Hey Teacher Mamas! I need your input please

[MidnightCommando]

I have finally decided to make the move to teach. I've been mulling it over for a few years and I'm not getting any younger so it's about time. I hold a BS in env. science and would love to teach either earth sciences or biology. I found a college in-state that offers a program to those holding degree and is mostly online.

Ideally, I think I would enjoy teaching 3-5 grades, which points me to an elementary education certificate. The only problem with pursuing this is that I would need to attend two, eight-week summer sessions on the campus, which is 7 hours away. I currently work full time, am a full-time mom to a three year old, with a mortgage and all the fun stuff that comes with financial responsibilities. This makes leaving for 8 weeks a near impossibility. My alternate option is to pursue a secondary education certificate that can be entirely completed online.

My question to you teacher moms and dads, can you give me the low down of the differences between teaching these two age groups? What would you do in this situation? Any sage advice for me on my new beginning towards teaching?

Many thanks!

[Carita]

can you get a provisional teaching certificate, then complete the certification on your first summer off? you may be able to take your daughter with you, find a sublet and temporary on-campus child care. A bit of a strech and not fun, but its a thought...

my state has lots of programs for STEM educators to return and get their certification. maybe there is an office that works with professionals to get them teaching credentials that you can talk to.

[staceychev]

Call your area school districts and see what you can do to get in to do observations in the grade levels you want to teach. Personally, I can't offer advice, because I've only ever taught secondary.

[meandmine]

That in-person stuff can be very valuable. You will have to do some student teaching, I would think.

At many/most ES, there is no earth sciences/biology teacher -- there are just classroom teachers -- you'd have to teach it all.

My kids' school just departmentalized 3-5th grade -- the depts. are: social studies, science, math, language arts. Yet, everyone who teaches a subject area is also a classroom teacher so there is not getting around it.

If you want to just do sciences then middle or high school would be a better choice.

Fair warning: teaching can be extremely stressful with long hours and unrealistic expectations that you are required to meet. I love what I do, but just today a colleague was taken away in an ambulance and stress was a factor in her symptoms.

[boricuaqueen327]

I would call the university and discuss your options. I would also see if there was some way you could do some observations in classrooms of various age groups before you made your decision. I knew I wanted to teach middle school or high school science when I enrolled in my program for secondary science. I have been in a 9th grade classroom for several hours weach week this semester and next semester I will be doing the same in a middle school classroom and a little bit in high school classrooms with older students. Is there a way you could do anything like this?

Elementary school teachers often have to teach all subjects, not just science. If you are looking to teach just science I think middle school or high school would be better.

[Wild Lupine]

These age levels are so different! When I was doing my teacher education one of my supervising teachers told me that every teacher has an age-group they gravitate towards, the developmental level, sense of humor, interactions with the teacher vary widely from one age to another. Before committing to either program I suggest spending some time in schools to figure out which age group is best for you. It can make the difference between loving a rewarding, yet demanding and challenging job and being miserable and stressed to the point of ill health.

[MidnightCommando]

Thank you all for the replies. I am going to call the school district and university and see if I can observe some classes. Although I would love to teach science, I find myself being a bit apprehensive about the older children. This, of course, is only from limited interactions so it will do good to see what it is like in the classroom.

carita - that is a great idea about the provision certificate. I will be looking into this as well today. I'm not sure what a STEM educator is, I haven't seen it mentioned in any of our state's Dept. of Ed literature so it might be only certain states?

[Carita]

STEM is science, technology, engineering and mathematics. These are groups where teachers are hard to find, so many state have programs to smooth the transisiton to teaching for professionals that would like to switch to teaching.

[punkrockmomma]

I'm starting school in the spring, and I'm planning on majoring in elementary and middle school education. I read this article recently about different ways of training teachers, and what seems to be the best way to prepare future teachers for the classroom. Here's a link to the article http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0327/p...c.html?page=1#. I found it very informative, and it made me feel really good about the college I've decided to go to, which was mentioned in the article as having a good program.

[Holland73]

Originally Posted by MidnightCommando

My alternate option is to pursue a secondary education certificate that can be entirely completed online.

This is totally negligent to have such a program!!! No teaching certificate for K-12 should be able to be completely online without any student teaching experience.

The theory is absolutely worthless, unless you have the opportunity to use it.

Student teaching (not just observing) is absolutely imperative in any education/teaching certificate program.

[MidnightCommando]

Originally Posted by Holland73

This is totally negligent to have such a program!!! No teaching certificate for K-12 should be able to be completely online without any student teaching experience.

The theory is absolutely worthless, unless you have the opportunity to use it.

Student teaching (not just observing) is absolutely imperative in any education/teaching certificate program.

I guess I am guilty of gross misuse of the word 'entirely'. The classes are entirely online, with student teaching in your home area.

punkrockmama - thanks for the link