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GreenSalsa
05-28-2012, 06:45
Hello everyone,

I am doing some "branch and sequel planning".

I am starting to wind down my military career (26 years so far). I am probably going to stay on another 2-3-4 maybe 5 years but I am starting to do some mid range planning. Apparently it is time for me to grow up and get a "real" job.

While I have all sorts of clearances, skills, and qualifications I am considering a radical change of direction with my life and thinking about teaching in high school or maybe lower level college classes.

I am NOT getting into this for the money--I know and understand my salary will be anemic and I know I won't stay long enough to be "vested" in any additional retirement plan.

The military has a program called Troops To Teachers. It is funded to help Veterans make the transition providing low or no cost training.

I have a BS and MS and know I will have to attend some more training to receive a teaching certificate in NC but I wanted to ask some of my "network" of friends what their experiences were.

To all you teachers out there (especially high school or college types) did you find that job really rewarding? What were some of the best parts? Worse parts?

Would I be coming into the "system" too late? ie have you noticed that people who start teaching later in life have more difficulties? What were they? Were there any advantages?

Is there anything I should really think and consider?

Has anyone used the Troops To Teachers program?

Thanks again for your feedback

JoeEOD
05-28-2012, 08:07
I would suggest that you invest some time into observing in schools and finding some of the guys that have done the Troops to Teachers route.
I got a BS in Education (insert joke about BS here) on the GI Bill and spent several years teaching. I found schools to be an intolerable place of excess political correctness. Accountability, personal rsponsibility, and discipline are not core values. I was usually the only veteran in the building and treated as if that was a moral failure!
My brother-in-law tried the troops to teachers route without success. Despite the continued press about a need for math and science teachers neither he or his classmates have been hired to teach. They found the schools unwelcoming and that there were impdiments every step of the way. For example: to be a middle school math or science teacher in Connecticut you have to have a college level algebra class on your transcipt. The fact that he was an engineering major and had calculus as a freshman did not meet the requirement!
There are some good schools out there but some recon before you invest a lot of time in this route would be a good idea.

mark46th
05-28-2012, 08:13
Do you mind going overseas? My cousin taught in Europe and Asia for years at international American schools...

Office of Overseas Schools www.state.gov/m/a/os/ or Google "international schools"

SF_BHT
05-28-2012, 08:43
Do you mind going overseas? My cousin taught in Europe and Asia for years at international American schools...

Office of Overseas Schools www.state.gov/m/a/os/ or Google "international schools"

You beat me to it..... Those positions are great to see the world and you will already know how to work and live overseas. Most of the trachers I have run into working in the International School system are tree huggers and you would be a breath of fresh air.

Down side is they work for the school system but are not members of the embassy. Depending on where you are is what type of relationship they have.

greenberetTFS
05-28-2012, 09:08
Hello everyone,

I am doing some "branch and sequel planning".

I am starting to wind down my military career (26 years so far). I am probably going to stay on another 2-3-4 maybe 5 years but I am starting to do some mid range planning. Apparently it is time for me to grow up and get a "real" job.

While I have all sorts of clearances, skills, and qualifications I am considering a radical change of direction with my life and thinking about teaching in high school or maybe lower level college classes.

I am NOT getting into this for the money--I know and understand my salary will be anemic and I know I won't stay long enough to be "vested" in any additional retirement plan.

The military has a program called Troops To Teachers. It is funded to help Veterans make the transition providing low or no cost training.

I have a BS and MS and know I will have to attend some more training to receive a teaching certificate in NC but I wanted to ask some of my "network" of friends what their experiences were.

To all you teachers out there (especially high school or college types) did you find that job really rewarding? What were some of the best parts? Worse parts?

Would I be coming into the "system" too late? ie have you noticed that people who start teaching later in life have more difficulties? What were they? Were there any advantages?

Is there anything I should really think and consider?

Has anyone used the Troops To Teachers program?

Thanks again for your feedback

I've got 3 "Teacher QPs" you should PM for assistance in making your decision....ZonieDiver,Richard and Dozer523.....;)

Big Teddy :munchin

afchic
05-28-2012, 09:15
Hello everyone,

I am doing some "branch and sequel planning".

