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Hypocore, you are correct in that your daughter did not take the composite science exam, but she did follow the composite science degree program at UT.
I got my facts turned around, prospective teachers who have a science degree out side the teaching field must take the composite exam. It is from this group the many do not pass the exam.
But those who make it through the alternative teaching certification track have a higher retention rate in teaching (lasting more than 5 years) than those who obtain a traditional teaching degree.
No, she didn't follow a composite science degree program either, since as I previously stated she majored in math, not science.
She went through a specialized program called UTeach that is only for secondary science and math majors who intend to teach, completely separate from the College of Education.
I suppose you might consider it a composite math program, however it was never referred to in that terminology, she says.
There are good points on all sides here. I understand that teachers are required to do work outside of their regular school days. I understand that being a teacher is difficult. And yes, I believe I have some idea just how difficult, because I'm an RN. While this is a vastly different job, there is a common thread of the walking in the door and immediately being "on" with no breaks. Boy, do I get that. I work 12 hour shifts (not by choice, that's just what most hospital nurses do), and there are times when I get NO lunch break and put off going to the bathroom for hours. Just last night, I worked and put off going to the bathroom for several hours because it's so busy, and as nights go, it wasn't even one of the busier ones. There just isn't time. It's nothing to stay over for an hour or two (my personal record is about 4) to complete required documentation. And this is after a 12 hour shift with no lunch break. And perfection is what's expected. If you are in the hospital and miss a required medication, would you really care that the nurse was tired? Or what if you develop a surgical complication like compromised circulation to a leg and the nurse misses it? Do you care if she's been at work for 11 hours? People can actually be maimed or DIE if we screw up. The pressure is unbelievable. People think doctors are calling the shots...where do you think the experienced doctors are at 3am? RN's run the show. The job of an RN is much more self-directed than most people who haven't done it can imagine. And of course there's the death, sadness, scores of distraught family members, and so on. So I guess, from my point of view, teachers don't have an easy job, and it's certainly important, but I do take offense to the assertion that it's the most important job in the world, which someone stated previously.
That being said, teachers ARE incredibly important. However, when you look at pay, there are some serious advantages to the job that many other occupations simply do not receive. In general, teachers do have a lengthy vacation (oh, did I mention that yes, I accrue vacation time but if the number of patients is lower than expected get called off and must use vacation to supplement? What other job gets called off from work that day and loses pay with only 2 hours notice? -- they didn't advertise that at nursing school). While I realize that most of you work more than your contracts indicate, most of the rest of us would LOVE to have a decent vacation, and would take a slight pay cut for it. Also, teachers don't have to work any major holidays. None. None. None. (Sorry, I'm repeating it while fantasizing about what it must be like.) That is worth plenty. I had to work one major holiday this year despite it not being my turn to work it, and because of it being a night, only got 4 hours of holiday pay, not the 12 actually worked, for doing it. I work holidays, weekends, and overnight. I don't have a choice; I have a family to support, like the rest of you. But don't expect to make as much as some jobs when you're working bankers' hours. Yes, I knew I'd work some holidays before becoming a nurse, but I expected to be compensated fairly, and didn't see some of the above examples coming. Also, the benefits for teachers are off the charts compared to the private sector. Livable, inflation-adjusted retirement at age 55? Seriously, 55? For a job that's not physically demanding? And no, don't even argue about that point with a bedside nurse. Spend 12 hours on your feet repositioning 400 pound patients and talk to me about physically demanding. I worry I will have to work until I'm 70 at a job that will have my back ruined at 35. Oh, and what about that whole tenure thing? That's worth quite a bit, too, don't you think? Job protection. Who else has that? At all?
Sorry this all has come off as a rant. Believe it or not, I do thoroughly enjoy many things about my job and this was not meant to be merely a post about the negatives of my job (although I'm very tired and indulged a little there). The point is that yes, teaching is incredibly valuable and more difficult than some would believe; however, you're kidding yourself if you think most other jobs have even close to the job security and benefits you do, and you probably do pay a bit up-front for that.
sooverit, thanks for the post! I have a sister who is an LPN- complains about her job all the time, but loves it. Big bro works for the DOJ- complains too, but loves the adrenalin rush. The guy who collects my garbage really complains about his job- but loves his huge paycheck. So goes the world of work.
I think when teachers hear about all the complaints directed at the educational system, they are looking at it differently. Others not in education tend to holler about things that classroom teachers have utterly no control over: school calendar, curriculum, snow days, length of school day, classroom size, time off, pension, pay raises, not working holidays, "summers off", the union, the benefits....the list is endless. I understand that people would *love* to have the work schedule of teachers. I've worked in other fields, and actually, would LOVE the ability to get a two week vacation starting the first week of November, but as a teacher, that will never happen. My sister took a week in January and went to the Carribean. For me, nope, never going to happen. But that's OK. So goes the schedule as an educator, and I have no control over that.
I think most non-ed folks look at the things we, as mere classroom teachers, have no control over, and think, man, that is so sweet, sign me up. And I think when we hear "Oh, teachers have it soooooo easy" from people, we think, you have no idea, and take it as a personal attack.
Just wanted to say it takes all the colors to make the rainbow. You do what you do, and I'll do what I do. Trust me, I know how difficult nursing is. And catching bad guys. And collecting garbage. And working retail. And sitting in a cubicle all day. And whatever else folks do. I just think that many of the things people resent about education are not in our control, and we get "blamed" for them, anyway. That makes us a bit testy. Sorry.
