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Plans have changed. I’ve changed my mind about pursuing an internship after finding out about Math for America.
I started this path towards a teaching job when my husband’s job was looking like it might be a victim of the economy. We are fortunate that his job is now secure, making my job search a luxury rather than a necessity.
All along, my hangup with the credential options for me as a career changer has been that I would be marring my resume with a no-name university because I refuse to go $50,000 in debt to attend a prestigious university just to get a teaching credential. However, given the opportunity, I would much prefer to go the route of attending a prestigious university so that I could be proud of my credential work. Because my timing is flexible, this Math for America program is the answer to my prayers! They will pay for me to receive a top-level master’s degree in education.
So it looks like I will be spending this fall working on my application and taking the required Math Praxis exams, and then crossing my fingers for good news.
Still no job. Not too surprising in this economy, especially since interns are lowest on the totem pole when it comes to interviewing. I was not selected for an interview for the first job I applied for.
Last week, a job at a high school in my local district was posted, so we’ll see if I manage to get an interview for that one! I have managed to get hired as a substitute teacher for my local high school district for the coming school year, so if I don’t manage to find an intern position, at least I can get some experience in the classroom before interview season next year.
The good news is that I passed Math Subtest III and also the General Science subtests for the CSET, so I have eligibility for full Mathematics for my internship and also Foundational level Science. I’m scheduled to take Physics and Chemistry in a few weeks, and then I think I’m going to give it a rest for a while on taking CSETs (possibly forever).
The appointment at “Adult Ed. U” went well — I got my letter of eligibility for Foundational-level Math and they will waive the prerequisite courses because of the TFE exam. All except the computer class, which they said they would let me apply for permission to test out of. I got the letter yesterday denying my request to test out of it. Turns out you have to have at least one course on your transcript that has been taken at “Adult Ed. U” with at least a “B” before they will let you test out of anything. I figured they would have to get their money some way. Good news is that at this school, the computer class isn’t a prerequisite for the intern credential, it is only required before completing the program. So now the plan is to register for one of the intern classes while I’m teaching and then re-apply for permission to test out of the computer class. There is no way I’m going to pay $1300 for a class on Microsoft Office if I can test out of it for $50!
While most of my program is in a holding pattern until I actually land a job, they did get me set up with Taskstream and encourage me to go ahead and complete Part I of the TPA exam, which is now required of all California credential applicants. I worked on it in bits and pieces while the kids were otherwise occupied, and I was surprised to see tonight when I checked that I already had my score after submitting it on Tuesday. I got a 3 out of 4, which is passing, and all I care about. I probably only put a “3″ amount of effort into it. From what I understand, I can’t complete tasks 2 through 4 until I have my own classroom.
Now that I’m eligible to apply for jobs, I have been checking Edjoin about 50 times a day. The first secondary math teacher opening popped up earlier this week, but my husband talked me out of applying for it because it’s in a pretty tough school (ranked a “2″ in CA, which is pretty bad since 10 is the highest). I was excited to see that another job was posted today in a district that’s much better and also close to home, and I’ve already submitted my application for it. This one closes pretty quickly, so at least I shouldn’t have to wait too long to hear back. I have no idea what my chances are as an intern. I know the districts are supposed to give preference to fully credentialed teachers over interns, so we’ll see!
I admit it. I’m a bit of a snob when it comes to higher education, and I’ve never really considered the adult-oriented “universities” that have popped up during the last few years to be real schools. To me, a university is a place with dorms and quadrangles, not in a business park in the middle of town. So I didn’t really even consider doing my credential through one of these schools, and applied to my local state university.
What I’ve discovered over the last couple of weeks is that my local state university is overburdened with students and bureaucracy that almost certainly will sink my chances of getting my teacher credential paperwork in place before teaching jobs are posted in the coming few months. Administrators in the teacher credentialing office sigh when I ask about alternative programs and tell me that they have no idea what I’m talking about (and aren’t particularly helpful about getting information about it). I’ve corresponded by email with a few professors who have good intentions about helping me out, but are also hamstrung by bureaucracy.
The details are that my local state university will let me do the Early Completion Option teacher internship without hassling me too much. The bad news is that they are requiring me to take a general computer technology course that is only offered in one section in the summer that is impossible for me to attend since the early afternoon time conflicts with when I would theoretically be teaching in early August, without any option of testing out of this class. With a background in engineering and computer science, I could probably teach this class. But, not wanting to rock the boat, and only really wanting them to give me a letter I can show to potential employers that I am “intern-eligible”, I requested that they allow me to take this class in the fall, but generate the letter now. Much back and forth communication over this, and since I haven’t heard anything back, I’m assuming that this is impossible. My lesson learned is that trying to do anything out-of-the-ordinary at a large state university is next to impossible.
So, getting frustrated with this process, I applied to my local “Adult Ed U.” last week because they also offer a teacher credentialing program. Their tuition is a lot higher, but my thinking is that if they will work with me, it will be worth it in the end. After all, time is money, right? Already in a week, I’ve had personal contact by phone with their teacher credential advisor, who was familiar with the Early Completion Option and also told me it should be no problem to test out of the computer technology class. Also, since they offer new terms starting every month, there’s a chance I will be totally clear for a Preliminary Credential by the end of the summer. What a contrast with local state U., where I wouldn’t have even started classes by the end of the summer! So, I’m meeting with them in person on Monday morning and going through all the paperwork to officially enroll in the program. By the way, they said they would give me an employment eligibility letter on the spot after reviewing my paperwork. So, it looks like I’m going to be a student at “Adult Ed U” and am going to have to change my opinion about them. I’ve been impressed with what I’ve seen so far.
