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On 6/14/16, Paris wrote:
> It's a decent program, but the biggest problem you will have
is that
> unless you have friends in a district who can hire you, you
will wait
> forever and never get an internship in art. You will likely
have to do
> clinical teaching, to get certified.
>
> The seminars are boring and worthless. I did mine back in
the time
> when you went for ten days over two weeks all day, nine
hours, to a
> high school auditorium where there was a thousand of us.
Different
> professors and speakers came in and gave presentations. We
spent a
> few hours on the two lesson plan days doing a group poster
that was
> a lesson outline.
> Now there is an online program, but it isn't anymore
interesting or
> useful. You would learn more just picking up a teaching for
dummies
> book.
> They also organize study groups for the content exams and
the PPR,
> which if you don't pass the first time you must attend.
>
> My internship wasn't typical, as I did mine in health science
> technology and I was the only teacher in the school in my
subject. A
> biology teacher was my mentor, but she didn't have much time to
> mentor me or give me much advice. She spent a hour after
school on
> my first day going through the lab supply and safety
procedures, and
> then had me sign a letter that I'd been instructed and
trained on the
> safety procedures. I never got more than 5 minutes of her
time after
> that. She left exactly 15 minutes after the last bell. The
librarian was
> the one that trained me on grade speed, and getting my network
> access. The rest was the standard new teacher orientation.
>
> I saw my principal one time for a 360 observation, my AP
twice for
> my PDAS, and my Texas Teacher's supervisor twice, once during
> each semester. The only good thing about that was that I was
early in
> the observation cycle and had my last and final observation
in March
> and could then apply for my certificate early. I left the
district after
> that one year.
>
> It wasn't a bad experience, but I can honestly say I didn't
learn much
> about teaching or how to work with kids. Texas Teachers got
paid
> and I got certified, they didn't hold my hand throughout the
program
> or offer much help. Their advice was to talk to my district
> administration. I was very fortunate that the student's in
my classes
> where there because they wanted to be there. All of them
were going
> into some allied health program or nursing program after
graduation.
> In hindsight, it wasn't a very well thought out program
initiative. I
> taught three classes of health science, and three classes of
medical
> terminology. Those were the only courses that would be
accepted for
> dual college credit. Nothing about our program was going to
be a
> nursing program. The district since then has poured a lot of
funding
> into the program, and students can now graduate with almost
half an
> associate's in nursing completed.
>
> There were a lot of people in my program who didn't know their
> subject very well, because they really wanted to do
something like
> art, music, or elementary but they couldn't find jobs in
those fields so
> they were talked into doing internships in special education
or ESL. A
> couple people in my training group had degrees in biology
but were
> doing certification in chemistry, physics and math, because
there
> wasn't any demand for biology teachers, and they were really
> struggling with the material. At that time there wasn't a
clinical
> teaching option.
>
> My advice is that before you do this you find out what kind of
> employment opportunities you have in art or what you are
going to
> do with it. If you think your going to get certified and
then have a
> choice of nice school districts to work at in big cities,
that's not
> realistic. It's not even realistic that you will find a
rural charter job in
> art. Art teachers tend to stay in the same school and
district until
> they retire.
>
> On 6/01/16, HeidiA wrote:
>> I'm interested in the Alternative Certification Program
>> through TexasTeachers.org, also known as A+ Texas Teachers
>> org. for teaching art K-12. I would like to get feedback
>> about experiences from other participants. Good/bad. I want
>> this to be a worthwhile experience. Or If you used a
>> different company for your Texas alternative certification,
>> please let me know. Thank you!

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