Special Education or Math (transfer, middle school, live)

[B-rad69]

Hi,

So I am looking to become a teacher. I am enrolled in the NC Teach program starting in the summer and will hopefully get a jod starting in the fall. My BA is in English so I am eligible to teach that right now and I can add subjects by taking a Praxis 2 test. The only thing is that there is only one more test date that will have the results done in time to get hired for the fall.

Now from what I have heard there are very few English/Language arts jobs. I always hear there are more jobs in Math and Special Education. My hunch is that the most are in Special Education. So Which one should I take first? I can always take the other one later and look for jobs during the year.

Should I take the Math one and hope to get hired to teach middle school math and then look special education after that? Are special education jobs more likely to open up during the year? Or should I play it safe and go Special ED right away. The Special ED will let me teach k-12 while the math will only covr middle school.

thoughts? I really want to get hired somewhere.

[zthatzmanz28]

Wanna have a job when you graduate?

Love working with the worst kids on earth?

Like being spit on?

Called names and your momma too?

Be a SpEd teacher...

we love what I do....

Everyday is a whole new universe for us.

Ask me anything..we have the answers

even the ones we don't want to tell

SpEd is NOT you typical classroom.

It is NOT for ANYONE or EVERYONE

DO a lot or PRESERVICE hours to be sure it is for YOU

If you like it and are good at it

YOU WILL SURVIVE and LOVE every minute of it.

Been there--done that for almost 20 years

It has been the greatest job I have ever had

And the worse I have ever experienced

And every morning I cannot wait to do it again..

[TuborgP]

Originally Posted by B-rad69

Hi,

So I am looking to become a teacher. I am enrolled in the NC Teach program starting in the summer and will hopefully get a jod starting in the fall. My BA is in English so I am eligible to teach that right now and I can add subjects by taking a Praxis 2 test. The only thing is that there is only one more test date that will have the results done in time to get hired for the fall.

Now from what I have heard there are very few English/Language arts jobs. I always hear there are more jobs in Math and Special Education. My hunch is that the most are in Special Education. So Which one should I take first? I can always take the other one later and look for jobs during the year.

Should I take the Math one and hope to get hired to teach middle school math and then look special education after that? Are special education jobs more likely to open up during the year? Or should I play it safe and go Special ED right away. The Special ED will let me teach k-12 while the math will only covr middle school.

thoughts? I really want to get hired somewhere.

Do some research on the terminology and requirements to be highly qualified. Is short it is a Special Educator with content certification. NCLB says you should be certified in content if you are going to be the primary deliver of math to a Special Education student.
NEA - Highly Qualified Definition for Special Education Teachers

[zthatzmanz28]

don't all special educators have a minor in a content area?

What is HQ for resource or self-contained in NC?

In Michigan as a K-12 SpEd teacher I had to pass another content area MTTC for K-5 general education--no classwork--just pass the test.

[B-rad69]

Well I am already highly qualified in English having a BA in the subject. I was told by the staff at NCSU that I only need to pass two tests to be good to go. One on Spec Ed procedures and one on general content knowledge.

[TuborgP]

Originally Posted by B-rad69

Well I am already highly qualified in English having a BA in the subject. I was told by the staff at NCSU that I only need to pass two tests to be good to go. One on Spec Ed procedures and one on general content knowledge.

That probably is for English certification. You want to talk to several different people at different schools. The interpretation of state certification beyond the basics can in some states vary. The ultimate arbiter will be the state certification department. Highly qualified can be done in some states by passing the content Praxis. You could have a degree in education and build on that by Praxis tests. That is different from state to state. Your final certification may not be transferable to other states. New York and Mass have the toughest and most transferable requirements. For the most part certification in New England and the Mid Atlantic states is the highest and the South the lowest. One of the biggest differences is the required Praxis score to pass etc.