I am starting to wind down my military career (26 years so far). I am probably going to stay on another 2-3-4 maybe 5 years but I am starting to do some mid range planning. Apparently it is time for me to grow up and get a "real" job.

While I have all sorts of clearances, skills, and qualifications I am considering a radical change of direction with my life and thinking about teaching in high school or maybe lower level college classes.

I am NOT getting into this for the money--I know and understand my salary will be anemic and I know I won't stay long enough to be "vested" in any additional retirement plan.

The military has a program called Troops To Teachers. It is funded to help Veterans make the transition providing low or no cost training.

I have a BS and MS and know I will have to attend some more training to receive a teaching certificate in NC but I wanted to ask some of my "network" of friends what their experiences were.

To all you teachers out there (especially high school or college types) did you find that job really rewarding? What were some of the best parts? Worse parts?

Would I be coming into the "system" too late? ie have you noticed that people who start teaching later in life have more difficulties? What were they? Were there any advantages?

Is there anything I should really think and consider?

Has anyone used the Troops To Teachers program?

Thanks again for your feedback

Based on our limited interaction at NPS, I think any classroom would be lucky to have you.

JJ_BPK
05-28-2012, 09:22
Is there anything I should really think and consider?



West Point, ROTC, or JROTC.

Take advantage of your MOS stream.

Good luck.. :lifter

GreenSalsa
05-28-2012, 10:37
Thanks all--I will contact those guys by PM--I really don't want to leave CONUS and would really like to stay local. I have reasons to stay in NC, and more specifically Cumberland County, due to my daughter's autism. Switching therapy is difficult at best if I were to pick up and move.

Seriously, thanks for the feedback--I will be sending out PMs this week.

craigepo
05-28-2012, 12:56
Missouri doesn't pay a ton, but they have a pretty good retirement. My bird-hunting buddy just retired from coaching at 55. He is living pretty well right now.

Dusty
05-28-2012, 13:19
Most of the teachers I have run into working in the International School system are tree huggers and you would be a breath of fresh air.


Seems to be true in the States, as well.

GreenSalsa
05-28-2012, 13:23
Hey I "hug trees" too, but on the way to my deer stand!!!

:D

Dusty
05-28-2012, 14:00
Hey I "hug trees" too, but on the way to my deer stand!!!

:D

We need every teacher like you that we can get, then.

GreenSalsa
05-28-2012, 14:10
I appreciate the vote of confidence, but still all I am doing is a feasibility assessment.

Dusty
05-28-2012, 14:33
I appreciate the vote of confidence, but still all I am doing is a feasibility assessment.

Well, you said you're looking for opinions; that's mine.

It's a noble calling; there are just too many libs doing it.

Of course, IMO, one's too many. :o

Badger52
05-28-2012, 16:29
Hey I "hug trees" too, but on the way to my deer stand!!!
:DFirst I wish you truly all the best in this journey. Second, I'm tagging this thread as my daughter contemplates - at a similar pre-retirement window in her career - this very thing, teaching.

She will probably return to here to Wisconsin, though, where a valid deer tag gets a kid OUT of school for the requisite 9 days of the gun season, and many teachers as well. (Downside is that sanity has temporarily taken over & they actually have a deduction out of their salary for pension & health insurance.)
:D

Seriously, all the best. I'm not surprised that teaching in some fashion is a natural progression for many QP's.

cbtengr
05-28-2012, 18:29
I wish you all the best in this endeavor! My first 1SG retired 101st ABN in 75 got his teaching degree then taught school at Campbell for 20 years, retired and is now a Methodist minister in KY. As others have already opined, we need people like you in our classrooms.

mojaveman
05-28-2012, 18:42
If I had a choice of teaching adolescents at the Junior High or High School level or young adults at the College level I would go with the latter. I have experience working with both and would much rather try teaching anything to adults. Younger learners have a shorter attention span and require much more supervision and discipline in the classroom. All more frustrating and stressfull in my opinion. The young businesss professionals that I taught English to in Europe were eager to learn because they had to learn it to advance their careers. That was the most rewarding experience to me in all of my years teaching. On the horizon? Another overseas stint teaching in either Europe or China.

