Q for the Teachers: Alternative Certification

[johnny chimpo]

Have considered teaching for years and think I would have really enjoyed it if I had gone into that field right out of school. I've been a lawyer for 10 years and am absolutely burned out on it and starting to think "what if?" I have a science undergrad degree so I was looking into the alternative certification programs to see about teaching jr high biology. I see there are plenty of programs in Austin to get certified.

However, I spoke to my mom, a career elementary teacher and my dad, who is a professor in his school's education department and they both told me that the alternative certifications are a waste of time and money because public schools aren't hiring teachers with them. The programs cost about 4000$. For the teachers out there, is this accurate - is it tough to get a teaching job with alternative certification? If I was really serious about teaching, would I need to go back and enroll in college and take the education classes?

 

[Bluepies]

Depends on the subject. Science teachers shouldn't have much of a problem. I didn't. You may or may not get the school district of your choice though.

Word to the wise - finish your certification early enough that you can start job-hunting in early Summer, or even Spring. I finished my certification halfway through July and lots of places were full up. Still got a job though, but an hour away from Austin.

By the way, you only have to pay the $4,000 if you get a job - it comes out of your paycheck. You don't have to pay it up front.

 

[lostman]

Houston area districts are hiring ACP teachers. At my previous middle school we have about 8-10 teachers at various points in the certification. With the new 4 by 4 standards, they are looking for good science and math teachers. Middle school science, though, is gen'l science. Bio would be in 9th grade for the most part. Good luck.

 

[JohnnyYuma]

I did it through iteachtexas. The school was happy to hire me before I even started the program because I was a math major at UT. Helped me set up the whole program and did a payroll deduct(about $300/mo). The whole deal was pretty easy.

www.iteachtexas.com/

 

[Larry T. Spider]

Science is certainly an area of need. I would strongly advise you to be finishing up in the Spring so that you can hit job fairs and all that. My principal (elementary) likes to have a full staff for the next year by May. It doesn't always work out with people leaving late but most people are hired early. I got my job in mid-may.

 

[Smurfette]

I work in Austin ISD.

In general it's getting harder to get a job as a teacher b/c districts simply aren't hiring for their open positions b/c they're strapped for cash.

Some districts do not hire folks out of the Alternative Cert programs... When I worked in Lake Travis they would not hire out of I Teach.

My advice.... a lot of people think they would be good teachers and would enjoy the job. 90% of being a good teacher is being able to manage a classroom, which is VERY difficult. Some people have it, some people don't.... some people go crazy trying to figure it out. Also, there's a lot of ******** and bureaucracy in Education that some people can't put up with. If you're serious about being a teacher, substitute teach for a while.

Teaching can be really rewarding. But it's also a VERY hard job. In the first hour of the school day, I had a student arrested for drugs, got back to my classroom only to find another kid out of control spraying paint everywhere with my partner teacher unable to handle it, and then got cussed out by a parent for no reason.I've been doing the pee pee dance since 11 o'clock and have made 2 CPS reports today. Granted, I don't have a normal teaching job, but... there ya go.

 

[Son of a Son]

Mental note:
If I decide to teach, DO NOT go to Smurfette for a pep-talk!

 

[Larry T. Spider]

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[orangecat]

and let me add to that, charter schools are probably more likely to hire alt cert than public school. I am in heaven so far this year teaching at a charter school. I keep waiting for the bad shoe to drop. For example, so far they have not taken one conference period from me!!

Are you kidding? And so far 1 after school meeting.

By this time in public school we would have met 3 times after school, and had at least 2 conference periods taken due to trainings and team meetings.

Now in this respect I recommend middle school for Science or Math.

Get this, in the metroplex the trend is for public middle schools to give teachers two planning periods per day. They call one period "professional development", which is a fancy way of saying they do lesson planning as a team during this 2nd conference period. I have no idea why they have singled out middle for needing an extra period.

So, if you're interested in math, for example, a 6th grade math teacher in our local district teaches a double block, which is 94 minutes every day. She teaches three of these double-blocks a day, gets 5 minutes in between classes to run to the bathroom, and teaches about 20 students per class.

I was in a staff development this summer with a couple of these teachers. It was funny, the older lady was trying to make it sound more difficult than it is, she claimed she taught 25 students, then later slipped and said 20.

Not much different from a friend of mine, who teaches 5th grade, one year I asked him what his day was like. He said he taught three fifth grade Science classes, about 100 minutes each. He only had one conference period, but he had 30 minutes of lunch and 30 minutes of recess per day. He finished up his day with 20 minutes of homeroom at the end.

Some places have it easier than others.

Btw, Science is never double-blocked in middle school as far as I can tell.

If you're interested in Science, I recommend taking the 4-8 and 8-12 Math as well. Rumor is the surest way to get a job is to pass the 8-12 Science.

 

[Smurfette]

I'm in an Austin ISD high school. We have 7 periods per day, and teach 5 of them, 2 conference periods.

if you teach 6 per day, you get a 20% raise.

 

[Horns11]

AC is a good thing if you want to take it easy and get the teaching certificate. That's how I did it 8 years ago. I heard that there's a lot more "stuff" that AC job candidates have to go through today compared to when I did it.

It's true that most good districts won't even allow AC people to go to their job fairs. My current district doesn't allow it. But if you know someone who knows someone, it's not that hard to get your foot in the door.

Definitely stick with math/science if you want a job.

 

[orangecat]

I think one of the big differences now is they make candidates pass the content area TExES tests before they do any training, especially the secondary people.

I'm guessing there is a lot less dropout rate with this order compared to the old way.