Question:
I am a chemist and have been pursuing certification through the
alternate route. I obtained my certificate of eligibility after
completing the praxis tests. Then came the hard part. I obtained a full
time position teaching 9th grade "college prep" physical science and
11th grade honors physics. I only lasted 2 weeks before quitting. The
9th grade classes were an absolute horror. I know nothing about
classroom control and the materiel was very difficult. Preparing for the
classes was very difficult and time consuming and I could tell that only
about 3 out of 25 kids were "getting it" in each class. I had students
that would walk around the class, yell out, refuse to participate in any
way. My supervisor's only advice was to give out detentions. I talked to
an english teacher who had several of my 9th grade students and she did
not think they would be capable of reading the text. (It was college
level reading, but had no math - I'm not sure what the purpose of that
is.) I also realized too late that I was not ready to go in cold and
teach the physics class. The student behavior in the physics class was
fine, but I found that I couldn't always answer their questions right
away. The guy who was assigned to be my mentor never came into any of my
classes. He would ask me if I needed anything, but made it clear that he
wasn't going to "do my job for me" and never actually volunteered any
information. I found out afterward that he was supposed to do a lot more
than he did.
I know that my first big mistake was starting teaching in the beginning
of January - right before midterms. The classed had gone from the
beginning of the year with substitutes and were already behind. This
probably also contributed to the behavior problems. My second big
mistake was taking a position where I was teaching something that is
very technical and not all that familiar to me. Unfortunately, I have to
get certified in physical science, which encompasses chemistry, physics
and physical science. I had no problem passing the written physics test,
but I don't know it inside and out. Everyone told me to just take any
job I could get and tough it out until I get my certification. To be
honest, it was just too much for me. I became interested in teaching
because I am sick of the long hours and pressure at my QC chemist job. I
have 3 small children and I want to spend more time with them. The
teaching job took a lot more hours each day.
My question is: Have you had experience with teachers who got certified
through the alternate route? What suggestions would you give them to
prepare for the classroom?
Answer:
In some ways you walked into a no-win situation. By starting so far into a
school year with no previous classroom experience and dealing with 9th
graders - you had very little chance of success. P. Tierney gave you some
good advice as to what you might want to do.
I came into teaching is a somewhat similar fashion. I was a project engineer
for a local engineering / consulting firm and left that position back in
1996. At the time I was kicking around a couple of job offers, I was asked
by the local high school's Career and Technology Education director if I
might want to come and teach drafting. They had just lost the person who was
hired for that school year and needed someone desperately. I went in and sat
in on a few classes just to see what it would be like. For some reason I
took the job instead of one of the industry jobs I had been considering.
Little did I know what I was getting into. After fourteen years in the
security industry and about an equal number of years in other jobs, I was
very unprepared for what is the typical life of a teacher. I started into
the school year late also, I started in the middle of October. I was totally
prepared subject wise, but the day-to-day teacher duties almost killed me.
The one thing that really almost got me was not being able to just go to the
restroom when you needed to (I've since have developed a very strong
bladder). I was more than up to the actual physical activity required of a
teacher, but I came away each day totally exhausted from the mental
concentration of keeping track (and up with) a classroom full of high school
students. I originally based my preconceptions of what the students would
be like on my own high school experiences (1974-78) and the few days that I
visited the class. I was totally wrong. I thought the kids behavior was
terrible, their base knowledge was way low and they could not remember much
of what I was teaching. I really had to scramble and change my expectations.
The kids then where nothing like the kids were back when I was in high
school. That was one of the hardest things that I had to come to grips with.
Even now the kids I have today are really nothing like the kids I had my
first year - just four years ago. Today's students (at least as far as I've
personally observed) are far "worse" that those of my first year students.
Their attention span is shorter, they behave on a much lower behavioral
level, and they can not retain material as well. There are still students
that do excel, but the level of the "common" student has dropped - a lot in
my opinion. I hope that this is just a trend and that things will pick up
soon.
Anyway, back to my process of becoming a teacher. I was assigned a wonderful
experienced mentor teacher (20+ years) who really gets a lot of credit for
my success the first couple of years. As for the things outside the
classroom (paperwork, etc.) I had the help of a fantastic person who was the
CATE director's secretary. If it wasn't for these two women, I would have
never lasted those first couple of years.
Teaching is a job. It's more than just knowing your subject. I was given a
emergency certificate to began teaching with the provision that I fulfill
the requirements to get my teaching certificate. Of my requirements I had to
teach for two years, and go back to college for certification classes (21
hours of pedagogy classes and 3 hours of a government class). The pedagogy
classes that I took really taught me the basic fundamental things that a
teacher has to know to be successful. I had classes in creating / giving
lesson plans. Classes in dealing with interpersonal relations between
students / teachers / parents (I just wished they had included teacher /
administrator). I had classes that dealt with curriculum and course design.
I even had a class that covered the history of public education with a focus
on vocational education. The one area that I really wished that I would of
had a class in, was classroom management and behavioral management. It's
taken me nearly five years in the classroom to become somewhat confident in
this area, and even then I still feel I have more to learn. It took me three
summers and a couple of fall classes to finish my certificate.
Teaching does require long hours, much more than the typical person could
really imagine. Back when I was a engineer I was constantly under pressure /
stress to meet deadlines and spent tons of time working overtime. Well, I
can (and do) tell everyone that I work "harder" and "longer" as a teacher
than I ever did as an engineer. The mental exhaustion that comes from
concentrating on a class full of students for a FULL 90 minutes (and then
more classes after that one leaves) and the frustration from not being able
to reach 100% of the students a 100% of the time makes me go home most night
feeling like I have gone several rounds with a boxer.
If you are still interested in a career in teaching go for it. Just keep in
mind that it takes time and a lot of work.
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