Sigaba
06-24-2012, 18:00
Is there anything I should really think and consider?QP GreenSalsa--

IRT teaching at the university level, I offer the following observations.

IME, a lot of people who are paid to teach undergraduates really do not like teaching undergraduates. For many younger professors, teaching interferes with their core responsibility to "publish or perish." For many graduate students working as TAs/GSIs, the job of teaching is viewed as exploitative (that is, they're working for less than they deserve) as well as a distraction from their other pursuits (e.g. their own coursework, research, preparing for qualifying exams, and so forth).

As for undergraduates, there has been a profound shift in sensibilities over the last few decades. In the past, there was a more widely held assumption that learning for the sake of learning had its own rewards. Undergraduates tended to view learning as more of a lean forward experience. That is, the instructors would point students towards the door but students generally understood the implicit message that it was their responsibility to figure out how to open it and go beyond it.

Now, undergraduates are increasingly reluctant to make this effort and take a more "lean back" approach. Now, undergraduates are increasingly focused on taking this class or that one to meet a requirement, to get a ticket punched, or to meet a GPA objective. That is, they want to know why they're being tasked to learn certain lessons and they want to know what the pay off will be.

(These shifting sensibilities are on display at a BB populated with aspiring and newer graduate students, one geared towards graduate students who are ABD, as well as a sprawling BB hosted by a prominent educational periodical. You can also get information about these shifting dynamics if you talk to professors who have been teaching at least since the early 1980s or some of their students who now work in the Ivory Tower. Or hope to.)

MOO, these changing views are causing a significant "generational" divide between established academics and like-minded eggheads and those who subscribe to the newer set of sensibilities. IMO, today's undergraduates are less inclined to build relationships with their educators, to step back from their personal concerns and priorities and think about how their studies fit into a bigger picture, or to understand that getting high grades is not the same as learning what one needs to know. The finger of blame for the state of affairs is often pointed at others. Introversion is favored over introspection.

Concurrently, many younger professors and graduate students do not want to teach, much less mentor, undergraduates. Conversations within this cohort tend to become bitching sessions and lost opportunities for chalk talk and self improvement. The finger of blame for the state of affairs is pointed at others. Introversion is favored over introspection.

FWIW, I do not think that the shift and resulting tensions are the result of the political left "taking over" the Ivory Tower. The most dedicated educators I know (and know of) are well to the left of center. Nor do I think that I think the alleged rise of moral and intellectual relativism is the culprit.

To me, it is largely about (1) inarticulate and poorly managed expectations that are articulated and managed poorly as well as (2) assumptions that are implicit and unvetted. That is, we're reaching a critical mass in which educators and students expect that everyone else is on the same page without checking to see if others are reading from the same edition of the same book. When stakeholders realize there's a disconnect, the finger pointing starts. Students accuse their instructors of incompetence while instructors complain about students acting entitled. (Yes, there are many many examples of both but, IMO, not so many that a lot of the confusion can be cleared up by talking things through.)

Also, as I mentioned in the 68 year old woman on a bus thread, there's a spiraling dynamic of humiliation in contemporary American civilization. It is my considered opinion that this dynamic greatly complicates the learning environment. In the past, saying "I don't know" was a powerful key that could open many doors. While such an admission might lead to a minor razzing and a sense of embarrassment, the focus would be on teaching and learning so a student could get on track.

Now, more and more, such an admission is an invitation for ridicule, castigation, and mockery. ("Really...?" is the watch word/catch phrase.) So many on both sides of the class room have thin skins, and are prone to confuse opportunities to give or to receive criticism as opportunities to pounce and/or to get defensive.

My $0.02.

Roguish Lawyer
06-24-2012, 18:38
Interesting comments, Sigaba. Are you teaching currently?

greenberetTFS
06-24-2012, 21:07
I've got 3 "Teacher QPs" you should PM for assistance in making your decision....ZonieDiver,Richard and Dozer523.....;)

Big Teddy :munchin

Come on you 3,lets hear from you for a fellow brother........:confused:

ZonieDiver
06-24-2012, 22:37
GreenSalsa,

Great idea. I'll keep this brief. Feel free to PM if you'd like more information.

