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Re: Online applications
Posted by spedhead on 6/18/08

    On 6/18/08, Merrill wrote:
    > Actually, I am interested in ELL, and I have a background in Linguistics.
    >
    > Unfortunately, it is next to impossible to get an endorsement in this area in
    > Illinois. Why? Because you need 100 clinical hours teaching ELL--but no one is
    > going to let you teach ELL without an endorsement.

    Really? So the dozens of teachers I know in my district, including the 5 sped
    teachers in my department who also have ELL/ESL on their certs did the impossible?
    See, here I think you think you're a little too smart for your own good, declaring
    something impossible without doing your homework.

    It is not impossible. In fact, its one of the easier endorsements to add. The
    requirements are 100 hours of "clinical experiences" or 3 months teaching ESL
    students. If you figure it out, 6 hours a day, the "clinical experience" would only
    be 3 weeks and a couple days full time. Thats not enough time for student teaching,
    and schools aren't expecting you to do another round of student teaching. "Clinical
    experience" hours are basically observation. You almost certainly did them when you
    went through your teacher training program, and probably a lot more than 100. Most
    schools which provide classes have the 100 hours spaced out over the several classes
    you will take. Even if they don't, you can set those up on your own and simply
    collect teacher signatures to prove the hours.

    The endorsement is actually set up for working teachers with an existing type 09 or
    03, so there's no expectation of doing student teaching again. A couple of the
    teachers I worked with simply took their prep hour to observe, chaperoned an ESL
    class' fieldtrip, and were allowed to sit in on ESL/Billingual Dept. meetings and
    trainings. Before long, the 100 hours were done. Another teacher in my building had
    ESL students mainstreamed in her class, so she had 3 months teaching ESL students.
    Nowhere does it say it has to be a self-contained ESL class.

    You need to understand the bureaucracy involved in any Department of Ed, in any state,
    and you need to know how to navigate it. A few years in the military, as a clerk,
    taught me how to deal with this stuff. You just need to speak the language, so to
    speak. Or, you can just rant and rave about how its "impossible" while others do it
    with relative ease. You can be a defeatist and assume the world is against you, or
    you could live in the world and try to make it work.

    Now I might be able to teach ELL
    > at the college level if I get enough courses under my belt, but that is a big "if."

    No, THAT wouldn't work. The hours need to be with grade 6-12 students, since you will
    be adding it to your type 09.

    >
    >

     
     

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