Teacher Alternative Certification (Dallas, Fort Worth: job openings, school districts, offices)

[jroesch]

Hi. I will be graduating soon with a degree in Spanish. I want to teach, but I have no education degree or certificate. There are quite a few companies in Texas offering alternative certification such as A+ Texas Teachers. I'm really interested in those programs where you have a few weeks training in the Summer and then are a "teaching intern" for a year and receive your state certification at the completion of one year teaching rather than going and taking classes for a year and getting certified after all those classes and time. I was thinking about signing up with one of these Alternative Certification Programs to get into teaching Spanish in Fort Worth. Does that sound like a good idea? I'm most worried about actually finding a job as a teaching intern in Spanish. Could I find one? (I know math, science, and bilingual are very high demand, but I'm not sure about Spanish). If you know someone who would be knowledgeable about the subject, please have them respond. Thanks.

[loves2read]

each one of the TEA Regions has a program for alt certification--large districts like FTW and Dallas that used to need alt cert teachers to complete their hiring also sponsor alt cert programs in addition to the private companies that are definitely less engaged in really teaching people how to teach...
frankly I think you should call the Region 10 (Dallas) or 11 (Fort Worth) offices and ask to speak to someone about the alt cert programs...
from what I have heard many people who have paid their money to take the classes from private companies (and some of the others) have been less than impressed with how well they are prepared to actually teach in the classroom--and there is NO guarantee that you will get a job to teach for a year so that you can actually gain full certification...at least now that there are way more applicants than job openings...
look at Region 10 and 11 sites--there is an employment opening link--see how many Spanish openings there are...probably not that many...

[JS1]

I'm in the training class for Texas Teachers right now (3 of 7 days), and it's going far better than I imagined. No, they won't guarantee you a job, and anyone who says they will (for any career) is flat-out lying.

There will be more jobs posted for teachers as time goes by because school districts are still getting resignations. The resignation deadline in most districts is July 9. Even then, sometimes someone will take a job offer but then resign before school begins, or start teaching and quit the next week.