Should I become a teacher?

September 21, 2005 3:53 AM

I think I want to change careers and become a teacher. I need a change. I've been told "You'd be a great teacher!" by several people and I think I believe them. I already have a Masters (multimedia/technology), and I'm in NY state. How long will it really take me, and what else should I know before I leap? (More specific situational info inside...)

I don't think k I could just jump into teaching at a private school - I would want to go back to school part-time and get certified. I'm mid-30s, have little kids, live in upstate NY, I already have a Masters degree in "Multimedia and Telecommunications", and I've worked in the web/multimedia field for 8 years. I don't want to be pushing pixels around when I'm 45 (or even 40) and I don't want to go into management. I have a strong natural science background, too. (I realize this may render 'anonymous' moot, but whatever....)

posted by anonymous to Education (14 answers total)

I would look for programs (I don't know if New York has any, but I'm nearly certain they would) that are for mid-career professionals doing a career switch. Public schools are desperate for people with science or math backgrounds, and many states have set up programs to fast-track people with those backgrounds into the classroom.

A 1-minute search of New York's Department of Education website gave me this page.

There are two advantages to the mid-career programs. The first is that they help you get around some of the red tape - and there is more red tape than can possibly be believed around certification. If you go the traditional route (go back to school, get an education degree, do your student teaching, and then look for a job), it'll be quite a while before you're in the classroom and you'll have had to deal with a million and one picayune requirements to get there.

The second advantage is that the mid-career switch programs tend to get you in the classroom sooner, and that's where you actually learn to teach. Courses about education aren't entirely useless - they help you recognize issues when they come up in the classroom and help broaden your thinking - but teaching is definitely something you can't really learn until you're actually doing it. The trick is to find a program where there's real mentorship, rather than a "throw you in and see if you sink or swim" mentality. When you get to the point of choosing a program, find some people who've been through it and ask about their experiences.

Feel free to e-mail me via my profile - I got caught up in the red tape in making my switch, but now teach 5th and 6th graders, and I love my job.
posted by Chanther at 4:40 AM on September 21, 2005

Great advice from Chanther. The usual term used is "alternative certification." This kind of certification is controversial, in general, teacher's unions and university departments of education oppose it, and poor school districts and state legislatures favor it. So the laws vary tremendously by state, depending on the political power of the sides. A friend of mine was certified this way in New Hampshire, he took an intensive summer program followed by a year of teaching with close mentorship, then he was certified.

Keep in mind that your first year of teaching will be a bear--there is so much to prepare, so many tests and handouts and powerpoints to create. Don't get discouraged, it gets better.
posted by LarryC at 5:29 AM on September 21, 2005

As an ex-private school teacher, I think it would be very helpful to go talk to a couple private school headmasters before selecting a certification program. See what kind of criteria they would look for in a 35 year old first teacher.

I would contact headmasters at schools you might be interested in working at later. When you go back in a year or two to apply for a job, you can contact the headmaster again and he/she will remember you!
posted by kdern at 5:32 AM on September 21, 2005

I recently spoke with an advisor on a similar subject, but for Ohio. I've a BA, but that doesn't do much to whittle off the subject area requirements and teaching courses. It looks like two years of full time coursework to get a license. Many states offer emergency licenses for uncertified teachers as long as you are taking classes to become fully qualified. That might be something to look in to.
posted by sciurus at 5:38 AM on September 21, 2005

LarryC is right on the money when he mentions how difficult the first year will be. It's almost impossible for those outside education to grasp the magnitude of it until they're right in the middle of it. I can't overstate this. I threw up every morning for my first 6 months, and have spoken to enough people since then to figure out that my response wasn't isolated. Talk to most teachers about their first year in the classroom and you'll be surprised by some of the answers you get.

Our state / system has a relatively new alternative certification program, and the initial numbers on attrition seem to back this up. Looks like a LOT of people decided that teaching would be easier than whatever it is they were doing before, and many had to find out the hard way that there's more to it than showing up at 8:00 and leaving at 3:30.

That being said, I wouldn't change careers for anything, and am happy to hear that you're considering a change. It will be rewarding beyond your wildest dreams as long as you have a clear idea of what you're getting into beforehand. We certainly need more people in education who know what they're doing, and it sounds like you'd be an asset to any program that hired you. Good luck!
posted by richmondparker at 6:59 AM on September 21, 2005 [1 favorite]

My only word of advice is make sure being a teacher is something you really want to do, not just something you feel would be "different". Cause it not, you're risking burnout and a lot of wasted time.
posted by trillion at 9:23 AM on September 21, 2005

Please do not discount the use of some of those education courses- you will need them (full disclosure- I teach Masters and cert courses at a large, public institution in NY).

I would have been thrilled to know what I know now when I was in the high school classroom. My teacher cert/Masters program was low on theory and high on practice- good in a way because I had the classroom time. Chanther is right in that there are many things you just cannot learn without being there, as it were.

