When thinking about how to explain my choice, I realized it is easier to explain why didn't choose the other options available to me. The way I saw it, after graduating from college I had four ways I could get into teaching. I could 1) go the traditional post-college route, which involves graduate school classes and student teaching, 2) get an alternative licensure that I pursued on my own, by finding a job that no one could fill, applying for it, then applying for an emergency license, 3) apply to a program like Teach for America or teaching fellows, or 4) apply to a teacher residency. So first, why I decided not to go the traditional route.
First, it is incredibly expensive to do this in an urban area. I found I could get a license in one year of very intense full-time study, and then have the option of pursuing a master's part-time while teaching. The cost of most programs that I looked at, plus living expenses during the first year (since there is no way I could work while I did this), was more than I would make per year as a teacher. And that doesn't include the master's classes later on, or the costs of the license itself. Alternatively, I could go to school part time, and work to pay for it as I went. But if I did that, I wouldn't even see the inside of a classroom for two years. I really wanted to start teaching soon, and I was worried that I would get burnt out before I got far enough in the program to enjoy it. Also, most people who go this route do it part time and have 'lives' outside of it. I was worried about feeling alone and isolated in a new city for a few years while I tried to cope with all this at once.
The alternative licensure route is more difficult than it sounds, and very risky. As I started looking for teaching opportunities, I found that most positions are only listed on school district's internal HR websites. In most cases you need to be an employee of the district, and at the very least have a license, in order to even see those opportunities. The only exceptions were positions in newly-opened charter schools and a few rural school districts. This route is risky because once you manage to get that emergency license, you may or may not actually get hired for the position you applied to, and if you don't, you'd better figure something out quick. If you get hired at a new charter, your job isn't safe and you could be fired at any time, for any reason (including them finding someone with a permanent license willing to teach the class).
I had an additional concern about both of these routes: the systems are different for every single state, and in some cases for every district, in the entire country. It was simply overwhelming to try to figure out which states had which requirements for emergency and permanent licensure, which school districts had which shortages, which rules could be bent, which master's led to which license for what tuition and how many credits. In fact, it is so complex that I couldn't even manage to figure out what prerequisites were required to start a licensure program in more than a few states.
I think if the US is serious about reforming the K-12 education system (which, frankly, they're mostly not), this is one of the first things they need to change. The requirements for being an elementary, ESL, special ed, or secondary math teacher should be the same across the entire US--same prerequisites, graduate school courses, entrance exams, number of credits. If state A's requirements aren't good enough for state B, they shouldn't be good enough for state A either. And teacher licenses should be valid for all states (perhaps requiring that teachers who switch states do a series of two to three classes focused on the idiosyncrasies of the new state and school district, local history, etc). This would encourage more people to become teachers, and make it easier to fill shortages in one state using teachers laid off in another.
So I quickly realized it would be much easier and more efficient to apply to a program that would help walk me through all this bureaucracy. That left me with TFA/teaching fellowship, or a teacher residency.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Monday, July 16, 2012
Welcome!
Welcome to my blog!
This blog is to document the next year of my life. In June, I began an urban teacher residency, one of the newest strategies for preparing post-undergraduate adults to teach in high-poverty schools. The purpose of blogging about my experiences is two-fold. First, I hope it will serve as a kind of diary (hence the name!) chronicling my experiences throughout the year. Second, I hope it can be of some help to people, especially people considering an urban residency or deciding how to get a teaching license.
Now, at this point, you might be asking, "What exactly is an urban teacher residency?" You can read all about it and find out which cities have residencies here, but I'll summarize it for you. It's nothing like a traditional teacher prep program. Urban teacher residencies (UTRs) recruit recent college graduates and career changers who want to make a career out of teaching in a high need area in their city. The process is extremely competitive, often having a 10-15% acceptance rate. Applicants are required to have good academic records, work experience, experience with kids and/or high poverty communities and/or minorities, and a burning desire to improve education for high-poverty inner-city kids. Usually applicants are only admitted to teach in high-need areas, like ESL, special education, and secondary math and science. The programs were originally modeled after the residency system in medical school. While residents take graduate classes for a master's in education, they work as residents under a mentor teacher in a high-poverty classroom in their field. Over the course of the year, they gradually take on more teaching responsibilities under the guidance of their mentor and UTR staff. After the first year, residents obtain their teaching license and master's degree, and are hired to teach as regular teachers. Sometimes, residents receive a living stipend during their residency year. They commit to teach in high-poverty schools for three or four years after the residency year, and in exchange get some of the cost of the master's degree paid back as they fulfill their commitment.
