private schools typically don't require certification, but it doesn't hurt and it makes it a LOT easier to pick you over a recently laid off public school teacher with decades of experience.
If you truly want to teach start taking Pedagogy classes, the most important thing is Classroom Management. I'm not joking.
No high school cares about publishing. You'd be surprised at what you can coach. I coached Speach and Debate, I could have done TV Production if I had wanted.
If you can do your dissertation at the same time that you complete some Education courses, that might help.
A good guideline for the types of things you'll need would be through actual Certification. I got two Emergency Certificates and was on a track for lateral permanant certification. I taught in public school and I had to get a lot of ESL, but as I said earlier, if you only want to teach in private school, then it's best to see what your current state certification requirements are.
Good luck, teaching is a pretty competative profession right now, even with the shitty pay and the overcrowded classrooms.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 6:14 AM on April 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
What I'd do is find out what you'd need to become certified in your current state. Most state cerifications will transfer. Private schools typically don't require certification, but it doesn't hurt and it makes it a LOT easier to pick you over a recently laid off public school teacher with decades of experience.
If you truly want to teach start taking Pedagogy classes, the most important thing is Classroom Management. I'm not joking.
No high school cares about publishing. You'd be surprised at what you can coach. I coached Speach and Debate, I could have done TV Production if I had wanted.
If you can do your dissertation at the same time that you complete some Education courses, that might help.
A good guideline for the types of things you'll need would be through actual Certification. I got two Emergency Certificates and was on a track for lateral permanant certification. I taught in public school and I had to get a lot of ESL, but as I said earlier, if you only want to teach in private school, then it's best to see what your current state certification requirements are.
Good luck, teaching is a pretty competative profession right now, even with the shitty pay and the overcrowded classrooms.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 6:14 AM on April 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
High school principal here. We would never hire a Ph.D. because they cost too damned much. and one without at least 25 years of teaching experience? I can get TWO teachers with BA's in Education for the same price.
You may find that the advanced degree for a high school position will be a disadvantage, unfortunately.
And as far as being published, it doesn't matter. Sorry.
posted by kinetic at 8:00 AM on April 7, 2014 [2 favorites]
You may find that the advanced degree for a high school position will be a disadvantage, unfortunately.
And as far as being published, it doesn't matter. Sorry.
posted by kinetic at 8:00 AM on April 7, 2014 [2 favorites]
Just to provide a counter-perspective to kinetic's, I know several PhDs from prestigious schools (Ivy League/Oxbridge, mostly) who have gotten hired into teaching jobs at private schools straight out of their PhD or postdoc. These schools were generally fancy and very expensive private schools in the Northeast US and (especially) in the UK. (However the people I know are largely in the NE US and the UK, so my sample bias may be skewed in favor of those results.) My sense from looking at my hired friends' experiences is that people with name-brand PhDs are quite attractive to private schools with a lot of money who want to impress their students' parents (and prospective students' parents) by advertising the numbers of teachers on their staff with PhDs and/or Ivy League/Oxbridge degrees. In my experience (as someone who attended one of these types of high schools), you would make yourself more marketable by thinking of extracurriculars you could take responsibility for. If you have experience with English/creative writing, you'd be a natural for being the faculty mentor for the school's literary society and/or literary magazine. Also, I don't know whether this is possible in your situation, but if you could get any sort of academic advising or RA position, that would likely help - my high school really promoted its teachers being live-in house tutors, helping with homework, etc., and I would imagine any formal experience with these areas would be a big bonus. My hunch is that publications are not very relevant. I can't help much further in terms of telling you what specifically you should do to further your success on this path, but as far as my anecdata shows, it's definitely possible.
posted by ClaireBear at 8:45 AM on April 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by ClaireBear at 8:45 AM on April 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
On the same track as kinetic's post, I'd like to give a perspective on hiring.
I currently have two PhDs working for me - one in math/science, one in Latin/classics. The first was someone who worked in private industry for high six digit salaries and basically retired to teach. He had no delusions that we'd be able to pay him anything remotely close to whatever he made before, and he was okay with that. The other guy is someone who taught college for years and got sick of being denied tenure. Both of them took a (significant) pay cut to work for us.
