I am noticing that my options to teach in California simply require a credential certification program. These can take up too two academic years, and frankly from what I have heard of them, they do not appeal to me. BUT I do realize I need to get credentialed anyway, so I will do it.
My question: Since I will be effectively going back to school full time, I figure I go for a Masters as well. I initially thought about simply getting a Masters in English, but I have been getting advice on getting instead a Masters in Art of Teaching.
I am not sure which would be an advantage toward beginning my career in education, especially given the dire circumstances involving all things education.
Any advice? Would an MA in English coupled with credentials be "inferior" as opposed to an MA in Art of Teaching? For whatever reason, intuitively I feel that the MA in English would be better, but most of the advice I have received recommends the other MA.
Was it worth it? Not really. I mean those graduate level English classes helped me pass the CSET (thanks NCLB!) and maybe got me a job on my first interview, but I don't necessarily get to teach the classes I am truly qualified to teach, like AP Literature and American Lit (my specialization). The teachers with SENIORITY get all the classes they want, and the new kids on the block get what's left, that's just the reality. It doesn't really matter how qualified you are, if there is a half decent teacher ahead of you on the totem pole, you will end up teaching all the intervention and second language learner classes until you have made it in the district long enough for others to come in under of you. And if you find a tenure track position at a school district ANYWHERE in Cali at the moment then you are LUCKY. Money-wise the next five years look very bleak and I seriously would advise new young teachers to search out of state and save yourself the trouble. Not to sound bleak and depressing but that is the sad reality we are facing.
My advice would be if you ABSOLUTELY love English and may want to teach community college in the future or get your PhD then go for it. Otherwise just get your Teaching Masters degree. I am going back for my second Masters in Counseling because I want options in the educational arena. In hindsight I would not have pursued my Masters in English (although it made me a smarter and better person in the long run) since I want out of teaching. Good luck to you!
On 3/01/12, Gabe wrote: > > I wanted to teach middle school or high school English > ("language arts") since I was an freshman undergrad in > college. I got a BA in English not only because of my > desire, but because I, like many other art teachers, just > like to read and learn. I am located in California and would > ideally like to teach here. Before anyone asks: THIS IS what > I want to do. > > I am noticing that my options to teach in California simply > require a credential certification program. These can take > up too two academic years, and frankly from what I have > heard of them, they do not appeal to me. BUT I do realize I > need to get credentialed anyway, so I will do it. > > My question: Since I will be effectively going back to > school full time, I figure I go for a Masters as well. I > initially thought about simply getting a Masters in English, > but I have been getting advice on getting instead a Masters > in Art of Teaching. > > I am not sure which would be an advantage toward beginning > my career in education, especially given the dire > circumstances involving all things education. > > Any advice? Would an MA in English coupled with credentials > be "inferior" as opposed to an MA in Art of Teaching? For > whatever reason, intuitively I feel that the MA in English > would be better, but most of the advice I have received > recommends the other MA. > > Help! >
Sit down and do some future scenarios. Where will you be and what will be your lifestyle if you: a) get the teaching license and just keep it (no add ons, no change in teaching, minimum education additions to keep the basic job) b) get the MA in English and just keep it (minimum education additions to keep the basic job) c) get the M.A. or M.S. in Secondary English Education d) get the M.A. or M.S. in Education Administration or Counseling e) continue for a Ph.D. in English f) continue for a Ph.D. in Education Administration or Counseling -possibly you hadn't considered options d, e, or f - but you should!
As you consider a through f, think: how much money spent for education and how much money for salary, where will you live (home and city), what will your job responsibilities be, and will you need continuing education to keep the job?
Personally, I knew administration was NEVER going to be for me - I hate handling money and dislike firing people. Principals do both of those. Counseling just didn't seem that interesting as a job!
When I returned to college in 1998 to get my master's, my sole aims were: a) get a better teaching license=more money b) learn to be a better teacher=classroom management c) get qualified with degree and classes to move into the community college environment
An M.A. in English would only help with a and c. To get all three, I needed the M.A. in Secondary English Ed. And, to be quite honest, I was pretty burnt out on all those literature classes, since my true loves are linguistics and composition.
If I had intended to eventually teach in a university, it would have definitely been M.A. English at a different university than my B.S. and then a 3rd institution for the Ph.D.
At my community college, we have 10 full time English teachers and another 10 or 15 adjuncts. 5 of us have the background in English education, the rest are "all English." Those of us who "speak education" can deal more easily with administration and experience few to no issues in classroom management. We are also the ones to seek out, investigate, and adopt new technology, courses, activities, and opportunities to present at conferences.
A coworker of mine taught high school English for 7 years, but then earned her master's and Ph.D. in counseling. She is now the assistant chair of the Counseling Department. Although she doesn't teach, she does write constantly. She always felt the teaching got in the way of her writing.
You are doing the right thing by asking many questions. Continue to ask, and be sure to ask principals and superintendents, especially in the locale where you plan to work. They may have specific recommendations!
Has anyone included The Pesthouse by Jim Crace in a thematic unit? I've looked around the web for resources and lessons, but they seem to be few and far between. Any suggestions will be appreciated.
You can see the film version of it - if not a theatrical production on video. Go to youtube - everything is there or find the film on amazon. It has a very compelling message if the kids can follow the dialogue and has a dramatic ending.
Well, at least it seems that teachers should agree on a common way to do it - these are struggling students - why have them jump back and forth between differing requirements? Do we want them to learn to write or do we want them to be confused?
It would make NO sense to have students take two sequential English courses at once unless of course the whole thing makes no sense and I've begun to consider that. Is school a series of hoops to be jumped through? Or does our curriculum have a build to it and make some sense?
