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  1. 02-18-2005, 02:33 AM #1
    Leda
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    Help!! I desperately want to teach!

    I have a bit of an odd situation, and I'm looking for advice.. I'm desperate to teach and I can't seem to get hired. I've taught evening classes in a program for high school dropouts, and this past summer I taught summer school at a regular school. I've taught English 11 and 12, I've administered standardized tests, I've inspired a student to decide upon going to college when he'd completely given up on the idea, and I scored one point below a perfect score on the Praxis II. I've taken (nearly) all the classes for my license, but I haven't done the "official" student teaching that Virginia requires. Why? Because I'm 33 and I have to work to pay my bills. I can't quit my job and go student-teach. The only way I was able to teach summer school was because I was laid off and between jobs, and I thought it may lead to my landing a job in the fall. No such luck. Every time I score an interview, someone with a license gets the job, even if they have no "real" classroom experience like mine.

    Does anyone have any advice as to how I can get around this? Is it really true that if I didn't know when I was 17 and just starting college that I wanted to be a teacher...I have no chance now??? I have ten years of corporate experience to bring to the table, in addition to my year of teaching experience and many years of teaching private music lessons. My husband was hired with ZERO classroom experience, but he teaches math, and most counties seem desperate for math teachers.

    It's just so frustrating when you hear people lamenting the shortage of good teachers, when I'm a good teacher who'd love the opportunity to work with students full-time. Everyone tells me to just do the student teaching and get it over with, but I have to work a full-time job to pay my bills and there's just no way to do it financially. I feel so stuck, and I can't help thinking it's unfair when people fresh out of college get teaching jobs over me because my teaching experience wasn't part of an official student teaching program. It was REAL teaching, in a REAL classroom, with lesson plans I designed and a classroom I controlled. Why wouldn't that be even better?
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  2. 02-18-2005, 11:26 AM #2
    Mathematical Mary
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    I don't know where you are located and if it is a possibility where you are, but I am one who received my certification through an alternate certification program. Check with your state board of education (usually there is a website) to see if there is such a program in place.

    The way it works here: You apply to enter the program and you'll receive instruction via seminars. Then you secure a job as an intern (paid position) where you take on the full responsibilities of teaching. The internship lasts one year, in which time you prove yourself and your abilities to your administrator. At the end of the year, the administrator recommends you for certification if he/she feels you are an adequate teacher. During the internship, you receive a probationary certification (good for one year) and it must be renewed at the end of the year with a full license.

    I don't know if it's available, but it would be worth researching. Keep in mind that since you will be earning through on-th-job training, the program could be rather costly. You may also have to take a lesser job than you'd like for the first year.

    Good luck!
    I've heard that four out of every three people have trouble with fractions.
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  3. 02-18-2005, 02:33 PM #3
    Leslie
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    Send a message via Yahoo to Leslie
    According to the VA DOE you can get a provisional license upon being hired by an accredited public or private school. I am not a licensure expert by any means, but I know that student teaching is not required for a provisional or alternative licensing. [url="http://www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/newvdoe/teached.html"]http://www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/newvdoe/teached.html[/url]

    School divisions are beginning the job fair process now. Send applications to all of them!! Go to interviews! Can you relocate to another school division? If so, then your options open up even more.

    Good luck -- let us know how it goes.
    He who dares to teach must never cease to learn. ~Richard Henry Dann
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  4. 02-18-2005, 11:54 PM #4
    Leda
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    Provisional License

    Thanks for your reply, Leslie! I know about the provisional license (that's what my husband did), but my problem is that every time I interview there's always another candidate (particularly since it's English, which is not as high-need as math or science) who already has a license. That person always gets hired over me despite my knowledge and experience, even if they're straight out of college, because they're already licensed. The problem isn't that I don't have a license, because I know I can get one after I've been hired; the problem is that I can't get hired without one!
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