Just read the last two posts, and have to reply. I am an RN also. I understand how difficult teaching is, after all, I have two kids of my own. I probably could have home-schooled the first, but certainly not the second one! And I'm just talking about ele school! I checked out of the math homework helper role in about 8th grade, when they took algebra. So yes, I respect teachers.
However, this business about taking a vacation whenever you want, instead of when the school dist tells you to: I don't always get to take my vacation exactly when I want to, either. There are rules about how many can be off at any one time, as there are in the engineering firms where my DH has worked as well. And let me tell you, having a guaranteed week off at Thanksgiving (that's how it is in my district, with two of the days being those conference comp days), and two weeks at Christmas looks pretty good. I work in a pediatric Drs office, so I don't work the actual holidays any more, but I usually work and am giving immunizations, getting thrown up on, dealing with recalcitrant kids in general on Christmas Eve Day, New Year's Eve Day, the day before Thanksgiving, July 3, etc.
BTW, I quit complaining about working on holidays when I had a baby on the 4th of July. One of the nurses was kvetching about missing the fireworks, and she almost got some fireworks from me! Don't ever complain to your patients or students about your working conditions.
No, she didn't follow a composite science degree program either, since as I previously stated she majored in math, not science.
She went through a specialized program called UTeach that is only for secondary science and math majors who intend to teach, completely separate from the College of Education.
I suppose you might consider it a composite math program, however it was never referred to in that terminology, she says.
These are the basic requirements, that apply to all no matter what path taken, to become a certified teacher in the state of Texas.
You must have a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university.
You must complete teacher training through an approved program.
You must successfully complete the appropriate teacher certification tests for the subject and grade level you wish to teach.
When your daughter applies and gets hired in Texas she will have a set amount of time, 3 years, to complete the certification tests that apply to her teaching area. During this time she will only be able to obtain a probationary
certification. Until the certification tests are passed, she will not be fully certified.
sooverit, very well said. I believe RN's are under paid and under appreciated. The services you provide are invaluable, and like teaching a very honorable profession.
After 20 years in the army, without any idea what my schedule would be like for months on end, I find teaching godsend. The military does give a decent amount of leave time, 30 days a year, but it must be taken during a block time frame that benefits the unit. As for holiday, if your lucky and not on deployment at the time you can enjoy them but the mission always comes first.
After 20 years of this, and having a wife who is a career teacher, I saw teaching as a way to increase the quality of life for my family and myself.
I will be the first to say that teaching has many advantages. Always knowing what your schedule will be, I think is one of the best benefits of teaching. Since both my wife, children and myself are all in the same school district, we have a lot of time off together.
The job itself is very rewarding. I love science and I love being around and interacting with high school students. Being able to teach science to these kids is fun and exciting, and to me doesn't feel like work at all.
I'm going into my 5th year of teaching, after doing odd jobs for a few years and then a 20 year stint in the military. I have to tell you teaching is the best job I have ever had. I guess I can say I found my calling, and am very happy with my life.
I stated before, I think 50 thousand a year is a good starting point for teaching. For some that may be high, while others may find this low. Like anyone else, I want to be paid as much as I can. Now I make 43 thousand a year, and I have no complaints.
When your daughter applies and gets hired in Texas she will have a set amount of time, 3 years, to complete the certification tests that apply to her teaching area. During this time she will only be able to obtain a probationary
certification. Until the certification tests are passed, she will not be fully certified.
I don't know what you are thinking here........she meets all those criteria and is fully certified.
She graduated from the College of Natural Sciences with a major in math, she has completed a 4 year teacher training program within UTeach to get that degree, and she has passed both certification tests required. There is no probationary certification. (it does have to be renewed, perhaps that is where you are misunderstanding?)
By the way this is my second daughter going into teaching, so we've been there done this already with the first one.
Perhaps you mean the people coming out of another field are required to take a composite test?
My just-graduated-from-UT(University of Texas) daughter with her certification to teach high school math was not required to take one. She knows of no one who graduated with her that took one either.
Here you state she was not required to take a test.
Quote:
I don't know what you are thinking here........she meets all those criteria and is fully certified.
She graduated from the College of Natural Sciences with a major in math, she has completed a 4 year teacher training program within UTeach to get that degree, and she has passed both certification tests required. There is no probationary certification. (it does have to be renewed, perhaps that is where you are misunderstanding?)
By the way this is my second daughter going into teaching, so we've been there done this already with the first one.
Here you say she took both certification tests. She had to have taken the composite mathematics certification test. Now it may go by a different name.
Here you state she was not required to take a test.
Here you say she took both certification tests. She had to have taken the composite mathematics certification test. Now it may go by a different name.
Ok. So, you are doing a semantics dance since I already stated there was nothing that referred to 'composite' anything. When I asked her if what you stated was what she had to do she replied no. Nothing she took was termed composite, and her certification tests did not cover both science and math as you originally indicated was required.
Her TExES certification test did cover her math major, and my guess now, upon further questions, is that may be what you are meaning, although it is not a probationary certification as you also stated.
I suppose my reason for replying is that many of your statements have not held accurate information and I wanted to clear that up. Seeing now that you did have an alternate certification, then hopefully you will make that clear in future posts regarding this subject and that it was a few years ago.
We all know that things change quickly and there are many variables.
hypocore,
I admit some of what I said was a little ambiguous, and that I was pulling info from memory rather than looking it up for accuracy.
I guess another problem is that we don't get many science teachers right out of college. The vast majority come by way of alternative certification.
It's the same in our math department, as they have a few retired engineers teaching there.
Our district has such a hard time filling science and math positions that they recruit from out of state offering nice signing bonuses. This is where we get most of our teachers with education majors.
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