Not sure how this meshes with other places, but I can tell you this is generally how our how-important-is-it totem pole is structured:
1- Math, Science, English/Language Arts
2- History/Government
3- Arts, Foreign Language
4- Health/PE, CTE, anything else
Sorted by how many applications we get in each subject:
1- English/Language Arts, History/Government
2- Arts, Foreign Language
3- Health/PE, CTE
4- Science
5- Math
You can see the problem here. First, finding good math/science candidates (which is a high-priority area for us) is very challenging. Accordingly, they get paid a lot more. Part of the challenge in this area is that anyone who is actually knows there stuff can go out to the private sector and make 3x+ as much. I'll go out of my way to work with a math or science candidate if it means we have a shot at getting someone solid.
On the flip side, we always have a mountain of Language Arts and History candidates, probably more than all the others combined. Even though it is a high-priority area for us, we get so many apps that we can be a little picky. Things that will get you sent to the no-thank-you pile quickest: no experience actually teaching, wanting a salary we can't afford, job history that doesn't show stability. Like I said, I'm not sure how true this is everywhere else, but you may want to take this into account when writing cover letters - don't sell your PhD, sell what you can bring to the school.
posted by _DB_ at 9:07 AM on April 7, 2014 [3 favorites]
I currently have two PhDs working for me - one in math/science, one in Latin/classics. The first was someone who worked in private industry for high six digit salaries and basically retired to teach. He had no delusions that we'd be able to pay him anything remotely close to whatever he made before, and he was okay with that. The other guy is someone who taught college for years and got sick of being denied tenure. Both of them took a (significant) pay cut to work for us.
Not sure how this meshes with other places, but I can tell you this is generally how our how-important-is-it totem pole is structured:
1- Math, Science, English/Language Arts
2- History/Government
3- Arts, Foreign Language
4- Health/PE, CTE, anything else
Sorted by how many applications we get in each subject:
1- English/Language Arts, History/Government
2- Arts, Foreign Language
3- Health/PE, CTE
4- Science
5- Math
You can see the problem here. First, finding good math/science candidates (which is a high-priority area for us) is very challenging. Accordingly, they get paid a lot more. Part of the challenge in this area is that anyone who is actually knows there stuff can go out to the private sector and make 3x+ as much. I'll go out of my way to work with a math or science candidate if it means we have a shot at getting someone solid.
On the flip side, we always have a mountain of Language Arts and History candidates, probably more than all the others combined. Even though it is a high-priority area for us, we get so many apps that we can be a little picky. Things that will get you sent to the no-thank-you pile quickest: no experience actually teaching, wanting a salary we can't afford, job history that doesn't show stability. Like I said, I'm not sure how true this is everywhere else, but you may want to take this into account when writing cover letters - don't sell your PhD, sell what you can bring to the school.
posted by _DB_ at 9:07 AM on April 7, 2014 [3 favorites]
I wasn't sure if I should drop in here or not because I only taught at a private high school for 1 year and it was a poor job match for me. However,I did interviews/invitations to interviews/and landed a faculty position at a private high school, so....
Like you, OP, I had a PhD, although in the sciences, and minimal experience with teenagers. I also taught at the university and college level before, but I don't think that anybody cared about that at all.
Re:publications, etc. I actually deleted information relating to research experience/publications/presentations at conferences from my CV. No one ever asked about this, and I don't think that it was relevant to teaching high school. I did list volunteer experience (Peace Corps-I had to since it was a former job), and I was surprised that the private high schools were very excited and asked about this - I would not go do it, but if you already volunteer, list it and/or mention it during interviews. Some private high schools emphasized volunteering in the community and one school even had students volunteer for a few hours/week. I never knew anyone with an ESL background, but I think for the private high schools in this area, it just would not be needed or appropriate(but go on and do research ...it may be relevant in another part of the country). Also, coaching sports, etc.-just state the willingness to sponsor clubs during the interview.