It should be about mastery and with that English III should have content information upon which English IV is dependent. If not... then why call them English III and English IV??
Also worthy of wonder is why a struggling English student is writing two essays at once? That shouldn't be. Did the student demonstrate mastery of the form that is a research paper in the other class? If not, then point that out to the student and help the student to know where they need to work further. We shouldn't be assigning research papers just for the sake of giving them work to do - unless education really is just a series of hoops to be jumped through. In that case, explain to the student that they need to jump through one more hoop...
It seems some of your students are finding what's possibly inane in our system of education.
> At my school, students who fail an English course have to > repeat that ENglish course; for example, if they fail > English III, they have to repeat. They are also allowed to > take the next English course, i.e. English IV. This is > allowed because there are no summer sessions in our > district or a nearby district. This creates some > problems. Some of the students don't write essays because > they have another essay due in the other English class; or, > they won't write a research paper because they've already > done one in the other class. Any suggestions on how to > deal with this situation better? Should students be > allowed to double up on English courses? In my state, a > student must complete and pass all four English courses in > order to graduate. I am really tired of having a student > tell me he isn't going to do work I assign because he's > already done it in the other class or because the way I > want it done is different from the other teacher's way. > Thanks for any suggestions.
On 3/06/12, novels648 wrote: > At my school, students who fail an English course have to > repeat that ENglish course; for example, if they fail > English III, they have to repeat. They are also allowed to > take the next English course, i.e. English IV. This is > allowed because there are no summer sessions in our > district or a nearby district. This creates some > problems. Some of the students don't write essays because > they have another essay due in the other English class; or, > they won't write a research paper because they've already > done one in the other class. Any suggestions on how to > deal with this situation better? Should students be > allowed to double up on English courses? In my state, a > student must complete and pass all four English courses in > order to graduate. I am really tired of having a student > tell me he isn't going to do work I assign because he's > already done it in the other class or because the way I > want it done is different from the other teacher's way. > Thanks for any suggestions.
LeslieOn 3/13/12, Sam J wrote: > I require all my level of English to do research papers. (I > may have written this in another thread.) The project meets > many of the state standards. The Colorado standards talk about > teaching a note-taking method, but it is not specific to note > cards. I love note cards because students can arrange a...See MoreOn 3/13/12, Sam J wrote: > I require all my level of English to do research papers. (I > may have written this in another thread.) The project meets > many of the state standards. The Colorado standards talk about > teaching a note-taking method, but it is not specific to note > cards. I love note cards because students can arrange and > re-arrange notes based on outlines. > > English I- learns the whole process in MLA format, in-text > citations, works cited page, etc., must write 3-5 pages. They > must also give a 3-5 minute oral presentation on their > research. The research may be on any topic of interest. I > walk them through this step-by-step. They must have 50 note cards. > > English II- 5-7 pages, 75 note cards, 3-5 minute oral > presentation, must relate to World History, they get some class > time to write, review of MLA format, etc. > > English III- 7-10 pages, 75 note cards, oral presentation in > history class, must relate to American History, they get a > quick refresher on MLA format and a couple of work days > > English IV- 9-12 pages, 100 note cards, must relate to an > academic subject like Biology, English Lit, Chemistry, Physics, > Art History, Sociology, Psychology, etc. They must also do a > 5-7 minute research presentation that includes some element of > media or technology. They get no class time to work-- must be > independent. > > I can e-mail any interested teachers the research project > including alignment to Colorado standards, due dates, > expectations, etc.
Please email me your project as well as I am in the process of aligning my curriculum to the new CO Core standards & anything would help!
When a student goes off to college, they will not have the advantage of a teacher walking them through the process. You will do them a great disfavor by not teaching them how to do it.
about 6 years ago, I e-mail every college in North Carolina about what they need their freshmen to know - MLA or APA. Overwhelmingly the answer was MLA. Our students need to know this.
Currently I'm teaching lower level ninth grade and the paper we do here is pretty specific to that paper. However, when I taught seniors, I had a larger, more comprehensive paper. The old web page is still up with all the handouts, pacing, etc. I hope it helps. [link removed]
Requirements 1. Each candidate must be presently employed in a...See MoreIndependent educational company would like to hire 6,000 teachers state wide (NY) to work independently as project coordinators in their own spare time. Salary ranges from $50 to $3000 or more per project coordinated. There is an annual bonus of $5000 to $30,000 if you qualify.
Requirements 1. Each candidate must be presently employed in a private, public, chartered or home school. 2. Your school must have one are more of the following grades, 3rd to 12th grade.
When you respond to this ad the following will be needed. All information will be kept confidential.
1. Your name, it doesn't have to be your full name for now and your email address. 2. The name of your school. 3. The name of the county your school is in. 4. The population of your school and the number of grades.
All applicants will be accepted if the above requirements are met.
I am interested in being a project coordinator. I work for Rockland BOCES on West Nyack, NY in a special education high school that serves grades 9-12.
They can be effective but still need quite prescriptive guidelines. Don't let the book choice be completely free - maybe offer a range of choices... Also, each group will need some guideline questions/tasks. they will find it hard to discuss spontaneously. It is a good idea to give them a target that makes them responsible to you for some kind of attainment. You can use it as a chance to peer train. If you hear one group doing a particularly good job of their discussion, call out "Spotlight". The other groups must stop talking and listen for a few minutes as the spotlighted group carries on. Good luck.
Well, I'm still looking for extra supplies and things that would make my life as a sub a lot easier, but I'm on a budget and would like to try out the free stuff first before I commit to buying anything. Please suggest websites.