Re: Newbie trying to plan for future DoDEA application

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DODD Teachers Chatboard

Newbie trying to plan for future DoDEA application

by bem

Apr 17, 2018

Good morning, everyone! First, I'd like to tell you that all of the information I've read on this chat board has been extremely helpful. I'm completely new to all of this and hope to be able to apply for a DoDEA teaching positing in the next few years. Specifically, I'd like to teach Secondary Math. I want to make sure I'm headed in the right direction and would love any guidance and/or advice.

Before I ask all of my questions, here's a quick summary of my background that may be relevant:

- B.S. Computer Science, w/minor in Spanish

- B.A. Mathematics

- M.S. Operations Research

- 4 years teaching at the U.S. Naval Academy (taught calculus, statistics, probability)

- Retired from the Marine Corps after 20 years.

- After retirement, worked the director of the math tutoring center at a California Community College for 3 years. Also, taught statistics and business calculus there.

- I am not currently working and have ju...See More

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haha Hi. From my understanding, the teaching experience generally has to be in a comparable K-12 setting. I have seen different people be told that tutoring, college level teaching, subbing, being a TA, teaching ELA etc., all will not count towards experience for salary steps, minimum requirements etc. Could you end up being told something different? It...See MoreHi. From my understanding, the teaching experience generally has to be in a comparable K-12 setting. I have seen different people be told that tutoring, college level teaching, subbing, being a TA, teaching ELA etc., all will not count towards experience for salary steps, minimum requirements etc. Could you end up being told something different? It would not be shocking.

You certainly have a bank of college credits so you should have or be close to some useful DoDEA qualifications once you get the minimum requirements taken care of.

Before discussing your current plan (ECE) I would ask, what type of teacher do you really want to be? All/most of your related experience (and education) seems to be in the field of upper level math, older students, etc. That could be very valuable as a selling point for you with a prospective principal (even if DoDEA does not credit you for the experience).

If you get the ECE degree/credits etc. it seems that you will be heading in a totally different direction and will be losing most of the relevance of your background education and experience.

Another point to consider is that secondary math and science are high needs areas with DoDEA, especially when compared to ECE/Elementary qualifications. So, unless you are tired of teaching math/older students and/or have a burning desire to teach younger students, you would likely be best served by looking into ways to be certified as a math teacher.

One thing you might look at is Teach Now and/or Teacher Ready. I'm far from an expert on these programs but they take around a year to complete and they do lead to actual state certification in Fl and/or Washington DC, respectively. They are online and while they do require student teaching experience, one of them (Teach Now I think), only requires one week of time in the classroom. I believe Both of these programs would let you do the experience in an int'l school (IB or other).

If you are looking at an internship of some kind, you may as well be doing it in a program that leads directly towards certification. And yes, DoDEA does credit int'l experience, IB or other (my wife and I taught with int'l schools before coming to DoDEA).

You might also try posting on the open forum of International Schools Review with pretty much the same post (you can leave in or take out the part about DoDEA) and see if one of the certification experts has other advice for you (some states may give you credit for your higher level math degrees and experience) on the best/fastest way to get certified.

Hope that helps somewhat.

Apr 17, 2018

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teacher42 My years teaching college WERE counted towards steps. In fact, they were colleges in foreign countries, and they still counted. I maxed out on my steps allowed entirely due to college teaching. I was happily surprised.

Apr 17, 2018

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haha There you go. Everyone has their own story (even though you would think there would be some consistency about things like that).

Apr 17, 2018

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bem Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to my post. I've spent the last several days reevaluating my goals. Yes, haha, I think you're right ... I should look to certify as a math teacher. My family and I are living overseas and hope to stay overseas for the next few years so that limits my options for a certification program. Any recommendat...See More

Apr 20, 2018

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haha I would definitely look into Teach Now/Teacher Ready if you haven't already. I'm pretty sure that neither program (and most programs in my experience) won't have a problem with an int'l school (IB or not).

Other than that, there are likely a lot of online programs that lead to certification. The other programs are likely to be a lot faster...See More

Apr 20, 2018

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