Getting jobs.I have to say that it quick and easy. I used a placement organization and after posting info, people hiring at private high schools called and it quickly moved to interview and job offer (too quickly, unlike academic positions you can't wait for a month for other interviews, etc.). I believe similar to Bear that what the private high schools wanted was the PhD.They absolutely advertised this to parents and insisted that you have everyone call you Dr. Blah blah all the time.
I have to again say that it was a poor fit for me and after completing the academic yr, I quit with no job lined up. However, if I had to go back in time and do it again, there are a couple things that I see people mentioning that I would also recommend doing.
First, absolutely nthing Bunny on the classroom management class (not to get a job offer, for your own sanity). You will be thrown into a class without that background, and you are not likely to get support. So I would even go the next step and if you have time/reach out to teachers in your community now and ask their philosophies/to observe a class or two (because here is the funny part, I did take a classroom management in the past and it was absolute fluff - so in case you end up with a fluff class, just having ideas as to what to do may be really, really helpful).
Also, at the time I viewed it is "I want to live in X part of the country and please hire me" vs looking for best fit. I'm not sure what your other motivations/reasons for this particular job after leaving academia are OP, but I had taught uni students/loved it, and thought high school would be the same. I absolutely think that the AP courses/CP would have been a better fit (and I was offered that if I stayed on I could have those), so if I could go back in time, similar to what DB advocates, I would have pushed/emphasized that I wanted AP. But that was what I probably wanted in a job, and it doesn't mean that is what you will want/need. So I am going to tack on - consider doing research now for the private schools. These lists are published - read about the schools/philosophies/and if anything is appealing, reach out to them now even if they do not have a jbo listing (I know of another person with a PhD who got his private school position this way).
Finally, I am going to encourage you to try to contact/read about other people's experience who made the exact same transition (PhD --> Teach at private high schools). Check out Versatile PhD- I found it when I was looking for alternative jobs outside academia and at the time, they actually had interviews and posted the discussions, and one of them was people who made that transition (into private high school positions). The emails of the people participating in the discussion was often posted if you wanted to have a follow-up query/question. I don't know if the same discussion is still posted, but if it is - people transitioned into public schools and private schools,often straight out of grad school/postdoc.
Economics - for my own sanity, I searched what the NYC city paid in the public school by certain "steps" (experience/education) to compare it to my job offer. I recommend doing this when you get your offer because some schools (the religious ones, although I did not go that route) pay peanuts. But just for you to have a ballpark idea if your salary is equivalent (it was). As an FYI, there was no step for a phd, just a masters/and it was not that much ($1000 or so). But again, that is the local market here ,I can't speak to the rest of the country.
posted by Wolfster at 9:20 AM on April 7, 2014 [2 favorites]
Like you, OP, I had a PhD, although in the sciences, and minimal experience with teenagers. I also taught at the university and college level before, but I don't think that anybody cared about that at all.
Re:publications, etc. I actually deleted information relating to research experience/publications/presentations at conferences from my CV. No one ever asked about this, and I don't think that it was relevant to teaching high school. I did list volunteer experience (Peace Corps-I had to since it was a former job), and I was surprised that the private high schools were very excited and asked about this - I would not go do it, but if you already volunteer, list it and/or mention it during interviews. Some private high schools emphasized volunteering in the community and one school even had students volunteer for a few hours/week. I never knew anyone with an ESL background, but I think for the private high schools in this area, it just would not be needed or appropriate(but go on and do research ...it may be relevant in another part of the country). Also, coaching sports, etc.-just state the willingness to sponsor clubs during the interview.
Getting jobs.I have to say that it quick and easy. I used a placement organization and after posting info, people hiring at private high schools called and it quickly moved to interview and job offer (too quickly, unlike academic positions you can't wait for a month for other interviews, etc.). I believe similar to Bear that what the private high schools wanted was the PhD.They absolutely advertised this to parents and insisted that you have everyone call you Dr. Blah blah all the time.
I have to again say that it was a poor fit for me and after completing the academic yr, I quit with no job lined up. However, if I had to go back in time and do it again, there are a couple things that I see people mentioning that I would also recommend doing.
