Am I crazy? I want to be a teacher in Chicago (credit, high school)

[cosamo]

Thank you for all your advice. I am finishing up my last year of undergraduate studies in a private school in Los Angeles right now but my family is from the suburbs of Chicago. I'm really torn because I volunteer as a teacher's aide in a LAUSD elementary school and the teachers are totally against pursuing a masters or any certification in CA. Tenured teachers are getting cut also.

With that said, I don't know if Illinois is in any better situation. I would like to go back home to my family.

I love where I volunteer and I cannot imagine myself doing anything else than teaching. But I still have to make a living!

[chet everett]

You can make decent money w/o a masters. The toughest part is getting a position in a school that is not so desperate that you will leave. Some of it is "right place at the right time" -- good teacher takes a medical leave or something, and part is being able to put on the "full court press" with principals NOW as the good ones will want to meet any new teacher well before school year ends...

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by Gunner0325

Not saying other jobs aren't stressful, just talking about teaching in Illinois here

when teachers face stress, they do not face it alone. that very stress the teachers are facing is just another nail in the coffin of the education the kids are receiving.

i highlighted this point simply as the one I wanted to address. as for the other comments you made: they were as totally spot on, well expressed, and insightful as this one.

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by nikitakolata

If you can, I would get a job as a teacher's aid while you get your masters degree. That will give you some good experience for your resume, contacts at at least one school, and a chance to really see what a teacher's day to day life is like and make sure you'll enjoy it before you spend the money for the whole masters degree (in case you hate it or something).

that's good advise. especially since you put it in terms of experience.

here's the sad part (which in no way negates what you have said):

those aide positions in the classrooms at one point carried the opportunity to make a name for yourself, show your stuff, and interview for teaching positions that come up.

no more.

today the tendency is to tell aides they will not be considered for teaching positions in the schools in which they teach. Period.

Why not? Well, it is a seller's market, isn't it? And these aide positions are treated as little more than serfs in the system, a lower form of life. This despite that these jobs are often filled by people who are not only fully qualified to be classroom teachers, but have been trying desperately to become one.

So the schools play out the fiction: they overload these folks with duties and responsibilities that really should be those of teachers, pay them minimum for it, and degrade their service (and virtually enslave them to it) by making teaching positions hands off for them.

Shows the type of social system we have when money is tight and every chance to save a buck is instituted.

The very school systems that teach the six pillars of character to the kids don't practice them when it comes to their relationship with their staffs: both teacher and aide.

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by nikitakolata

My sister teaches special ed at the middle school level now. She went to a good school (U of I in Champaign), had a great GPA and got a good student teaching assignment.

forgive me on this. this is completely off topic, but as an aside here, I curious if anyone knows:

I've wondered about the role of the U of I in teacher education among our public universities.

Seems to me that the U of I is somewhat hard to peg. Here's the deal: it's the flagship public university, in a class by itself. and its college of education is unquestionably a good school.

But Illinois does not specialize in education by any means; education is just one part of a comprehensive mix and by no means dominates.

Yet at schools like ISU and NIU, that is hardly the case. These schools do not measure up across the board to Illinois and a degree from them will not carry the weight of a UIUC degree in state or out. Yet both highly feature their colleges of education, arguably the most important at each. And those colleges of education have endless connections with school districts around the state for student teaching and other services provided.

Question is: does a U of I education as an ed major end up giving you more than schools like ISU and NIU because of the prestige of the university, or does it deliver less because ISU and NIU are so focused on education and work so hard to deliver the goods.

[nikitakolata]

Originally Posted by edsg25

that's good advise. especially since you put it in terms of experience.

here's the sad part (which in no way negates what you have said):

those aide positions in the classrooms at one point carried the opportunity to make a name for yourself, show your stuff, and interview for teaching positions that come up.

no more.

today the tendency is to tell aides they will not be considered for teaching positions in the schools in which they teach. Period.

Why not? Well, it is a seller's market, isn't it? And these aide positions are treated as little more than serfs in the system, a lower form of life. This despite that these jobs are often filled by people who are not only fully qualified to be classroom teachers, but have been trying desperately to become one.

