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I have not subbed, but I do plan on doing
so before signing up for a program.
Teaching has always been an occupation
that I've been interested in, but I've
just wanted to be a game warden more;
however now that I'm getting married and
plan on having kids, long hours,
dangerous conditions and alot of
traveling is not something I want to put
my family and I through.

On 9/08/16, Zoe wrote:
> I am a middle school teacher. The kids
are challenging at
> times, but overall I love this age the
best. Have you subbed
> at all, or visited schools? What is
driving your decision to
> teach? I really encourage you to do
some subbing (even just a
> few days) and see what you are signing
up for before you spend
> the time and money on certification.
Talk to some teachers
> about their students and their days.
>
> Good luck!
>
> On 9/08/16, Casey wrote:
>> Would I have an easier time finding a
job
>> as a middle school teacher? I've never
>> known a middle school teacher
personally
>> so I don't know how hard that age
range
>> is to teach or what time they get off
>> everyday.
>>
>> On 8/16/16, Paris wrote:
>>> None of the ACP programs are any
better
>> than the
>>> others as far as finding a job. A
>> principal will look at
>>> your resume and quickly find that you
>> weren't trained
>>> at a college or university. Some
>> principals have a bias
>>> against teachers who were not trained
>> through a
>>> university.
>>>
>>> I would strongly recommend Texas
>> Teachers because
>>> they have a clinical teaching option,
>> which is very
>>> much like student teaching.
Elementary
>> teachers are a
>>> dime a dozen, unless you know someone
>> who is an
>>> administrator who can hire you, you
>> will otherwise be
>>> waiting a very long time to get an
>> internship in
>>> elementary. There are lots of
>> elementary teachers
>>> coming out of universities who are
>> fully certified. Why
>>> hire an intern at full salary who has
a
>> few weeks of
>>> seminars and hasn't seen the inside
of
>> a classroom
>>> since they were a student?
>>>
>>> If you must do the internship route
due
>> to financial
>>> reasons, even if you want to
ultimately
>> teach
>>> elementary, you would be better
>> certifying in special
>>> education or ESL just to do the
>> internship and get
>>> certified.
>>>
>>> The Texas Teacher route is pretty
>> simple. You apply,
>>> and once you are accepted and pay the
>> initial fee, you
>>> get a letter from them that allows
you
>> to start looking
>>> for an internship (job). It's not too
>> late for some high
>>> needs areas that are almost all
special
>> education or
>>> ESL vacancies.
>>>
>>> Once you get the letter you are
>> approved to take the
>>> content area certification exam. Most
>> of these can be
>>> taken year round, and are
administered
>> online. The
>>> exams are 5 hours long. You need to
>> take the exams
>>> for certification and to demonstrate
>> highly qualified
>>> status.
>>>
>>> At the time of admission into the
>> program you have to
>>> choose whether to do your seminars
>> online or do
>>> them in person. The online seminars
you
>> can do on
>>> your own time and at your own pace,
but
>> there are
>>> points in the presentations that you
>> have to respond
>>> to questions. If you do the in person
>> seminars you
>>> only need to attend and sit in the
room
>> to complete
>>> the program.
>>>
>>> Once you have an internship, you will
>> apply for a 1
>>> year probationary certificate and
will
>> start working.
>>> Texas Teachers will assign you an
>> internship
>>> supervisor who will observe your
>> teaching once
>>> during each semester. Your school
will
>> also assign you
>>> a faculty member to be your mentor.
At
>> the end of the
>>> year you must score satisfactory on
>> your T-TESS
>>> (formally PDAS) and your principal
>> makes a final
>>> recommendation to approve you for
>> certification
>>>
>>> Near the end of your internship in
>> April or May you will
>>> be approved to take the PPR exam.
This
>> is the exam
>>> certification programs are evaluated
>> on. Texas
>>> Teachers takes it very seriously. If
>> you fail you have to
>>> do some test preparation workshops
with
>> Texas
>>> Teachers. You may only take the PPR a
>> total of three
>>> times, after that you can no longer
>> receive approval to
>>> register for and take the exam, and
>> without passing
>>> the exam you can not be certified.
