Tonight at Chick Fila--overheard teacher talking (Houston, Dallas: home, high school, colleges)

[loves2read]

My DH and I were eating at Chick Fila in Hurst tonight and overhead a teacher talking to a family--she was getting ready to leave and saw family she knew--went to talk to them

Apparently they have son who is in college and planning on getting teaching degree--he is supposed to do his student teaching in the spring--
the teacher who teaches kindergarten was not very encouraging--basically told them that it is almost impossible for teachers to get jobs if they don't have them...and his family seemed kind of surprised to hear he might have trouble getting a job...
the teacher herself had finished eating with HER student teacher before she came over to visit--she said her student teacher was doing a good job, very enthusiastic--but she did not know if there would be place open for her when she was looking for work after graduation...

the parents of the college kid were talking about couple of other people they knew who were about to graduate and did not really have solid job leads--
and the man was talking about how his church was struggling to get contributions from members...

did not know them from Adam--they were sitting catty-corner from us--and were just talking loudly...
but just got the impression that the recession is still going strong here in Tarrant county from listening to them...
of course this was ChickFila--not Reatta--so that says something...

but it did not make me feel that what is coming down the pipe with Republicans holding out for tax breaks for anyone earning more than 250K and for tightening up the budget for UEB and other incentives to help people struggling in this economy was going to make anyone feel confident there were better times ahead...

[FarNorthDallas]

Well, I don't know if that's recession related or not as there hasn't been a demand for teachers around here for awhile. The "teacher shortage" is a myth. Or at least it seems to be....

[jennifw]

Originally Posted by FarNorthDallas

Well, I don't know if that's recession related or not as there hasn't been a demand for teachers around here for awhile. The "teacher shortage" is a myth. Or at least it seems to be....

Agree. My sister has 10+years teaching at a very accomplished high school in Houston. Moved to Austin and she didn't get a job until the week before school started. We thought she would have her pick of jobs.

[loves2read]

I know that teachers jobs have been difficult to find in this area--
but the parents who had that son in college apparently did not--
education departments would go out of business if they told their students the REAL odds of them getting jobs after finishing their degrees...
now that private colleges are getting so much heat/investigation for false claims to students about jobs available after graduation--maybe it is time to put pressure on the public/private colleges that are more liberal arts vs skill/trade based...

[deegee09]

I teach 7th grade in Dallas. When I applied to Tarrant county schools for teaching and school counselor positions, I did not start receiving phone calls until the weeks right before school started. With my education and experience, I thought the job search would be much easier than that, but I was wrong. By the time I started receiving calls from principals, my contract had already started with my current position so I had to stay with my school.

According to my principal, my school had 3 math teacher openings and over 100 applicants (DISD now does there hiring process through the Region 10 site). She told us that we should feel blessed to have our jobs. I'm assuming she threw that comment in there because there were many teachers debating on whether to leave the district for various reasons, but finding another teaching position truly is difficult today. She also told us we need to all be ESL certified sooner than later because that is the direction the state is moving in as far as teacher requirements.

I think there are some exceptions: Bilingual EC-4, Math, Science, or Foreign Language. It wouldn't hurt to have the ESL, Bilingual, or Special Education endorsement either. Anyone who is interested in going into the profession, this is the advice that I give them.

Hopefully the young man whose family you overheard will have some luck finding a position. I have even began to look out of state just to find a guidance counselor opportunity. Its tough finding any job in education: public, private, or higher. One has to seriously be ready to broaden their search.

[txtoal]

Originally Posted by deegee09

I teach 7th grade in Dallas. When I applied to Tarrant county schools for teaching and school counselor positions, I did not start receiving phone calls until the weeks right before school started. With my education and experience, I thought the job search would be much easier than that, but I was wrong. By the time I started receiving calls from principals, my contract had already started with my current position so I had to stay with my school.

According to my principal, my school had 3 math teacher openings and over 100 applicants (DISD now does there hiring process through the Region 10 site). She told us that we should feel blessed to have our jobs. I'm assuming she threw that comment in there because there were many teachers debating on whether to leave the district for various reasons, but finding another teaching position truly is difficult today. She also told us we need to all be ESL certified sooner than later because that is the direction the state is moving in as far as teacher requirements.

I think there are some exceptions: Bilingual EC-4, Math, Science, or Foreign Language. It wouldn't hurt to have the ESL, Bilingual, or Special Education endorsement either. Anyone who is interested in going into the profession, this is the advice that I give them.

Hopefully the young man whose family you overheard will have some luck finding a position. I have even began to look out of state just to find a guidance counselor opportunity. Its tough finding any job in education: public, private, or higher. One has to seriously be ready to broaden their search.

I'm sorry, but that is BS and shouldn't have to be a requirement.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by txtoal

I'm sorry, but that is BS and shouldn't have to be a requirement.

Well, when the district is over 60% Hispanic and MOST of those kids don't have parents at home who speak English.....they come to Kindergarten NOT KNOWING ANY ENGLISH.

The kids need to learn English but that means the teachers need to know both in order to help the kids learn the best.

[TXNGL]

Just for the record, ESL and Bilingual are two different things. I know teachers who are ESL certified who do not speak Spanish.

[Robinlp]

Uh...our country is in a MAJOR recession. We moved to Texas in April and are amazed at good things feel here. Spend time outside of Texas and it feels more like a Depression.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by TXNGL

Just for the record, ESL and Bilingual are two different things. I know teachers who are ESL certified who do not speak Spanish.

Regardless, mandatory ESL certification is not a bad idea for a district whose 2010-2011 demographics include:

105,000 Hispanic Students (67.5% of district) and nearly 57,000 (36.6%) students who are limited English proficient.

In the lower grades, most students are limited English proficient (60% of Pre-K, 50% of K, 48-52% of grades 1-4). The good news is that by 5th grade, the percent of Limited English is about 33% and by middle & high school, it's under 15% of the class.