I think SF make great classroom teachers. Though my last years teaching were not as much 'fun' as my first years, teaching is still a very rewarding profession. Kids are kids. Always have been. Always will be. Most are aching to find someone who will provide them a structured, safe, open environment where they can learn and express themselves - not all of them, but most of them.

With a Masters, I think you'll find that teaching can be monetarily rewarding to some degree. I'm unfamiliar with the school environment in NC, or Cumberland county, but there are probably good schools there somewhere. Here in Arizona, you can 'buy' years toward retirement - including years of military service, which can accelerate your retirement.

As to the level in which to teach, I'm biased toward high school... especially juniors and seniors. People always urged (and still do) me to teach in acommunity college. I found fulltime jobs there next to impossible to find, as large numbers of their faculties are 'adjunct' - paid by the class, with few getting more than two classes a semester, and not earning a lot of money.

I would recommend looking into teaching at a 'vocational-technical' school... now called CTE out here (career-technical education). My last two jobs were in schools such as that. The first was a charter HS at a Job Corps Center. The second was in our large, urban HS district's CTE magnet campus, though I taught on the academic side. I found students in these schools to be more focused, since they had a goal they were trying to achieve.

Finally, outside the medical and legal fields, there aren't that many jobs where you can have a 52 year old man come up to you 35 years after he was in your class, recite 'chapter and verse' of the moment where he thinks you 'changed his life' with something you said or assignment you gave... and you only vaguely remember the day or kid.

Good luck. I'm glad I did it!

Sigaba
06-24-2012, 22:46
Interesting comments, Sigaba. Are you teaching currently?RL--

The answer to your question is "No."

My information about the current state of affairs in the Ivory Tower comes from a close friend who is an associate professor of economics at a school back east, and a mentor/friend who called it a career at a certain university in Southern Cal. Moreover, I have recently spent a fair amount of time at one of the aforementioned BBs where aspiring and current graduate students communicate. In regards to that BB, members ranging the political spectrum display the "generational divide" I described in my previous post. (That is, they'll brawl over the OWS movement but break their necks nodding in violent agreement about not getting taken advantage of as teaching assistants. How about that.)

I understand that you and I have different perspectives on the influence of politically left of center professors on the state of education. In my experience, an unspoken "check your politics at the door" dynamic has been in play. I've never witnessed a graduate student or undergraduate get punished for his/her political views.* To be fair, I may be privileging my own experiences without accounting for how my own approach to learning, my perpetually even keeled temperament:rolleyes:, and other individual differences shape my interaction with other academics. And, with one unfortunate exception, :boohoo I've been very selective when it comes to developing relationships with academics.

Also, I'm not denying that the pendulum has swung to the left in the Ivory Tower. As I mentioned in a post a few years back, the aforementioned mentor/professor told me point blank, "You will never get a job [as an academic]." This fact bothers me a little.

Even so, I don't think the issues of concern are as much about political ideology, but about conflicting sensibilities of professional academic scholarship, the institutional and bureaucratic politics of the Ivory Tower, personal ambition (or a lack thereof), and the loss of focus on a core mission--educating undergraduates.

My $0.02.

________________________________________
* Long ago, I was harangued by a newly minted assistant professor for studying naval history but it was not about politics. At the time, her husband was helping to build a SSN, and, apparently, did not make the move from the east coast to the southwest with her. (She was also bitter about her office.)

Dozer523
06-25-2012, 04:22
West Point, ROTC, or JROTC.

Take advantage of your MOS stream.

Good luck.. :lifter Teaching ROTC is very rewarding. And there is a large civilian (contactor) presence through companies like COMTek, PrairieQuest and L3-MPRI.
The best part is working with cadets -- teaching classes (good academic support as far as prepared classes) and LDAC (ROTC SFAS) at JB Lewis-McCord is unbelievably rewarding (I was a TAC - it was awesome!!).
Downside is each ROTC Department is a little fiefdom and the Professor of Military Science and Sr NCO is his own little king and queen. Like every unit that autonomy is great with the good ones and difficult with those less so (a certain Ordnance LTC comes to mind). Another irritant is uniforms. Up until about a year ago we wore our ACU's looked and acted just like "real Armymen". Apparantly having NG/AR/retirees in uniform -- even wearing CONTRACTOR where US ARMY goes -- became a huge legal / Integrity issue. (GMaFB).
Pay for Officers (SMSI) is in the $60K. NCO's (MSI) is about $42K. And there is little difference in what you actually do. The MSI pay model seems to factor in your retirement pay -- they would rather you have retirement augmenting the kitty. Don't know how WO's fit into the mix.