>>>
>>> If everything goes well you will be
>> able to apply for the
>>> Standard certificate.
>>>
>>> The other option is clinical
teaching.
>> This is a 12 week
>>> program in a school where you work
with
>> another
>>> teacher directly in their classroom.
>> You are basically
>>> an assistant teacher. In the
beginning
>> you mostly do
>>> observations for a few weeks in
>> different classrooms,
>>> and more and more take over
>> responsibilities in the
>>> classroom, by the end of the 12 weeks
>> you're
>>> essentially running the class by
>> yourself for a week,
>>> though the supervising teacher is
still
>> in the room.
>>>
>>> Aside from the reduced time
commitment
>> of only 12
>>> weeks, you must pay for the entire
>> program upfront. If
>>> you obtain an internship Texas
Teachers
>> will do a
>>> payroll reduction during the
>> internship.
>>> You also have less of a workload. You
>> aren't creating
>>> daily lessons, grading assignments,
or
>> a lot of the
>>> everyday things teachers do to teach
>> every day.
>>> Lastly, you have a little more time
to
>> take the
>>> certification exams. You don't need a
>> probationary
>>> certificate to do clinical teaching
so
>> you can wait on
>>> the content exam. You won't be
>> certified until you take
>>> both the PPR and content exam, but
you
>> can schedule
>>> them at the end of the clinical
>> teaching over the
>>> winter/summer break if you want to.
>>>
>>> It's not too late for clinical
teaching
>> and it's the only
>>> way I see you getting elementary
>> education certified
>>> anytime soon.
>>>
>>> It wasn't difficult for me to find a
>> job when I did mine,
>>> but my area was health science
>> technology. I know a
>>> LOT of teachers in elementary who
>> applied for the
>>> program and waited and waited before
>> getting
>>> certified in something else just so
>> they could get an
>>> internship.
>>>
>>> If you want a better program, I would
>> recommend a
>>> Post-Bachelor's program. These are 1
>> year (Summer,
>>> Fall, Spring, Summer) programs
offered
>> by education
>>> departments in colleges and
>> universities. They are
>>> basically a minor in education (15-18
>> hours) plus
>>> student teaching. Of course you pay
>> tuition but you
>>> qualify for financial aid (student
>> loans and a little bit of
>>> grant money), there are some
>> scholarships for math
>>> and science at certain colleges and
>> universities.
>>> These programs take longer and cost
at
>> least twice as
>>> much. It's very difficult and many
>> colleges officially
>>> prohibit you from working during
>> student teaching.
>>>
>>> Whatever you learn in Texas Teachers
is
>> going to
>>> depend almost entirely on your mentor
>> teacher and
>>> the support you get at your school.
The
>> seminars
>>> aren't worth very much, and you don't
>> really practice
>>> anything. You won't learn much in a
>> university either.
>>> You spend a lot of time making lesson
>> plans you aren't
>>> really going to use and studying
>> theories that are
>>> decades old that you will also never
>> use.
>>>
>>>
>>> On 8/11/16, Casey wrote:
>>>> Hello everyone, I am considering
>> beginning
>>>> a career as a teacher and want to
know
>> the
>>>> steps I have to take to receive an
>>>> alternative teaching certification.
>> What
>>>> program is the best? (Easiest or or
>> gives
>>>> me a better chance at getting a job)
>> Ive
>>>> looked at the texasteacher
program.has
>>>> anyone done the paid internship
route?
>> If
>>>> so how was each part of the process?
>> Was
>>>> it difficult to find a job
afterwards?
>> Are
>>>> there any better programs to look
at?
>> Also
>>>> is it to late for me to start since
>> school
>>>> is starting in a week or two? I'm
>> looking
>>>> to be certified in elementary in the
>>>> plano/garland area. Thanks for any
>> help!

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