Rebecca

Posted on 10/24/09

Wow guys...thanks so much for sharing your stories. I will try and not be
so nervous about the test. I did just take the Elementary Ed Praxis (as a
warm - up) and scored a 186 (getting that ETS "Recognition of Excellence"
thingy)...the test is in three weeks, so I will just keep on reveiwing...

Any other tips out there are still appreciated!!

'b

On 10/24/09, WEK wrote:
> 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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