WEK

Posted on 10/24/09

My undergrad from a million years ago was in business. I did start in
engineering so I had a number of math and science classes. When I went
back for my teaching cert at close to 40, I had only to take Earth
Science classes to get my secondary certifications. So, I started
teaching 7th grade with a good content background, but no teaching
experience (except student teaching). One of my grade partners came the
same year with only the science background from passing the middle school
Praxis on an elementary cert, but with a couple years more teaching
experience than I. We are both better teachers than we were that first
year-she knows more content and I have better teaching skills. You dont
need a ton of content to teach 7th graders, just basic stuff. If they ask
a question you dont know, you admit it and look it up. There is always
more than one way to be a great teacher.

As a closer, I would say that when I student taught high school, I
witnessed several teachers who were brilliant in their content knowledge,
with little idea how to "bring it down" and simplify for young people.

On 10/23/09, Tina/8th wrote:
> I was originally elementary/sped trained and was teaching middle school.
> At the time in my state you could teach middle school on an elementary
> certificate. As NCLB and HQ came into play, they rolled out a middle
> school certification. Those of us who had been working in middle school
> on an elem cert only had to take and pass the tests in our subject
> areas to be considered HQ.
>
> I took and passed with high scores both the General Science and the
> Middle School Math test. I could have taken the Middle School Science
> test but our advanced 8th grades take physical science and that was not
> covered in our state by the middle school test but was covered by the
> General Science test and I did not want to limit myself.
>
> I had exactly two science courses in college...a non lab physics course
> and a non lab bio course. I was a elemen/sped major, there were no other
> requirements at the time (many moons ago)
>
> I also had exactly two hs science classes. Bio and Chem and that a
> zillion years ago.
>
> Math is another story. I love Math, I only had to take two semsesters of
> Calc but took three more courses including Diff Equations for fun. I was
> in classes with all the engineering majors.

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