However, the lack of theoretical base in my cert program made it difficult for me to understand how to generate my own practice, and evaluate the programs and evaluations that came down from the district or state. I had a lot of confusion and disconnect when I tried to create lessons and units, as well as the formulation of my own approaches to learning, as I was missing very important pieces to the cognitive puzzle. Eventually I figured out a lot of it, and was surprised to learn, upon returning to school, that all the approaches and ways of thinking had names. It would have saved me a lot of time and frustration.
Ed classes aren't all learning the format of a lesson plan and organizing a gradebook.
posted by oflinkey at 9:47 AM on September 21, 2005

I took the switch and switched back. From a certain point of view, my classes were the ultimate combination of dream and nightmare. There was no real curriculum so I had the freedom to make it all up. There were no available texts so I had to make it all up. There were no real standards, so I had to make...well you see where this is going.

In many states, a Masters--any kind of masters--will get you into a classroom. My wife got a masters in Ed. We spoke a lot and I included the key points of our conversations into my class. She looked over some of my student work and was impressed with how far up I was getting them in Bloom's Taxonomy--total fluke. She did better operating on what was taught in her program, but was missing on basic classroom management techniques becuase she assumed that high school kids would be reasonable. I struggled with prep and grading, but classroom management was easy, because I assumed that high school (and in my case middle school) kids are fundamentally brain-damaged.

That said, consider getting classroom experience to help you get a feel for the environment. Maybe you can get into a program that will allow you some student teaching. Look at the ed programs. Ed theory is a good thing if you can apply it. If you aren't going to go that path, at the very least learn how to create a good lesson plan, how to do formative assessment, and how to make solid rubric for summative assessment.
posted by plinth at 11:01 AM on September 21, 2005

Gotta chime in here. I am 33, 10 years teaching and then gave it up. Too much crap. Out here in the west teachers are paid less than your mailman, trash collector or taco bell employee (after 10 years, multiple endorsements and 30+ post BA Univ. hours I made about 10/hr. take home).
I loved my time with the kids. But it shrunk almost daily- replaced by ethically questionable NCLB practices.
My point, I guess is to think twice. It is no cake walk job, it is not 'the toughest job you will ever love'. It is just a really political, hard job with very very few extrinsic rewards. I burned out like a whimpering matchstick.
posted by BrodieShadeTree at 11:33 AM on September 21, 2005

I have to chime in here too, as someone that is considering the same thing. BrodieShadeTree, what would you consider a "cake walk job"? Is that what you were expecting? If so, I'm not surprised you left with all that green, green grass on the other side. Maybe you made the right decision for you, but every job is hard. I do a job that looks very easy, in fact it is. But its horribly boring, and that makes it hard for me. Often the people that are most satisfied with their job are ones who changed careers, because on the bad days they can look back and say "Well, I'm not going back to that again" and keep going. So Anonymous, I agree that this should be something you want to do, rather than just a change. Also think about what age group you might be best suited to teaching. I've found from time in the classroom that the subject has very little to do with it, its what kind of people you want to spend your day with. And definately get some time in a class before you decide. Kids are loud, smelly and sometimes they're jerks. But they're also fun, funny and interesting. Your choice, good luck.
posted by Idiot Mittens at 11:55 AM on September 21, 2005

It was not that the job was "hard" or easy, in fact. (It is hard!) It is challenging, difficult and in some ways very interesting.

For me it was two things: foremost teaching is single most disheartening thing I have ever done in my life. For so many reasons, I ultimately felt powerless to affect lives the way I desired.

Second public education under NCLB is untenable. I am the sort of person who needs occasionally to be reminded/rewarded for what I do in the smallest sense, not constantly reminded that I am sub=par, ineffectual and not treating kids like cogs enough. I also need to think that I am doing good. Both of these got lost recently in education. Ask many public elementary school teachers, you will see.

To reiterate. Do your homework, be SURE you want to be a teacher.
posted by BrodieShadeTree at 12:05 PM on September 21, 2005

I went through a BS in Math Ed. I did student teaching. I saw myself in BrodieShadeTrees's position down the road. I walked out. Not because of the kids. Because of the system.

I'd do private school. I'd do public school again under extenuating circumstances (improbable awesomeness on the part of administration and other faculty, starvation). But my choice would be (and has been) something else.
posted by weston at 12:48 PM on September 21, 2005

Well, Brodie, your reasons seem to be sound for leaving, but just as a warning to the question asker. I've done research on a few different professions lately, and no matter which one you choose, you will find those who love it, and those who hate it. All you can do is try it on in your own mind, and try it on in real life as much as possible before making the leap. I'd give the same advice if you were thinking of law school or a PHD. Don't do it just for a change, there's lots of ways to make money. Do it because YOU see yourself comfortable doing it for the next 5-10 years, beyond that time frame is too hard to see.
posted by Idiot Mittens at 2:11 PM on September 21, 2005

If you don't love teaching, it is probably the worst job you will ever have. Teaching is not easy, period. You might think of substitute teaching for a few days to get a feel for what it is like.
posted by phewbertie at 5:17 AM on September 22, 2005