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I have been spending the past year in China teaching English to young children. I will continue living and teaching English in China next year as well but instead I'll be teaching adults. After next year I will most likely head back to Houston, where there is an empty rent free house waiting for me, to start my new life. I have decided I want to become a history teacher when I arrive back to the United States. Texas seems like the best place to start my quest to become a teacher since I already have a house and family back there in addition to the relatively strong job market. However I have a few questions on how I go about getting a job teaching history in the great state of Texas; any help on the subject would be much appreciated.
I understand that I have to take & pass the THEA test and the History 8-12 TExES exam in order to become a teacher. Is this information correct or are there other tests I have to take? I would like to get study guides from the US and spend a year studying for any exams I may need.
Do my two years teaching English in China count as experience to potential schools?
How long does it take to get fully certified as a teacher in Texas and can I get paid while doing this? I would like to move out of my future rent free house as soon as possible as I dislike taking advantage of other peoples' good will.
It seems as though the Texas certification is very transferable; is this true? If I am not able to get a job in Texas I would like to be able to get a teaching job somewhere else without going through the certification process again.
In closing I understand getting a history teaching job is competitive so I would be willing to teach anywhere for about any salary.
Any other relevant information would be much appreciated!
Last edited by wc89; 10-21-2013 at 05:47 AM..
Reason: adding something
It appears that you do not have an education degree or teaching certificate from another state. If that is the case then you basically have 2 routes to becoming a teacher in Texas.
1. Long route: Go back to school through a University Education Program and get a second BA in Education. This is the long and expensive route if you already have a BA in another field but if you have time and money to kill it is one route.
2. Short route. Enroll in an Alternative Teacher Certification Program. These are offered through various community colleges and Education Service Centers around the state. They are designed for people who already have degrees in other fields and want to get into teaching which seems to be your case. Essentially you take the curriculum and subject area teaching classes that you would have gotten in a regular Education BA program and then take the various certification tests. You can get a provisional certificate when enrolled in this kind of program and teach while going to school during nights and weekends although you are asking a school to basically take a chance on you and not many will if you don't have your certificate yet unless they are desperate for teachers. This is the route that I took although I didn't start teaching until I was through the program.
As for transferring a Texas teaching certificate to other states. That has nothing to do with the Texas certificate and everything to do with the state you are moving to. Most states have some sort of reciprocity arrangement where you might get some sort of provisional certificate that allows you to start teaching right away but you might have to pass their state certification exams and complete any coursework they require that Texas does not before getting a permanent certificate. Different states are easier or harder to transfer to but that depends on how hard they are trying to make it for out of state teachers and really doesn't have much to do with Texas.
Bottom line, if you are looking for History teaching jobs in Texas you are pretty much going to need to play some angles because there aren't really shortages of teachers in that area. One angle is to move out to less desirable rural areas or to the inner city districts where turnover is high and schools have a harder time filling spots. There are a LOT of extremely remote towns in Texas that have a hard time attracting and keeping teachers. These can be tough jobs but is one way to start. Another route is to be willing to coach. A lot of the history teachers at my school are coaches. They are hired to coach football, cheerleading or whatever and also happen to teach history. If you aren't a coach and aren't willing to teach in a remote area or gritty inner city area then finding a history teaching job with no experience may be a challenge.
1. Long route: Go back to school through a University Education Program and get a second BA in Education. This is the long and expensive route if you already have a BA in another field but if you have time and money to kill it is one route.
2. Short route. Enroll in an Alternative Teacher Certification Program. These are offered through various community colleges and Education Service Centers around the state. They are designed for people who already have degrees in other fields and want to get into teaching which seems to be your case.
Bottom line, if you are looking for History teaching jobs in Texas you are pretty much going to need to play some angles because there aren't really shortages of teachers in that area.
This is a very good post. I will add that the clear preference when hiring seems to be for teachers with their degree in education. ACP applicants tend to be second pickings from what I have seen.
Also, limiting your search to JUST history makes it much less likely you will find a job. Even Social Studies positions that teach in multiple fields (i.e. history, government, econ, etc.) are hard to come by. Only having the capacity to teach history is going to make it really tough to get a decent job.
Thanks for all the responses! I am aware that the market for teachers is a bit over saturated right now, even in Texas where things are relatively better than the rest of the country. I would however be willing to live most anywhere in Texas in order to teach Social Studies/History, so flexibility for me is not a problem, especially after living in China. I also ran cross country & track for a pretty good sized university so hopefully that would qualify to coach the sport(s) at some high schools. Again thanks for the advice and if you have anything else please keep it coming!
