Becoming a Teacher in NoVA (Arlington, Reston: find a job, public school, university)

[Hudlander]

Had a question.
I live in NOVA and was wondering if anybody knew the process to become a teacher in the public school system.

I am a few years out of graduate school (Geography) and have been unable to find any work in my field. I have experience as a teaching assistant and since I cannot get work related to my field of study am thinking about transition to public education.

I wanted to know if I might qualify for "Career Switches" and in general what the process is/how difficult it might be.

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by Hudlander

I am a few years out of graduate school (Geography) and have been unable to find any work in my field. I have experience as a teaching assistant and since I cannot get work related to my field of study am thinking about transition to public education..

Sorry if this comes off as rude, but that's a horrible reason to become a teacher.

[choff5]

Originally Posted by Hudlander

Had a question.
I live in NOVA and was wondering if anybody knew the process to become a teacher in the public school system.

I am a few years out of graduate school (Geography) and have been unable to find any work in my field. I have experience as a teaching assistant and since I cannot get work related to my field of study am thinking about transition to public education.

I wanted to know if I might qualify for "Career Switches" and in general what the process is/how difficult it might be.

Read other threads here and you will see that teaching is like other fields, not easy to break into either, so don't assume you can get a job, but if you want, do it for the love of teaching. That being said, check with Marymont University in Arlington. I know they have a program for those wanting to enter education from other fields, although I don't know more about it. I am also guessing GMU does too. Just realize it is more than just taking a few courses. Talk to the university people and see what they say after reviewing your current credentials. Also, if you haven't look into being a substitute next year, give you a lot of experience to see if it is what you really want plus start to network, which can be helpful once you have the course work. It will be different than being a TA in a grad program. Good luck.

[spencgr]

Originally Posted by Hudlander

I am a few years out of graduate school (Geography) and have been unable to find any work in my field.

I apologize, but I don't have an answer for you regarding becoming a teacher. But I am curious about your degree (Masters of Geography). Assuming you did find a job in your field, what you would be doing besides education? Cartographer?

[CaliTerp07]

In order to qualify for the career switcher program, you need to have at least 5 years of applicable work experience. It's only valid for secondary education, not PK-6.

You would be eligible for a provisional license in special ed, if you could find a school wanting to hire you without a degree in education. You'd then have a few years (I forget the exact number) to complete all applicable coursework towards a degree in special education.

Honestly though, I would highly, highly recommend taking coursework in education before looking to switch. You say you have experience as a TA--is that at a college level? If so, there is absolutely zero comparison between that and public school teaching. I TA'd a statistics course in college, and it was a cake walk. I then worked as an IT consultant designing computer systems for the military for 4 years. I am now teaching 8th grade algebra. Had I walked into the classroom without my student teaching experience, I would have died. To be honest, I almost did anyway. Presenting my work to navy admirals has nothing on convincing 13 year olds why they need systems of linear equations.

I went to Marymount's weekend master's program at their Reston campus. It was 2 years of classes, Friday nights and all day Saturday. The last spring is spent doing full time student teaching, but up until that point you could work full time. (I'd recommend working as a paraprofessional in the school system to get your feet wet. Positions get posted online in July.) Mason has a similar program.

I love teaching, I really do, but omg there is a lot of frustrating parts involved. If you're going into it for any reason other than you love teaching and want to make a difference, it's going to be a really rough transition. I'm sure you don't want to go back to school if you just finished up a master's degree, but it's really the best way to go. There are two teachers at my school who didn't have education degrees when they were hired. One is a history teacher (BA in history) who worked the summer camp at school all 4 years while he was in college, and one is a science teacher (BS in biology) who worked as an instructional assistant in a special ed room last year. Both are on provisional sped licenses, working towards their full credentials. I also know of a teacher who was hired after 30 years as a lawyer, because he volunteered to tutor math students for free for a full year. He was hired as a regular math teacher, but has struggled big time this year, because he never had full classroom experience.

If you have questions, PM me. It really can't hurt to apply to the county when postings go up over the summer, but I wouldn't get your hopes up and if teaching is something you're serious about (as opposed to just a back up plan while you look for something else), I'd go take the relevant course work to prepare.

[CAVA1990]

You could probably do just as well going for an administrative assistant position around here, It would likely pay about the same and you could work your way into something better. Leave the teaching to those with a real love for it.

[Oldhag1]

The other posters are dead on - there is a huge difference between being a teaching assistant, where you are dealing with adults who are paying for the pleasure to learn and teaching kids who are there they are made to go to school. Try substitute teaching first. That lets you down in the trenches and you will get a better understanding of what it is like in the classroom than through a class.

[OrangeFish]

I have taught at the graduate student level and the community college level. I have also coached an after-school club of K-3 students with a elementary teacher as a co-coach. Hands down the hardest situation was the after-school coaching one. Night And Day.

Go into a career changer situation only if teaching is your passion.

[tgbwc]

My wife received her elementary certification through a Troops to Teachers program. The courses were through Old Dominion Univ. and were held at Quantico. She had a degree in health education and also had completed Montessori training before entering the program.

[Hudlander]

Originally Posted by spencgr

I apologize, but I don't have an answer for you regarding becoming a teacher. But I am curious about your degree (Masters of Geography). Assuming you did find a job in your field, what you would be doing besides education? Cartographer?

Ummm I got into Geography thinking I could:
-Be an Urban/Regional Planner
-Work the DOT on transportation planning
-Work at the Census on population analysis

To bad for me those jobs don't exist for newbies anymore.

I always to do public service, and figured if I couldn't find work in those fields at least I could teach.


To all of you...so to become a teacher it is going to take...sigh...more school on my part? Are we talking another degree....couple of courses...what is involved?