Lots of positions. Applying is easy, Hiring straight forward -- if you are the right guy (you/we are) they will place you quick, but you gotta go where there is an opening. Don't count on much input or support from the hiring company once you're inplace but they don't bug you much either. Once you're in you're set to 70 yrs old.
Worth checking out, http://www.goarmyrotc.com/all_openings.asp

You can stop reading now. . . I feel a tangent coming on (I'll be okay just don't try to put a spoon in my mouth. I hate that!) Putting NG and AR into dockers and polos was IMHO a huge mistake. Lots of drilling NG and Reservist fill those positions but as civilians. I saw NG Majors get their feeling hurt when they suddenly had to insist on being called "Mister" (especially after 10 years at the school). But again how you are really treated depends on the PMS.
and
There was a time in the 70's -- during the vicious drawdowns -- when some really smart person in SF got SF specific slots assigned to Cadet Command and every ROTC unit had a SFC MSG wearing a beret. I remember the positive influence SF had on the programs. It would be GREAT IMNSHO if SF could get back to "rule the school".


As for teaching Elementary, it is HARD work.
But, you get to sing songs. And hugs (even the sideways approved ones) make even a tough day a good one.:)

GreenSalsa
06-25-2012, 05:22
Come on you 3,lets hear from you for a fellow brother........:confused:

Thanks all--I am currently TDY--I WILL get with you individually by PM. But I am only doing preliminary research as to the satisfaction YOU guys get from teaching. My decision point is about 2 years away.

My biggest motivator is my eight year old daughter and getting the chance to spend more time at home WITH her.

Thanks again.

Roguish Lawyer
06-25-2012, 07:16
RL--

The answer to your question is "No."

My information about the current state of affairs in the Ivory Tower comes from a close friend who is an associate professor of economics at a school back east, and a mentor/friend who called it a career at a certain university in Southern Cal. Moreover, I have recently spent a fair amount of time at one of the aforementioned BBs where aspiring and current graduate students communicate. In regards to that BB, members ranging the political spectrum display the "generational divide" I described in my previous post. (That is, they'll brawl over the OWS movement but break their necks nodding in violent agreement about not getting taken advantage of as teaching assistants. How about that.)

I understand that you and I have different perspectives on the influence of politically left of center professors on the state of education. In my experience, an unspoken "check your politics at the door" dynamic has been in play. I've never witnessed a graduate student or undergraduate get punished for his/her political views.* To be fair, I may be privileging my own experiences without accounting for how my own approach to learning, my perpetually even keeled temperament:rolleyes:, and other individual differences shape my interaction with other academics. And, with one unfortunate exception, :boohoo I've been very selective when it comes to developing relationships with academics.

Also, I'm not denying that the pendulum has swung to the left in the Ivory Tower. As I mentioned in a post a few years back, the aforementioned mentor/professor told me point blank, "You will never get a job [as an academic]." This fact bothers me a little.

Even so, I don't think the issues of concern are as much about political ideology, but about conflicting sensibilities of professional academic scholarship, the institutional and bureaucratic politics of the Ivory Tower, personal ambition (or a lack thereof), and the loss of focus on a core mission--educating undergraduates.

My $0.02.

________________________________________
* Long ago, I was harangued by a newly minted assistant professor for studying naval history but it was not about politics. At the time, her husband was helping to build a SSN, and, apparently, did not make the move from the east coast to the southwest with her. (She was also bitter about her office.)

I was focused on the comments about the new generation, leaning back rather than forward, etc.

ZonieDiver
06-25-2012, 10:59
As for teaching Elementary, it is HARD work.
But, you get to sing songs. And hugs (even the sideways approved ones) make even a tough day a good one.