First, absolutely nthing Bunny on the classroom management class (not to get a job offer, for your own sanity). You will be thrown into a class without that background, and you are not likely to get support. So I would even go the next step and if you have time/reach out to teachers in your community now and ask their philosophies/to observe a class or two (because here is the funny part, I did take a classroom management in the past and it was absolute fluff - so in case you end up with a fluff class, just having ideas as to what to do may be really, really helpful).
Also, at the time I viewed it is "I want to live in X part of the country and please hire me" vs looking for best fit. I'm not sure what your other motivations/reasons for this particular job after leaving academia are OP, but I had taught uni students/loved it, and thought high school would be the same. I absolutely think that the AP courses/CP would have been a better fit (and I was offered that if I stayed on I could have those), so if I could go back in time, similar to what DB advocates, I would have pushed/emphasized that I wanted AP. But that was what I probably wanted in a job, and it doesn't mean that is what you will want/need. So I am going to tack on - consider doing research now for the private schools. These lists are published - read about the schools/philosophies/and if anything is appealing, reach out to them now even if they do not have a jbo listing (I know of another person with a PhD who got his private school position this way).
Finally, I am going to encourage you to try to contact/read about other people's experience who made the exact same transition (PhD --> Teach at private high schools). Check out Versatile PhD- I found it when I was looking for alternative jobs outside academia and at the time, they actually had interviews and posted the discussions, and one of them was people who made that transition (into private high school positions). The emails of the people participating in the discussion was often posted if you wanted to have a follow-up query/question. I don't know if the same discussion is still posted, but if it is - people transitioned into public schools and private schools,often straight out of grad school/postdoc.
Economics - for my own sanity, I searched what the NYC city paid in the public school by certain "steps" (experience/education) to compare it to my job offer. I recommend doing this when you get your offer because some schools (the religious ones, although I did not go that route) pay peanuts. But just for you to have a ballpark idea if your salary is equivalent (it was). As an FYI, there was no step for a phd, just a masters/and it was not that much ($1000 or so). But again, that is the local market here ,I can't speak to the rest of the country.
posted by Wolfster at 9:20 AM on April 7, 2014 [2 favorites]
Just so you know, many private schools (including my own) require teachers to also be certified teachers in in their content area. So, a PhD in Physics means little compared to a M.Ed in Science Education. We need people who know how to teach. There's a gigantic world of difference between knowing your content area and knowing how to teach.
We get a lot of applicants for teaching positions. We're looking for:
an advanced degree in EDUCATION
teaching certification/licensure
a degree in their content area (at least undergraduate)
teaching experience.
posted by kinetic at 10:01 AM on April 7, 2014
We get a lot of applicants for teaching positions. We're looking for:
an advanced degree in EDUCATION
teaching certification/licensure
a degree in their content area (at least undergraduate)
teaching experience.
posted by kinetic at 10:01 AM on April 7, 2014
Don't discount the Yoga. I have a friend who is a trailing spouse of an AP teaching guy at a private high school. She teaches Yoga! At the private school! In addition to the classes the school offers, she gets private clients through the schools student body. So there is definitely at least one private school that offers Yoga to it's students.
Familiarize yourself with all of the AP exams in areas that you could teach. Get some tutoring work with AP kids now* so that you can boast about your kids' scores. Without knowing what your PhD is in, I'd guess the areas you can teach at a high school level are probably more broad than you think. Being willing and/or able to teach high school chemistry AND language arts might make you extra appealing.
If you have experience with drama, you can coach that. Speech and Debate, if you start judging competitions now (well, next year) you can probably coach that with two years of keen observation. You might even be able to get involved with a team that has summer boot camp type activities for incoming freshmen. Taking on coaching responsibility might be the closest thing to gaining teaching experience** you can get in your time frame. Not surprisingly, you'll find a lot of high school teachers at Speech and Debate tournaments. Even if none of the people you meet have job offers for you, some might be willing to stand as personal or professional references for you. So let's pretend you live in Western Washington State, in the Seattle/Tacoma area. There are at least 10 or 15 tournaments a year just within 3 hours of there. You'll meet teachers from all over the state, plus Oregon and Idaho. When you are applying to a school in North Carolina, someone from within your new circle might know someone there. And even if they don't, that school will see your commitment to the activity as a bonus. Speech and Debate can have a lot of regionalisms, but if you're looking at a team that's already on the National stage, they might really appreciate someone from another corner of the country. You know, with an ability to tell the kids what they'll be up against.
