Thread: Advice requested...

Congratulations, Drew.

Substitute teaching will certainly open your eyes to some of the harsher realities of teaching so don't consider THOSE experiences to be typical of what you will experience in your own classroom. Some might say that if you can survive as a substitute teacher, you can do anything!

Teaching is a calling and a profession. It is not a job. You do it because you are called to do it and it serves a purpose in your life. Teaching will take time, energy, and commitment. You will run up against boneheads and bozos your whole career. You will also meet some wonderful and exceptional people and will impact the lives of many, many students.

Just because you are out of college don't think you are through learning. When you go into teaching you commit yourself to lifelong learning. You will take classes and then you will take more classes. You will go to workshops and baby, YOU WILL READ. You will read a LOT. If you don't, you won't grow as a human being or a teacher. If you don't believe me, look around the staff room one day after you have been in teaching awhile. You will be able to pick out the ones there for the check and the ones there from the heart. You will also pick out the ones who read and learn, and the ones who can't be bothered.

Good luck to you. You are off on quite an adventure. But please don't judge teaching by your sub experiences. Not the same thing...... at all.

Hmmmmm ... I'm not sure I'd elevate teaching to the status of a life mission. I don't think I was ever called to be a teacher. I sort of stumbled into it because I was working on a degree in Ancient Near Eastern History - when the Iranian hostage situation took place ... and Terry Anderson was kidnapped off the streets of Beirut. I decided that being an archeologist in the Middle East was probably too dangerous ... so I went into education - the idea being that I could share my love of history with the kids.

My teaching certificate has been a passport to the world. Since there's a national shortage of teachers - I have taught throughout Texas and Oregon. I have also used my teaching certificate to find jobs in overseas schools. I spent 7 years teaching at an American school in Saudi Arabia and 1 year teaching at another American school in Beirut, Lebanon.

I do spend a lot of time on the job. I do spend a lot of time reading work related material. I also spend an incredible amount of time taking mind numbing and incredibly boring workshops. (I'm not big on workshops because I've attended too many ghastly ones).

Teaching is the only profession I can think of that pays you to only work 9 months a year. (This isn't always true. In Saudi Arabia I worked 11 months out of the year).

The holiday schedule is quite generous - especially compared to the Corporate world.

The bottom line for me is that I like working with kids. I enjoy working with kids more than I enjoy working for adults - so I suppose I fell into the right profession even if I didn't feel a calling.

I will also say this.

Some teachers are born to teach but most of us have to learn how to do our jobs.

Best wishes,

David

Thank you both so much for your advice...it will really help me make these decisions when the time comes. Hopefully I will have an interview in a few days. There is an open house coming up next week which will discuss licensure in my state (VA).

I appreciate seeing this issue from both points of view. For me personally, I don't think I will be the type of teacher who was called to be one or destined to be one, however I am a superb student with a desire to try something new and seek a job which gives some degree of fulfillment.

Workshops suck I had to do many of these during my time as an RA in the fresman dorms.

Thanks for your advice,
Drew

Drew -- where'bouts in VA? I've taught in Chesterfield Co and Richmond City. I know principals in both school systems. If you're thinking about either of those places by any chance, let me know and we'll talk. I would be happy to call the prins that I know when you're ready to start subbing.

Leslie

Leslie,
I really appreciate it, but I live in northern VA (Reston) and am looking to sub in Arlington Public Schools. I sent in my application a couple of days ago so hopefully I will hear from them soon.

Substitute teaching sounds like a real challenge, but I think it is the only way to see if I really will enjoy/get reward from this type of profession.

Thanks,
Drew

Hi, Drew -

My situation is different than yours, but there are some important similarities. I had a great academic experience and became a lawyer, working for some of the fanciest names in law firms, and then fairly high-up in state government. After 20+ years, it got *very* old and incredibly soul-destroying, so I applied to be a NYC Teaching Fellow, and I start my training in June. Here are some things I've tried:

First, this is the right place to start. The people here are incredibly helpful and knowledgable, and this is the first place I come with questions.

Second, teachers have really grasped the web as a way to share information, and I recommend some surfing of the literally hundreds of sites with lesson plans, tips for teachers, etc., to give you some perspective on possibilities.

Third, I would suggest trying to visit some of the schools in your district. I know that security concerns these days make everyone jumpy, and school administrators are stretched, but you could probably get a chance to observe some classes in various schools, which might give you a) ideas about what age groups or subjects you're interested in and b) a feeling for the "real life" of teachers and students.

Fourth, absent education courses to prepare you, you can do some self-preparation. Faculty in graduate programs are, I've found, very willing to talk about teacher preparation, and there is a lot you can do for yourself about compiling a reading list and starting to think about being a teacher. For instance: it seems that many, if not most, elementary education programs have moved toward the reading-and-writing workshop model propounded by people like Lucy Calkins and Fountas & Pinnell. Calkins makes the point that teachers need to communicate their enthusiasm as readers to their students, and need to model that for them.

It suddenly occurred to me that the same was probably true about writing and, if I want my students to really use writing journals, and think of themselves as "writers", I would need to be able to model that behavior as well. So, I've started a writer's notebook for myself and I'm trying to discipline myself to the behavior I want to model for my students. I've also started a weblog about my experience in becoming a teacher.

While nothing will substitute for actually being in a classroom and teaching, most of the materials you would read and think about in grad school are readily available, and places like this are great for fostering the kinds of discussions you would have in grad school, as well as for providing reality checks from working teachers.

Welcome and good luck!

Just a caution...it sounds great to get paid for just working 9 months out of the year. But let me be clear: it is ALL of those nine months. I bring work home almost every night and every weekend. I am on the computer right now to work on a test during my spring break vacation. Teaching is more than a job...if we didn't love something about it we wouldn't be doing it. But don't judge teaching just by subbing. I think substituting is even worse than student teaching was for me--and it was pretty bad.