Switch to Teaching as Second Career

[tgbwc]

Originally Posted by nhb_nova

What are the typical daily hours?

"Contract" hours for me are 8:00-3:30. Nothing personal gets accomplished during those hours. I'd say for me personally I'm typically in the building from about 7:45-4:30. I sit down in the evening and work another hour or so at home, but leave Friday nights and Saturdays open for the most part. Add an hour or two on Sunday evening. The end of each quarter when grades are due will add quite a few hours in the evenings.

When you mentioned "flexible hours", I was thinking of a situation where one could go in late or leave a little early as long as the time was balanced out on one end or the other.

We have a duty-free 30 minute lunch and nothing is required of me between June 28 and August 26.

[nhb_nova]

Originally Posted by tgbwc

"Contract" hours for me are 8:00-3:30. Nothing personal gets accomplished during those hours. I'd say for me personally I'm typically in the building from about 7:45-4:30. I sit down in the evening and work another hour or so at home, but leave Friday nights and Saturdays open for the most part. Add an hour or two on Sunday evening. The end of each quarter when grades are due will add quite a few hours in the evenings.

When you mentioned "flexible hours", I was thinking of a situation where one could go in late or leave a little early as long as the time was balanced out on one end or the other.

We have a duty-free 30 minute lunch and nothing is required of me between June 28 and August 26.

Thanks for the detailed response. How much time off do you get over winter and spring breaks?

[tgbwc]

Originally Posted by nhb_nova

Thanks for the detailed response. How much time off do you get over winter and spring breaks?

http://www.fcps.edu/hr/calendar/SY16-17EmployeeCal.pdf

[nhb_nova]

Originally Posted by tgbwc

http://www.fcps.edu/hr/calendar/SY16-17EmployeeCal.pdf

Thanks!

[choff5]

If you are looking at teaching for long vacations, summers off and flexible hours, keep looking. If you have a family there is a lot to say about teaching especially if you work in the same system your child is in. If you are use to leasurely lunch hours, coming and going, then think again about it. It is very rewarding but no easier I think than many other positions.

[Frostnip]

Well, once you have been teaching for quite a while (I would say 8+ years), most people's free time gets a lot freer, I think. You gradually learn to be more efficient and you build up a bigger repetoir of effective lesson components, so planning, grading, and parent contacts go much faster. You're also spending less time on discipline issues, which frees up prep time and lunches. And in states that have provisional certifications, you are done jumping through the hoops to earn the more permanent teaching license. But as a new teacher, you spend a lot of your summers doing continuing ed and trainings, and you do a lot of your lesson prep and grading after school hours are over. First and second year teachers, in my observation, can easily work 50 or 60+ hours a week on work things. So it's not a career to switch into if you are already kind of burnt out, IMO.

[Zambon]

TEACH-NOW Home - TEACH-NOW Educatore is an alternative certification program that gives you Washington D.C certification, which has a lot of reciprocity with other states. It is an online program that can be done more or less on your own time schedule. They can waive the student teaching requirement if you get yourself hired at a district too.

Think twice before going into teaching though. It is not what it once was. I taught for 4 years. Two at the college level and two at a private IB high school. College/community college I would do again. I am not so sure about high school.

[Frostnip]

Originally Posted by soursop

TEACH-NOW Home - TEACH-NOW Educatore is an alternative certification program that gives you Washington D.C certification, which has a lot of reciprocity with other states. It is an online program that can be done more or less on your own time schedule. They can waive the student teaching requirement if you get yourself hired at a district too.

Bear in mind, though, that reciprocity doesn't automatically mean you get a full license in the other state. Usually they give you a temporary license of some sort, and a few years to also complete the other state's requirements for licensure (testing, additional classes, portfolio evaluation, etc.) which can be expensive and time-consuming. IMO if possible, it's better to just do your license work in the state in which you actually intend to teach.