*Private schools have actual customers who vote with their dollars: parents. This means that the teachers they hire are smooth and comfortable in the class room, and not only know how to manage a group of students, but also how to effectively transfer knowledge into the brains of other people. If you don't get experience teaching then no private school in their right mind will hire you. There are too many other qualified candidates with lots of experience willing to take a pay cut.
**We're not kidding. You need experience.
posted by bilabial at 10:31 AM on April 7, 2014
Familiarize yourself with all of the AP exams in areas that you could teach. Get some tutoring work with AP kids now* so that you can boast about your kids' scores. Without knowing what your PhD is in, I'd guess the areas you can teach at a high school level are probably more broad than you think. Being willing and/or able to teach high school chemistry AND language arts might make you extra appealing.
If you have experience with drama, you can coach that. Speech and Debate, if you start judging competitions now (well, next year) you can probably coach that with two years of keen observation. You might even be able to get involved with a team that has summer boot camp type activities for incoming freshmen. Taking on coaching responsibility might be the closest thing to gaining teaching experience** you can get in your time frame. Not surprisingly, you'll find a lot of high school teachers at Speech and Debate tournaments. Even if none of the people you meet have job offers for you, some might be willing to stand as personal or professional references for you. So let's pretend you live in Western Washington State, in the Seattle/Tacoma area. There are at least 10 or 15 tournaments a year just within 3 hours of there. You'll meet teachers from all over the state, plus Oregon and Idaho. When you are applying to a school in North Carolina, someone from within your new circle might know someone there. And even if they don't, that school will see your commitment to the activity as a bonus. Speech and Debate can have a lot of regionalisms, but if you're looking at a team that's already on the National stage, they might really appreciate someone from another corner of the country. You know, with an ability to tell the kids what they'll be up against.
*Private schools have actual customers who vote with their dollars: parents. This means that the teachers they hire are smooth and comfortable in the class room, and not only know how to manage a group of students, but also how to effectively transfer knowledge into the brains of other people. If you don't get experience teaching then no private school in their right mind will hire you. There are too many other qualified candidates with lots of experience willing to take a pay cut.
**We're not kidding. You need experience.
posted by bilabial at 10:31 AM on April 7, 2014
Previously a librarian at an independent (non-religious) high school. Totally seconding Wolfster's comments. I also have gone through that placement service, though it didn't result in actual jobs for me - feel free to MeMail if you want to talk more about that or anything else in this.
Things I'd advise:
1) *Anything* you can do that demonstrates you not only can deal with teenagers but enjoy doing so is pretty essential. Can you volunteer with a creative writing program in your area for the summer? Teach a short course for that age group through community education? There may be existing programs in your area that would be glad to have you as a volunteer/asssistant/whatever. Your basic goal here is to a) make sure you actually like working with teenagers, and b) get a reference that says you're good at it (and are good at it over time, so not just a one-day thing.)
If you can do a course in classroom management, definitely do that. Curriculum design is also a consideration, though one that's a bit easier to do on your own via reading and then constructing a sample syllabus you can pull out if people have questions. (For your speciality, I'd probably look at constructing a creative writing class: saves you trying to figure out how to negotiate their core English curriculum, which can vary a lot school to school in terms of what's focused on when.)
2) As noted, many independent schools expect and/or want people who can also advise or coach. The trick with this kind of thing is that for any given school, you have no idea if they have a longstanding coach/advisor for any given thing, so if you can go in and say "Here's 4 things I could do outside the classroom and here's a couple of others I could probably pick up" you have an edge over people who can only do one thing. And there's a much better chance that someone currently doing one of those four things might want to take a break from it for whatever reason.