I could never adjust to teaching the lower grades (K-5), and middle school/junior high gave me the 'willies'! :D

At social events, as people are introducing themselves and telling others their occupation, when I said I was a teacher, most nodded approvingly. When I told them I taught high school, many gasped and said, "I could never do THAT, but I'd love to teach the 'little ones'."

(I once took a long-term substitute assignment in a K-8 district in S. Phoenix, right after we moved back here in '93 and I was seeking FT. I taught 'computer lab' to the entire student body. The 'little ones' WERE cool - the side hugs, etc. However, the first day, when I got home, I found SNOT all over the knee area of my khaki slacks. When the little "K's" had side hugged...they wiped their noses on my pants. In around 20 years of teaching HS, I'd never had that happen!)

Teaching, if done properly, can be draining. I've been more tired at the end of a day than after a 12 mile ruck. If done right, you are on your feet most of the day - roaming the aisles, interacting, observing. You have to learn to control your fluid intake and master your bladder, because you often can't 'go' until planning period or lunch. You're busy during those 5 or 6 minute 'passing periods' - dealing with kids of the class that just ended, or welcoming the kids from the one about to start.

There are incessant staff meetings, often covering the most mundane, repetitive topics, conducted by administrators who didn't "plan the lesson" and would have dinged YOU severely for presenting material as poorly as they just did. There are "new" programs constantly introduce, often replacing ones you'd just started a couple years previously that were just then starting to show results... but the "new" principal/superintendent/whomever wants to put his or her "stamp" on the educational institution. There are administrators (more common now than before IMHO) who "couldn't lead a squad to piss after an all-night beer bust"! There are fellow teachers who will amaze you with HOW they ever graduated from elementary school, let alone college, or were ever given a chance to educate 100's of kids annually. (So, the Army will have well-prepared you for this situation. :D)

(I once told a female freshman science teacher that I planned on getting some chickens, and telling my HOA - if they asked - that they were rare Panamanian cockatoos. She said, "But chickens are SO noisy... with that crowing every morning." I told her, that was a rooster, and I didn't plan on having one. She asked me, "Then how will your chickens be able to lay eggs without a rooster?" She got offended when I asked her, "Don't YOU lay an egg every month without a 'rooster'?" She never sat near me at staff meetings after that.)

Parents CAN and will drive you nuts! When the parents of the 16 year old who is failing, despite being very bright - but being unwilling to apply their abilities and actually DO something, say to you, "We don't know what to do with Little Johnny, what do you recommend?" and are not pleased with your answer that you see him one hour a day, five days a week... and they've been around him for 16 years, and that you were about to ask them that same question... you'll leave scratching your head.

When you have parent night, and of the approximately 160 sets of parents whose kids you teach, you get to meet about 16... and they are NOT the ones you need to talk to... and you get tired of saying, "Billy/Janie are great kids... a pleasure to have in class... always are helpful...etc." - you'll wonder WHY you do the job.

Then, the next day, a kid will come in and say, "Mr. D..., I almost didn't come to school today, but I realized I'd miss the fun we have in your class... so I came." Or, you show excerpts from "Casablanca" when trying to show the isolationism of the US prior to WWII - and explain allegory to help out the poor English teachers, and the kids ALL moan when the see it is "old" AND in black and white. Then, by the end when Rick and Ilsa are parting at the airport, and most of the girls have tears... and a lot of the boys are choking them back... well, you'll know why YOU show up every day, even though you didn't want to when you got out of bed.

cat in the hat
06-26-2012, 18:38
Dozer covered most of the pertinent points I would have said about contracting positions with ROTC.

the only additions I would make is that my contract time at ROTC was some of the most fun I had in uniform. (COMTek employees are in civies now)
but the cadets will soak up anything you want to teach them. And it was like having a FID force that was familiar with soap and mouthwash. you will have fewer problems with absenteeism, attitude or laziness. (some problems yes but fewer)

i was asked back last month to sell some first salutes to the last group that I helped to instruct and I keep in touch with many of the others. Some still ask advice from me and I have no doubt that a few of them will end up in our Regiment.

And of course the best part is the other COEDs on campus.

as for JROTC,
the former Commandant of Cadets i worked with is teaching JROTC and loves it even more. it's High School but they take it serious at everyone that I went to inspect.

i would say that either of those would be a great way to ease into the teaching (civilian) profession.

