[Omaral]

Hello!!!

I am currently teaching mathematics in middle east,
and i am planning to relocate with my small family to dearborn,mi next sumer
As a muslim, I picked dearborn to being among a muslim comunity.
Please advise me as a math teacher (k 7-12) how i can apply and secure a job.
How is cost of living as well rental? Can I rely on public transportations?
Any suggestion on what area that is safe and affordable with good schools?

Thank you,

Younes

[Coldjensens]

Please advise me as a math teacher (k 7-12) how i can apply and secure a job.

To get a job as a math teacher in a public K-12 school, you wil need a Michigan teaching certificate. I do not know whether your educaton or expereince will provide you with any advantage or not. You may have to take a test, you make have to take college courses. It is probably best to contact the state education department to find out.

To teach at private schools, or at community college or university you need only demonstrate you are qualified. Most do not require a teacher certification. Most community colleges hire primarily part time instructors so they do not have to pay benefits.

Any teaching job is very difficult to get. Michigan is flooded with techers with teaching certificates and many with substantail experience. I was infomrmed a few years ago a district near us put out an ad for a teacher position and got 1200 applications. I am not sure whether it is still that competitive, but it is certainly very competitive.

You can get a job substitute teaching and the only requriement is a certain number of college credits. Again I am not sure college credit from another country would suffice. You have to enquire. Substitute teachers work periodically, you put your name into the system, and you will get calls from time to time for anything from a day to several weeks assignment. Then you may not have any work again for days, weeks or months. As you get known, if you prove to be a really good substitute teacher, some schools or teachers will ask for you specifically and you can end up with fairly steady work. Substitute teaching generally pays $65 - $75 per day. This is not very good pay and not enough to support a family, especially if you only work once in a while.

The bottom line is, unless you secure a job before you move here, you had better have a back up plan and some substantial savings. The liklihood of your being able to support your family with a teaching job any time in the immediate future, is slim.

Even if you find a job teaching, it is difficult to make a living on a teacher's salary. Your wife will probably need to take a job as well. Aat least somethign part time or work from home.

How is cost of living as well rental?
Cost of living depends on what you compare it to. Compared to Southern California where we used to live, it is really cheap here. Compared to say, south dakota, or maybe west virginia, it is quite expensive. You can find rental houses for $650-$800 that you could squeeze a family into. Realistically for a decent house, you are looking at $1000 - $1,600 per month. Gasoline is $3.39 per gallon. A gallon of milk costs about $3.50. A Pizza will run anywhere from $5 to $20. It really depends on your standards. I have said, I cannto see a family of four living on much les than $100,000 (maybe $70,000 on the outside). However people tell me i am crazy and a family cna live compfrtably on $50,000 household income. (A starting teacher will make somewhere around $30,000 - $40,000 per year, possibly a bit less. That of course assumes they can find a much coveted full time job instead of part time, Part time is much less.

Can I rely on public transportations?

In some places you can, but it is pretty awful. Quite a few people do rely on it and it seems to work ok for them. It take a long time to get anywhere and it is often pretty awful conditions. They system is not always on time and sometimes gets shut down. Public transportation does not cover all that many areas. Usually, it is better to find a cheap car and hope it does not break. My son found two different cars for $500 each. However these are old worn out cars that are likely to need lots of repair. So far, he has been lucky. On top of buying the car, you must pay for registration, insurance, maintenance, gas, and reparis. It can get pretty expensive.

Any suggestion on what area that is safe and affordable with good schools?

The areas witht he best schools tend to be the most expensive. "Safe" depends on your point of view. In general, expensive areas usually have lower crime rate. However there are lots of exceptions.

Most of Dearborn is reasoanbly safe by my standards. Most of Dearborn is affordable by my standards. Dearborn ahs quite a few different schools, some are acceptably good, some are unacceptable by my standards. This is all subjective and it varies by levels of degree. If you cannto find a place to live in derborn and want to live nearby, you can try allen park, or maybe livonia. I would not recommend Lincoln Park or Melvindale. Allen park schools are not great. Livonia schools are better.

If you want top schools and super safe, then you need to bring quite a lot of money with you.

Basically on a teacher salasy (if you can get a job) you will not be living in the safest place with the top schools, but you cna probably find a reaosnably safe area with decent schools. You can also transport you kids to a school of choice school, if you want better schools.

Affordabel is affordable because people with money do not want to live there. That usually means, safety issues, not so good schools and/or aesthetic issues (like near a sewer plant). Further schools with wealthier populations tend to perfomr better. People have lots of theories about why, but mostly it comes down to better and more involved parenting and a family emphpasis on the importance of education.

Thank you,

You are welcome.

[Omaral]

Thank you very much !!! This is very helpfull!!!
I just want to add that I am a New york state certified math teacher( K7-12). I graduated from NYC university
with Master's degree in Mathematics education. I worked in NYC public school as a Math teacher before I got a job in international school abroad.

[belleislerunner]

There are a ton of Arab American resources/groups HQ in the Dearborn area that you might find helpful.

Here are a few: Arab America Michigan - Arab America Michigan

ACCESS - ACCESS | Assisting. Improving. Empowering.: ACCESS Home Page

Arab American National Museum - Arab American Community Resources

You'll fit in fine in Dearborn - though the 4 months of winter might be a shock the first year - but you'll adjust. Never mind - I see you went to school in NYC so will be nothing new.

[teachbeach]

Contact the Michigan Department of Education. It is a long and expensive (in my opinion, as a teacher who is currently certified in two states and holds an expired Michigan teaching license), and the bureaucracy is unbelievable.

Getting certified to sub is another long involved process. Depending on where you are planning to sub, you will most likely be working through an agency for the application process, and then perhaps with the district(s) themselves.

Good Luck~we do need Math teachers, and you might also want to consider the community colleges and private schools in the Dearborn area.

michigan.gov/mde

[belleislerunner]

The link teachbeach gave is the best route. There's a link in it that should answer all your Q's. You'd start with a Provisional Certificate (see page 3)

I don't think it's a very complicated process (you just need to read the manual and do what it says). Kind of like the Sec of State where you have to bring one of X document, one of Y document and two of Z documents. As long as you are prepared - it's pretty seamless.

http://michigan.gov/documents/mde/Fa...n_230612_7.pdf