There is some inaccurate information here. Texas schools do not have a preference for people with a degree in education; they have a preference for those who already have full certification. Public institutions in Texas don't even offer a degree in education. The Texas government thinks it's better for math teachers to have degrees in math, English teachers to have degrees in English, chemistry teachers to have degrees in chemistry, etc even though one can have a degree in anything and pass the TEXES exam to teach any subject. When someone decides to become a teacher in Texas before or while in school, they choose a major just like usual; but, they will also take a series of education courses and do a student teaching internship toward the end of the program.
Quote:
Bachelor’s Degree - You must earn a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university. The only exemption from the degree requirement is for individuals seeking Career and Technical Education certification to teach certain courses. Texas institutions do not offer a degree in education. Instead, every future teacher must select an academic major of interest and, as described below, complete educator preparation courses.
These are how education programs look in Texas. As you can see, there is no major for education. The education portion is attached onto a regular or interdisciplinary studies major. Undergraduate Programs
For those who have a bachelor's degree, you have two options.
1. You can complete a post-baccalaureate or master's program at a college that leads to certification. This will include a semester of student teaching for no pay. You actually have to pay a fee to the school in order to do this, but you will come out with standard certification.
2. Go through an alternative teacher certification program at a for-profit company, regional education center, or college. Some of these are self-paced and offered online. They will usually give you the option to student teach for a semester without pay like people do when going through the traditional route. The other option is to teach for a year on a probationary license. Having to teach for a year on a probationary license is the thing schools are usually opposed to because you have no experience and will be paid a full salary. I think they also have to provide a supervisor for you. In the end, you may not be recommended for standard certification. Some school districts will only hire those with probationary licenses for high needs subjects such as special education, ESL, foreign languages, chemistry, math, physics, technology/computer science, and family consumer sciences. History is not a high needs area, so you'll probably be limited to low income, inner-city schools or rural schools as stated above if you go the probationary route.
It's not that schools like to hire social studies teachers to coach; it just happens that most coaches have degrees in the social sciences. Coaches usually aren't the brightest teachers; a lot of them are former athletes. Probably when they decided they wanted to coach or attended college on a sports scholarship, they chose a subject that would be easiest for them. It could also be that athletic people usually prefer the social sciences. I used to be an athlete in high school, wanted to teach history, and ended up getting a BA and master's in social science subjects. They just always interested me.
I was in an alternative teacher certification program until I was accepted into a PhD program and dropped out. My BA is in social science, but I decided that I was either going to take the TEXES exam for life science or special education to make myself more competitive. Special education would have been a better idea than life science.
Thanks again for the advice. I've also heard that it is much easier for people who don't have certification to get jobs at charter schools while pursuing their certification. From the little research I've done on the charter schools in the Houston area it seems like there are a good amount of openings, many of them immediate, for a bunch of the charter schools in the area- many of them only needing their teachers to have a bachelors degree. Is there a reason for this? Is teaching in these schools something that no experienced teachers want to deal with? Thanks.
Thanks again for the advice. I've also heard that it is much easier for people who don't have certification to get jobs at charter schools while pursuing their certification. From the little research I've done on the charter schools in the Houston area it seems like there are a good amount of openings, many of them immediate, for a bunch of the charter schools in the area- many of them only needing their teachers to have a bachelors degree. Is there a reason for this? Is teaching in these schools something that no experienced teachers want to deal with? Thanks.
Pretty much. There is one decent charter in my area. The others are basically fly-by-night shops that no self-respecting teacher would go near. I had a friend who taught at one for a short term assignment and he had horror stories about the ridiculous and incompetent management.
But they are a teaching job and one way to get some experience under your belt.
I am a teacher who lives in Tennessee planning on relocating to DFW, Texas within a few months. I have 6 years teaching experience, a Master's in Education, and I'm certified with the state of Tennessee to teach Spanish and ESL (English as a Second Language). I figure those two subjects, my teaching experience, and the fact that I have a Master's and I'm already certified will make it easier for me to transfer to Texas and find teaching jobs there as well. I hope I'm right. Can anyone with any knowledge on the matter please enlighten me? I have tried to call the TEA headquarters in Austin to get some information about the transfer process (like what are the reciprocity rules, if I will have to start all over from the beginning in pay and years, etc), but no one ever answers the phone, or I get put on hold indefinitely.
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