So the schools play out the fiction: they overload these folks with duties and responsibilities that really should be those of teachers, pay them minimum for it, and degrade their service (and virtually enslave them to it) by making teaching positions hands off for them.

Shows the type of social system we have when money is tight and every chance to save a buck is instituted.

The very school systems that teach the six pillars of character to the kids don't practice them when it comes to their relationship with their staffs: both teacher and aide.

You are totally right about how many (or maybe even most) schools treat their aids. So, just to clarify, my sister did not get her full time teaching position within the district that she worked as an aide.

But, just speaking from personal experience (although in a totally different industry, I'll admit), I think it's a good idea to truly test the waters of your chosen career if you can. I remember when I was in school I had this idea of what it would be like to work for a financial firm in some high rise building downtown... I was sorta accurate, but I didn't anticipate the enormous amount of boredom I'd experience on the job (hence why I'm posting on City Data in the middle of a workday). Had I known how bored I would be, I probably would have opted for a career that is traditionally associated with a higher stress level because as it is I have way too much excess mental energy.

As for whether U of I is better/worse/the same for teaching as ISU or NIU, my guess is that it is about the same overall. I know that my sister originally wanted to work more as a historian at a museum or something of that nature and got a teaching certificate so that she would have a "definite" career path since historians are not in high demand. As it turned out, she likes teaching a lot and I'm pretty sure she's going to stick with it long term. But, I guess the point is that she thought a history degree from UIUC would carry more weight if that is the route she ended up going.

[MassVt]

Originally Posted by edsg25

forgive me on this. this is completely off topic, but as an aside here, I curious if anyone knows:

I've wondered about the role of the U of I in teacher education among our public universities.

Seems to me that the U of I is somewhat hard to peg. Here's the deal: it's the flagship public university, in a class by itself. and its college of education is unquestionably a good school.

But Illinois does not specialize in education by any means; education is just one part of a comprehensive mix and by no means dominates.

Yet at schools like ISU and NIU, that is hardly the case. These schools do not measure up across the board to Illinois and a degree from them will not carry the weight of a UIUC degree in state or out. Yet both highly feature their colleges of education, arguably the most important at each. And those colleges of education have endless connections with school districts around the state for student teaching and other services provided.

Question is: does a U of I education as an ed major end up giving you more than schools like ISU and NIU because of the prestige of the university, or does it deliver less because ISU and NIU are so focused on education and work so hard to deliver the goods.

I'm willing to bet that schools like Northern Ilinois or Illinois State started out as "teaching" or "normal" schools, and thus emphasized the production of education graduates who would then fill the vacancies of Illinois public schools. The University of Illinois, which I'm guessing is a land-grant institution, started out with programs in agriculture, and then progressed to cover every academic field known to man. To a school like this, the field of Education is just ONE aspect of a multi-purpose, state university.

[dewthedru]

excellent thread. i appreciate finding a thread such as this where differing viewpoints are discussed in a civil manner.

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by nikitakolata

But, just speaking from personal experience (although in a totally different industry, I'll admit), I think it's a good idea to truly test the waters of your chosen career if you can.

I agree. Your point is spot on. That's taking personal responsibility and it should be encouraged.

but that doesn't leave the colleges of education faultless here. I'm sorry, but when you're collecting all that money from all those students, you should have some idea of how many teaching positions will be turning over when they graduate.

Especially when it it is YOUR OWN STATE that you need to monitor and you are one of its STATE UNIVERSITIES. Instead, they have saddled these grads with endless college debt as they spend I-don't-know-how-many years as aides instead of teachers.

We are a nation short on safety nets. Apparently that applies to colleges who will gladly take tuition money even when the prospects of getting a job with the degree are pretty dim.

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by dewthedru

excellent thread. i appreciate finding a thread such as this where differing viewpoints are discussed in a civil manner.

dewthedru, somebody better market it then because this nation doesn't have a chance unless this very type of dialogue which we have engaged in and which you so graciously acknowledged takes place.

and i have no doubt from the tenor of your observation that you find it pretty sad that you even have to make it in the first place. i mean, this should be second nature, shouldn't it?