UTRs are very unique. Unlike traditional undergrad programs, they require their residents to have extensive life and work experience. Residents also spend a full year training, as opposed to traditional student teaching, which is only a semester. Unlike Teach for America and many teaching fellows programs, residents begin teaching with a traditional license, not an emergency or alternative license. UTRs also have a much longer commitment, 4-5 years instead of two. And UTRs specifically recruit people who want to be career teachers.
Over the next few days, I'll be talking about why I decided to do this program and commenting about my experiences so far. In late August, school will start and hopefully I'll have plenty of interesting things to share.
Before I sign off, an important disclaimer: This blog is entirely anonymous. At times, that means I'll need to be intentionally vague or change certain facts, including names and locations. Although this is inconvenient, I think it is necessary and important to protect both my job security and the identities of the people I'm working with and for. Although I don't plan on hating this program (in fact I plan on absolutely loving it!) there may be times when I need to speak critically about certain aspects of the program and the school system. My anonymity will allow me to do that safely. Hopefully this blog can contribute positively to the discussions surrounding how best to improve or 'fix' education in the US.
This blog is to document the next year of my life. In June, I began an urban teacher residency, one of the newest strategies for preparing post-undergraduate adults to teach in high-poverty schools. The purpose of blogging about my experiences is two-fold. First, I hope it will serve as a kind of diary (hence the name!) chronicling my experiences throughout the year. Second, I hope it can be of some help to people, especially people considering an urban residency or deciding how to get a teaching license.
Now, at this point, you might be asking, "What exactly is an urban teacher residency?" You can read all about it and find out which cities have residencies here, but I'll summarize it for you. It's nothing like a traditional teacher prep program. Urban teacher residencies (UTRs) recruit recent college graduates and career changers who want to make a career out of teaching in a high need area in their city. The process is extremely competitive, often having a 10-15% acceptance rate. Applicants are required to have good academic records, work experience, experience with kids and/or high poverty communities and/or minorities, and a burning desire to improve education for high-poverty inner-city kids. Usually applicants are only admitted to teach in high-need areas, like ESL, special education, and secondary math and science. The programs were originally modeled after the residency system in medical school. While residents take graduate classes for a master's in education, they work as residents under a mentor teacher in a high-poverty classroom in their field. Over the course of the year, they gradually take on more teaching responsibilities under the guidance of their mentor and UTR staff. After the first year, residents obtain their teaching license and master's degree, and are hired to teach as regular teachers. Sometimes, residents receive a living stipend during their residency year. They commit to teach in high-poverty schools for three or four years after the residency year, and in exchange get some of the cost of the master's degree paid back as they fulfill their commitment.
UTRs are very unique. Unlike traditional undergrad programs, they require their residents to have extensive life and work experience. Residents also spend a full year training, as opposed to traditional student teaching, which is only a semester. Unlike Teach for America and many teaching fellows programs, residents begin teaching with a traditional license, not an emergency or alternative license. UTRs also have a much longer commitment, 4-5 years instead of two. And UTRs specifically recruit people who want to be career teachers.
Over the next few days, I'll be talking about why I decided to do this program and commenting about my experiences so far. In late August, school will start and hopefully I'll have plenty of interesting things to share.
Before I sign off, an important disclaimer: This blog is entirely anonymous. At times, that means I'll need to be intentionally vague or change certain facts, including names and locations. Although this is inconvenient, I think it is necessary and important to protect both my job security and the identities of the people I'm working with and for. Although I don't plan on hating this program (in fact I plan on absolutely loving it!) there may be times when I need to speak critically about certain aspects of the program and the school system. My anonymity will allow me to do that safely. Hopefully this blog can contribute positively to the discussions surrounding how best to improve or 'fix' education in the US.
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