Richard
06-26-2012, 19:04
Just a few points to add to the discussion:

Teaching is a demanding profession with a consistently high turnover rate for many reasons - some personal, some institutional, some societal.

There are teachers who are excellent elementary or junior high or high school teachers - but not so good if they cross into other grade level domains...which seldom happens and for good reason(s). Knowing thyself and where you fit in a school system is extremely important for success.

JCs or CCs use adjunct faculty as a sort of academic bracero program to staff their programs with cheap labor.

Entering the teaching professsion at 50+ w/o a very specific and highly sought after skill set is an iffy proposition, at best - especially in the current economic atmosphere where school districts are undergoing pretty severe austerity measures to meet their budgetary obligations and it's a 'district market' of being able to choose the 'pick of the litter' from a large pool of highly qualified and experienced applicants for increasingly fewer positions.

Look for schools which don't merely espouse a "standards-based" and "data-driven" curriculum for "teaching to the test," but schools whose observable performance (ask to visit classrooms during instruction) demonstrates effective content mastery while learning a number of what can be summarized as the "seven survival skills" for the 21st Century:

Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
Collaboration Across Networks and Leading By Influence
Agility and Adaptability
Initiative and Entrepreneurialism
Effective Oral and Written Communication
Accessing and Analyzing Information
Curiosity and Imagination

For example, this is a siituation you should like to see in a class of sophomores/juniors in Algebra 2:

It is the beginning of the period, and the teacher writes a problem on the board or an 'Elmo' (overhead projector). The teacher then turns to the students, who are seated in desk-chairs arranged in squares of four that face one another, and says, "You haven't seen this kind of problem before, and solving it will require you to use concepts from both geometry and algebra. Each group will will try to develop at least two different ways of solving the problem. After all the groups have finished, I'll randomly choose someone from each group to write one of your proofs on one of the boards and ask that person to explain the process your group used. Are there any questions?"

What should then happen are the groups going to work amid animated group discussions as they take the problem apart and talk about different ways to solve it while the teacher circulates and observes. A good teacher, when asked a question, would respond with something along the lines of, "Have you considered...?" or "Why did you assume that...?" or "Have you asked someone in your group?"

Such instruction is rare - maybe 1 in 20 or so classrooms in my experience - but should be the norm. That it isn't is the shame. :(

Teaching, from my perspective and experience, is one of the most frustrating and - at the same time - rewarding career fields you can attempt. Many of my former students, some who I expelled, still remain in touch to let me know how they're doing. It's one of the few professions which offers such a powerfully rewarding 'bonus' for which a monetary value cannot be assessed. For example, I was checking my FB messages yesterday and a message popped up from a former student I had expelled and was sent by his family to a behavioral modification ranch in Northern Idaho. He graduated their program and is now in the Army in A'stan, saw my status, and sent me a message wanting to let me know he was fine and asking how I was doing. We chatted about his platoon a bit and compared a few notes. It made my day and - IMO - is PRICELESS...and what teaching is all about.

Good luck.

Richard :munchin

mojaveman
06-27-2012, 14:03
PRICELESS...and what teaching is all about.

Bravo.

Conversing in English with students that I spent months teaching it to...

Sigaba
06-27-2012, 14:45
Although not recently, I've pestered some of you to write memoirs/autobiographies for publication. Among the reasons for my nagging is my belief that if the general public had a better understanding of the role teaching plays in Special Forces, educational institutions would better understand that there's an underutilized national resource (that is, retired Special Forces soldiers).

In the introduction threads, members describe interaction with current and retired Special Forces soldiers as life-changing events. While I won't embarrass those of you who have had a similar impact on my low speed/high drag life by listing your names, I can see why.* I believe that America would be a better place if more citizens and resident aliens (legal and other) if there were more opportunities for such encounters--especially if they were to take place in classrooms. And even more if those classrooms are in certain communities.

My $0.02.


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* Except Dozer523. I'll name his name. He got me strung out on Farmville. "The first one is free," he said.:boohoo But then, if this gets me a room next to LiLo at Betty Ford, all will be forgiven.:cool: