returning to non-teaching job after education degree?

[baronzb]

Just graduated with a masters in secondary science in USA. I was given a bad assessment by my second coteacher and the college supervisor is amplifying it to count for more than the first coteacher's input. At this point,, I have discovered that schools demand both coteacher references and a college supervisor reference. I don't see how I can troubleshoot this problem. I am thinking of returning to my pre-education school job for three to five years, not only to make money, but to wait out the the college supervisor and the coteacher in question. (Both are cynical and near retirement age.) What sort of trouble will I come in contact with, if in three-five years, I try to enter teaching with no education experience during that time? Alternatively, if I work part time at a tutoring service or teach science on one of those online colleges or as a part-time adjunct at a junior college, will those references be honored, and I can keep off the two negative practicum references? What if I state I was not able to get either the coteacher or college supervisor reference? I'm would really like to focus on troubleshooting this situation, thank you.

I have a high GPA, but a B- for my student practicum experience. In my state, there is a high school and a middle school experience. The B- counts for both experiences. There is no breakdown in the grade, oddly.

One of the experiences was positive and I received a positive reference from the teacher I was with (another science teacher wrote an excellent reference.)

The other teacher at a different school wrote a poor reference. (This experience resulted in the B-.)



My questions (in the context of applying to the very competitive states of the North East, Upper Mid-West, and West Coast are:

A. How bad will the B- hold me back? Because it is the practicum, I have heard it is the most important grade.

B. I will not use the teacher that gave negative grade input and a poor reference. How bad will this impact my resume/portfolio?

C. I will use the two positive references from the other school. (How much will this negate the absence of a reference from the second teacher that gave a poor reference?)

D. I have positive professor and a tutor program reference.

E. I have several science credentials.

Thank you for your time

[wrldtrvlr123]

Hi. I'm sorry for your negative experiences. Try and take from it what you can and learn from it (i.e. Why do you think this happened? Did they have any fair points in their less than stellar opinion of you? Did they just not like you? How could you try to get past that in future relationships, because it will happen at again at some point).

Maybe it's just me but I think you are over thinking this. Science is a high needs area. Take your certification and find a job, anywhere. Then go out and try and be the best teacher and best employee you can be. You may find it much easier to actually engage students and get results than pleasing those two short timers. Once you have a good reference, from an actual living and breathing admin type, no one will really care about what happened in your college/training experience.

If you absolutely cannot find a job because of the negative practicum experiences, THEN you can try outliving them. But I would be shocked if that happened. Somewhere in the world there is a job with your name on it, right now.

Just reread your post. If your are dead set on staying in the US and cannot get someone to give you a serious look, then give organizations like BOCES a try. They run specialized programs in places like upstate New York. Some of the programs are special needs, some are academic for students with behavioral issues, some are vocational classes. They are always desperate for teachers and would definitely give you a look. Maybe not the perfect fit, but it would be a job in teaching.

[porter1]

That BOCES sounds like a great idea. I looked about a year ago and there didn't seem to be much on the BOCES site. How does one look for work in NY?
Also, how much bias will there be against me if I try looking for work after 3-5 years at my old non-education job?

I'm thinking about doing tutoring on the side, maybe try to teach a course at one of those online colleges, God forbid, to keep current, maybe sub once per week. Will this be helpful?

[shadowjack]

Doing an education degree and getting certified and then doing nothing with it for 4 or 5 years will make it hard for you. Get out there now, start at a crap school, suck it up, and then start working your way up the tiers.

Just my two cents.

shad

[wrldtrvlr123]

I would agree that if you want to be a teacher, you don't leave the field for 3-5 years and THEN try and find a job (unless you have tried everything else and the reality of needing to eat takes over).

Many of the different BOCES have their own hiring/websites but the OLAS system covers the biggest percentage I think.

www.pnwboces.org/teacherapplicationSSL/default.aspx