becoming a teacher

[TechBoyJK]

I originally started college to get into Elementary Education, but I dropped out to pursue work in teh IT field.

I've done pretty well, but I have a strong desire in my heart to start teaching. I love kids and I like helping and affecting people's lives.

I have about 1 year's worth of college. Can I just pursue a certification? Or do I need to get a bachelor's? I'm not sure where to start.

 

[funkymatt]

school>experience>certs usually.

 

[Deeko]

Yea you pretty much gotta get a degree.

 

[Tiamat]

you have to complete your BS nowadays and some even have to get a masters in teaching or whatever they call it.

 

[PrinceofWands]

You should talk with a college counselor, they'll have the best info. Rules vary from state to state. I can offer you some generalities however:

Primary education usually only requires just a single bachelors plus a few extra credits, and if there's a teacher shortage you can sometimes get an emergency license even before you finish.

Secondary Education requires more. The highly qualified requirement from the NCLB Act means you need a Bachelors degree in every field that you will teach, in addition to requiring your teaching degree and certification.

Most areas require a Masters degree within about 5 years of beginning your teaching career, at least for Secondary Education.

If you're willing and able to teach math or science you could probably get some exemptions, at least temporarily, because of the shortage.

For most areas there are a bunch of different parts. A degree in what you'll teach (for secondary ed), a teaching degree which comes with a teaching license, a subject endorsement (kind of like a cert), and potentially tests or additional degrees like a Masters.

You can often be a substitute before you complete other requirements.

 

[mooglemania85]

I think you need a masters. You also should check teacher requirements for the grade level you want to teach / state you want to work in

 

[lykaon78]

Call your state board of education. In Ohio a degree is required and at some point a Master's would be necessary.

You can't even sub without a degree in Ohio.

 

[shoegazer]

I just started teaching high school science this past Fall. There are many ways one can become a teacher these days. But, nearly all of them require at least a bachelor's degree. I've got a B.S., but not in education so I'm enrolled in an alternate route teaching certification program in which I teach while taking night classes to obtain my standard cert.

If you go for an education degree you'll likely be certified upon graduation. If you pursue another degree you can teach through programs like Teach for America, New York City Teaching Fellows, or any state alternate certification programs.

 

[Nitemare]

I'd love to teach kids, but unfortunately it requires to much school and the pay is too little.

With a two year degree you can teach in a community college and become a teacher's aid. In most private and public institutions it requires a 4 year degree to teach children.

*Please note, that the above post is to the best of my knowledge in direct compliance with Forum Guidelines[/quote]

 

[PrinceofWands]

Originally posted by: Nitemare
I'd love to teach kids, but unfortunately it requires to much school and the pay is too little.

With a two year degree you can teach in a community college and become a teacher's aid. In most private and public institutions it requires a 4 year degree to teach children.

*Please note, that the above post is to the best of my knowledge in direct compliance with Forum Guidelines

[/quote]

An aid, sure. But it's not like you'll be a professor. The PhD levels, even at community college, are amazingly high.

 

[RagingBITCH]

Are you really JK about being a TechBoy?

 

[Nitemare]

Originally posted by: PrinceofWands

Originally posted by: Nitemare
I'd love to teach kids, but unfortunately it requires to much school and the pay is too little.

With a two year degree you can teach in a community college and become a teacher's aid. In most private and public institutions it requires a 4 year degree to teach children.

*Please note, that the above post is to the best of my knowledge in direct compliance with Forum Guidelines

An aid, sure. But it's not like you'll be a professor. The PhD levels, even at community college, are amazingly high.[/quote]

that was to teach a class. I was classmates with a dude that was teaching Visual Basic at a community college. At the community college level they aren't that picky about who is teaching. Both my anthropology and chemistry teacher's had master's but not in teaching.

*Please note, that the above post is to the best of my knowledge in direct compliance with Forum Guidelines[/quote]

 

[PrinceofWands]

Originally posted by: Nitemare

Originally posted by: PrinceofWands

Originally posted by: Nitemare
I'd love to teach kids, but unfortunately it requires to much school and the pay is too little.

With a two year degree you can teach in a community college and become a teacher's aid. In most private and public institutions it requires a 4 year degree to teach children.

*Please note, that the above post is to the best of my knowledge in direct compliance with Forum Guidelines

An aid, sure. But it's not like you'll be a professor. The PhD levels, even at community college, are amazingly high.

that was to teach a class. I was classmates with a dude that was teaching Visual Basic at a community college. At the community college level they aren't that picky about who is teaching. Both my anthropology and chemistry teacher's had master's but not in teaching.

*Please note, that the above post is to the best of my knowledge in direct compliance with Forum Guidelines

That's true. The number of college professors with any background in psychology or education are fairly low, which I think is wrong. But the number with Masters or PhD's in their field is incredibly high. Personally I'd like to see both psychology (developmental and cognitive) and Education being required degrees for all teachers, in addition to degrees in the field they'll teach (minimum of Bachelors for primary/secondary, Masters for post-secondary).

 

[TechBoyJK]

Originally posted by: RagingBITCH
Are you really JK about being a TechBoy?

huh?

i work in a datacenter... im a techie.. jk is my initials

 

[Jschmuck2]

The requirements vary from state to state - what state are you in?

 

[Q]

No offense, but do you really expect to teach any age of school w/o a college degree...?

 

[Epic Fail]

Originally posted by: PrinceofWands
That's true. The number of college professors with any background in psychology or education are fairly low, which I think is wrong. But the number with Masters or PhD's in their field is incredibly high. Personally I'd like to see both psychology (developmental and cognitive) and Education being required degrees for all teachers, in addition to degrees in the field they'll teach (minimum of Bachelors for primary/secondary, Masters for post-secondary).

Good luck getting anyone willing to teach in college with those requirements, that's several years of student loan and lost of opportunity to start earning after finishing a PhD.

 

[PrinceofWands]

Originally posted by: yamadakun

Originally posted by: PrinceofWands
That's true. The number of college professors with any background in psychology or education are fairly low, which I think is wrong. But the number with Masters or PhD's in their field is incredibly high. Personally I'd like to see both psychology (developmental and cognitive) and Education being required degrees for all teachers, in addition to degrees in the field they'll teach (minimum of Bachelors for primary/secondary, Masters for post-secondary).

Good luck getting anyone willing to teach in college with those requirements, that's several years of student loan and lost of opportunity to start earning after finishing a PhD.

It's really not so much extra if you think about it. If you double major in whatever you're going to teach as well as psychology, or at least take psych as a minor, then go on to a masters in teaching or masters in education, and finish up with a doctorate in your field then you're done with very little extra classes needed.

The real difference would be for primary and secondary teachers, since so few have PhD's. But I really do think it would vastly improve the situation. So many teachers today have next to no clue about basic psychological development issues, or cognitive functions. Teachers just NEED a psychology background in my opinion.

 

[rudder]

Originally posted by: Deeko
Yea you pretty much gotta get a degree.

And in getting your degree you will earn a teacher certification for whichever state you attend school in.

Although there are a few hard up school districts that will take people without teaching sertificates. Nashville being on of them. They are short on high school math teachers for instance so they will take anyone with a degree provided they work towards certification at within 2 years.

 

[pontifex]

no way would i become a teacher, at least not kids.

 

[MrChad]

You'll need to get a bachelor's degree, but you don't necessarily need one in education. There are a number of programs out there that recruit college graduates from a variety of backgrounds and award temporary certifications so that you can begin teaching while you work towards a Master's degree and/or permanent certification. My wife participated in Teach for America, but there are others as well.

Teach for America
North Carolina Teaching Fellows
NYC Teaching Fellows
DC Teaching Fellows
Philadelphia Teaching Fellows
... etc, etc

 

[Linflas]

I work for a public school system in a middle school and I would love to switch over to teaching. The thing that stops me is they would cut my pay even though I already work for the system.