I met with the teacher intern coordinator at “Teacher Prep U.” yesterday. The good news is they are going to waive most of the School of Education prerequisite classes since I passed the TFE. The bad news is the one class that I have to take as a prerequisite before they will officially admit me for the intern program is only offered in the middle of the afternoon in the summer quarter, and isn’t over before school starts. Since there’s no way I can be teaching and taking a class at the same time, it appears I have a problem. I didn’t discover this schedule conflict until I got home last night, and so I have an email in to the professor to see if maybe they will let me put this class off until the fall, when it is offered in the evening. If not, it looks like I will have to find plan B for another “Teacher Prep U.”.
I heard back from the teacher intern coordinators at “Teacher Prep U” and will be meeting them tomorrow. Looking forward to getting started!
More detailed update then, since I have a sick kiddo to take care of this morning.
I was really sweating passing the CSET Math Subtest I exam, and I just got an email telling me I passed Subtests I and II. Hooray! I need those two for a “Foundational Level Math” credential, so that’s all I need to at least get started in a teacher credentialing program. I’m scheduled for Calculus (Subtest III) and also Physics in May, since my plan is to have all of the authorizations to teach any math or science. I’ll just keep plugging away at the CSETs until I have all three Maths and General Science plus at least Physics and Chemistry.
Just got through sending an email to the Intern advisor at my “Teacher Prep U” asking about the Early Completion Option for teacher interns, now that I have passing TFE and CSET scores. It will be interesting to see how much of a fight I will have on my hands to skip out of the education classes.
Meanwhile, while I was in the middle of drafting the above-mentioned email, my three year-old threw up all over the place. Sigh, the life of a mom!
After nine years of post-secondary education, I feel like I’ve paid my dues in a university setting as a student. So, I’ve been trying to find the fastest way to get my California teaching credential with the least amount of time as a student in a teacher preparation program. With all due respect to School of Education students and faculty, I think it’s absurd that I could teach today at a top level university but am considered unqualified to teach physics or mathematics to high school students. No wonder they have a lack of “qualified” math and science teachers! They make people like me spend a couple of thousand tuition dollars at a California university in education courses before they will even let us be qualified for an intern credential!
Lots of digging through the California teacher credentialing web site showed me that there is a not-much-talked-about Early Completion Option for teacher interns. If I understand things correctly — I will be finding out next week when I meet with an advisor at my chosen “Teacher Prep U” — if I pass a standardized test given by ETS called the “Teaching Foundations Exam”, then I can bypass all of the required teacher ed prerequisite courses. Since universities are in the business of having students take classes, I’ll believe this one when I see it. I took this test in March after obtaining several last-edition Education textbooks that were used in the courses I was supposedly testing out of. I was pleasantly surprised at how straightforward (dare I say “easy”?) it seemed, and was absolutely amazed that there were only three people including me taking it the day I was. No wonder these schools aren’t telling anyone about this option if this test is relatively easy to pass! I got my scores yesterday, and passed by a wide margin.
Next step is passing the CSET, which is not so easy. I’ve always gotten “A’s” in math classes, and took five semesters of math in college. You would think that passing subtests on Algebra and Geometry would be a piece of cake, right? Nope. I studied for a couple of months when I could and took the CSET Math subtests I and II in March, and am biting my nails in anticipation of the scores. I honestly don’t know if I passed or not. I don’t want to sound arrogant, but if someone with a PhD in engineering is having trouble passing a teacher exam after a reasonable amount of preparation, I think there is something wrong with the exam, not the exam taker. No wonder they don’t have enough Math teachers in California! (I’m getting certified first in Math after the advice of a teacher friend who confirmed they need Math teachers even more than they need Science teachers right now, but plan on adding Science certifications soon). If you dig deep in a report of pass rates of teacher exams in the State of California (p. 20), you’ll find that the Mathematics exams have one of the lowest pass rates of any of the CSET exams. Again, pointing to a problem with the test more than the test-takers. I wonder why the state credentialing board is satisfied with a test with such a low pass rate when the other content areas pass 50 to 70 percent of the test-takers? After taking these two subtests, I can unequivocally say that they are much more abstract than any high school mathematics curriculum. I’ll get my scores on Monday.
I’m a mom of three, ages 5, 3, and 1. I’ve been at home with them since my oldest was born. I also have a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from a place I’ll call “Big-Name Tech” to preserve a little anonymity.
Before I quit to be on the mommy-track, I had a great research-and-development job and all signs were pointing to a bright and shiny career for me. Now that I’m starting to feel the itch to go back to work, I’m feeling the frustration of a lack of “on-ramps” for people like me. I would love to be in academia, but it’s looking like my five year employment gap has taken that option completely off the table for me. Eight applications during this hiring cycle have yielded zero interviews, even with what I believe are strong recommendations and a strong publication record before having kids. I’m not surprised at the lack of interviews at R1 universities (but it was worth a try), but am frustrated that I didn’t even get an interview at master’s-only or adjunct faculty jobs I applied to. Surely my degree from a prestigious school would outweigh a few years of being out? Apparently not.
Now I’m facing the reality that secondary education is probably a more realistic future for me than higher education. I am enthusiastic about teaching math and science to high school students, but have to admit that I’m still trying to figure out how to tell my PhD advisor (who is a big-shot professor who tends to produce “superstar” students) that I’m going to be a high school teacher. A comment he made to me back when I was a graduate student has stuck with me: In his opinion, “the cost of tenure at ‘Big-Name Tech’ was his first marriage”. So maybe he will be more understanding than I’m giving him credit for. Stay tuned..
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