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With a master's look into the CC's here in TN. With TN Promise, there has been a big influx of students into the CCs so they are searching for instructors in all fields. The local CC is actually advertising for a job fair which is not something they've typically done in the past.
The Op will probably barely make a living doing that
Pretty much everything you listed is true. It varies by state and district, but it's there everywhere to one degree or another.
I was actually referring to your comment about TN being one of the worst places to teach. For the last several years, TN has been climbing steadily away from the bottom, in terms of scores. Pay is getting better for the cost of living here, but still a far cry from other jobs of similar degrees. The only thing I dislike is our retirement plan.
The OP might be interested in knowing what you specifically think makes TN so bad, since this is his/her location.
Ah, I didn't realize that you were asking specifically about Tennessee. Looking at it a bit more, TN is probably more in the middle of the pack than the worst. OTOH, Tennessee permits the teaching of creationism in public school classrooms. I guess that doesn't matter much if you are not teaching science, but casting doubts on basic things like evolution is a bad thing for teaching in general, imo.
Ah, I didn't realize that you were asking specifically about Tennessee. Looking at it a bit more, TN is probably more in the middle of the pack than the worst. OTOH, Tennessee permits the teaching of creationism in public school classrooms. I guess that doesn't matter much if you are not teaching science, but casting doubts on basic things like evolution is a bad thing for teaching in general, imo.
TN may allow creationism to be taught, but the vast amount of science teachers (myself included) do not teach it, even as an "alternative". We occasionally catch a little bit of flak from the occasional parent, but nothing our administration doesn't back us on (for the most part).
We may be the buckle of the Bible Belt, and the state famous for the Scopes Monkey Trial. But we're not as backward as the media portrays us.
Behind...? Yes. And catching up.
Backward...? Not so much.
And this is coming from a person raised Southern Baptist!
Teaching probably seems like a good option to me because I don't need to go back and do a ridiculous amount of school to get into it ... such as say, nursing or even worse physical therapy.
I'm probably barking up the wrong tree. I have an engineering degree and a Masters (though not in engineering). How hard would it be to find a teaching job in NJ/NY/PA?
If the reason you're entertaining thoughts of pursuing teaching is mainly because you think it will be easy enough to accomplish with little effort, yeah...reconsider.
I had a bad start teaching English which almost made me quit but now I teach the disabled kids and I love it. None of the nasty , gang, primma donna attitudes, small class sizes, job security and it doesn't matter if I work in an affluent area or a ghetto,... a kid in a wheelchair is a kid in a wheelchair.
I taught special ed, in addition to English and reading, and my experience was that special ed had plenty of crap attitudes. Kids aren't suddenly benevolent angels because they have disabilities, emotional and behavioral disturbance, and/or neurological issues. A kid who has special needs can be an ass, just a easily as a kid who doesn't have special needs. I also found that poverty, etc. made a HUGE difference in special ed. The difference in working with kids where the family could afford to see to their needs, and working with kids where the family absolutely was in crisis and could not see to any of anybody's needs, let alone those of the disabled child, were major. I also had group home kids who were "cared" for daily by employees who were gangbangers, and the kids adopted those behaviors.
Don't get me wrong. I loved teaching a very challenging population (highly aggressive students with impulse control issued due to autism and other conditions, who were deemed a danger to those around them in a traditional school setting, so they were sent to a private one-on-one school where they received intensive behavioral therapy). But, no, it wasn't "easier" in any regard than teaching a standard subject in a traditional classroom environment. I didn't anticipate that it would be.
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It comes down too choosing the right subject, and learning to have patience. Also gotta pick your battles. If you plan to try and confiscate every cell phone, good luck with that. I will agree with other who said you should substitute first because after my first day of doing that in an inner city school, i nearly quit the whole thing.
Patience is indeed key, as is picking only the battles you can afford to be consistent about. Cell phones = nonissue; they weren't allowed at all.
Wow! This is exactly what I am going through at the moment. I have quite a decent paying job at the moment, but would like to take up teaching solely for the passion I have towards. You seem to be in a much more advanced stage than me in this though and kudos to you.
Let me know how it goes.
TN may allow creationism to be taught, but the vast amount of science teachers (myself included) do not teach it, even as an "alternative". We occasionally catch a little bit of flak from the occasional parent, but nothing our administration doesn't back us on (for the most part).
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Do teachers choose the subject matter being taught? I assume your district has a program of studies for each class that is aligned with state standards.
For us something is either in our POS or it isn't. One teacher of a science class wouldn't choose to teach something that another teacher of the same class doesn't.
I too was a career changer, BS in Chemistry, was a chemist in industry for 15 years before I started teaching. I graduated high school in 1981, so when I got into teaching in 2008, it was way different!
Overall I really enjoy the teaching part, mostly because I love working with the kids, I teach high school chemistry. That's the first thing you need to ask yourself. I know some engineers that didn't really relate to kids well and their teaching experience was miserable. Be prepared for those days when you feel more like a babysitter then a teacher. Be prepared for psychotic parents, inept administrators, and generally that many things in schools are run illogically and wasteful. Other than that, it is rewarding and good teachers make a difference.
OTOH, Tennessee permits the teaching of creationism in public school classrooms.
Let's be clear ... "Creationism" isn't written into the science curriculum here. The bill that was passed only stated that teachers cannot be prohibited from teaching it. But it in no way legislated that creationism be taught in TN, and I have not heard of any districts that are doing that.
Even the governor says that the bill didn't change the way science is taught in TN.
Do teachers choose the subject matter being taught? I assume your district has a program of studies for each class that is aligned with state standards.
For us something is either in our POS or it isn't. One teacher of a science class wouldn't choose to teach something that another teacher of the same class doesn't.
I'm sure VA SOL's are similar to TN's EOC's in regards to the standards we cover, their numbers, and the time it takes.
Biology is a course with a TN state-mandated End-of-Course (EOC) exam. And as you know, it has standards for the teachers to cover. It's already hard enough to cover all of the required standards, let alone additional material, like creationism. And since evolution is a required topic for the EOC, then not only does it have to be covered, it must be done appropriately for the State standards. Otherwise the students would miss these questions and lower the scores (which of course are used to evaluate the teacher). Thus, there's very little choice. Teachers aren't going to slice their own throat - and stay employed.
Now that doesn't mean that the occasional science teacher won't let their own opinions slip a time or two. (Although how they became qualified biology teachers without studying, learning, evaluating, understanding and accepting the validity of this theory is beyond me. But that's a topic for another thread.)
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