Do you have any skills with publishing/layout/In Design/etc? If so, you could be the advisor for yearbook/the school newspaper/the school literary magazine, that can also give you an edge. The first two are probably way more important to the school than the literary magazine, because they get a much larger base of parent/alum interest. If you have theatre experience, there may be room for assisting with the school play/musical too (usually assisting whoever the actual theatre person is). Plus, of course, any relevant sports (even things like biking or ultimate frisbee or whatever can help, because they need people for non-team activities.)
3) Understand how the independent school hiring process works. The placement agencies are pretty good about walking you through it, but you'll want letters of recommendation for your file (see #1), and you'll want to understand how the speed of hiring works and the timeline for hiring.
You may want to browse the NAIS job listings for some ideas about the kinds of things that show up in ads. (And also some idea of salary, though there's a wide range depending on location/other duties/type of school.) You can also get an idea of extracurriculars schools offer, which might make you go "Hey, I have that underwater basket weaving hobby, and clearly people need advisors for that sometimes." that you can then make sure to mention.
posted by modernhypatia at 11:24 AM on April 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
Things I'd advise:
1) *Anything* you can do that demonstrates you not only can deal with teenagers but enjoy doing so is pretty essential. Can you volunteer with a creative writing program in your area for the summer? Teach a short course for that age group through community education? There may be existing programs in your area that would be glad to have you as a volunteer/asssistant/whatever. Your basic goal here is to a) make sure you actually like working with teenagers, and b) get a reference that says you're good at it (and are good at it over time, so not just a one-day thing.)
If you can do a course in classroom management, definitely do that. Curriculum design is also a consideration, though one that's a bit easier to do on your own via reading and then constructing a sample syllabus you can pull out if people have questions. (For your speciality, I'd probably look at constructing a creative writing class: saves you trying to figure out how to negotiate their core English curriculum, which can vary a lot school to school in terms of what's focused on when.)
2) As noted, many independent schools expect and/or want people who can also advise or coach. The trick with this kind of thing is that for any given school, you have no idea if they have a longstanding coach/advisor for any given thing, so if you can go in and say "Here's 4 things I could do outside the classroom and here's a couple of others I could probably pick up" you have an edge over people who can only do one thing. And there's a much better chance that someone currently doing one of those four things might want to take a break from it for whatever reason.
Do you have any skills with publishing/layout/In Design/etc? If so, you could be the advisor for yearbook/the school newspaper/the school literary magazine, that can also give you an edge. The first two are probably way more important to the school than the literary magazine, because they get a much larger base of parent/alum interest. If you have theatre experience, there may be room for assisting with the school play/musical too (usually assisting whoever the actual theatre person is). Plus, of course, any relevant sports (even things like biking or ultimate frisbee or whatever can help, because they need people for non-team activities.)
3) Understand how the independent school hiring process works. The placement agencies are pretty good about walking you through it, but you'll want letters of recommendation for your file (see #1), and you'll want to understand how the speed of hiring works and the timeline for hiring.
You may want to browse the NAIS job listings for some ideas about the kinds of things that show up in ads. (And also some idea of salary, though there's a wide range depending on location/other duties/type of school.) You can also get an idea of extracurriculars schools offer, which might make you go "Hey, I have that underwater basket weaving hobby, and clearly people need advisors for that sometimes." that you can then make sure to mention.
posted by modernhypatia at 11:24 AM on April 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
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If you want to be a composition/writing teacher, someone who can teach AP is hugely more attractive as a candidate (for my school at least) than someone who can't. Being able to teach concurrent enrollment is also a plus, although I'm hearing more in my area (Utah) that AP tends to be more popular, especially in the more rigorous high schools. Unfortunately, creative writing doesn't factor into a lot of college prep schools curriculum as anything other than an elective. I'd definitely take the "I'm an AP/Concurrent composition and literature teacher" track if you want the best chance of being hired.
You need to consider the fact that a good percent, I'd even wager a majority, of private HS are religious to some extent. Is this something you'd be comfortable working with? If not, it will cut your options down significantly. Just something to consider.
posted by _DB_ at 6:14 AM on April 7, 2014 [2 favorites]