Hi everyone. I am a college student in my second year. In my state (ohio), I can pursue a degree to teach grades k-3, 4-9, or 9+. I have leaned towards k-3. I love to watch children learn new concepts! The problem is that I love working in my son's 5th grade class. I love the level of maturity the kids have. How did you decide which level to pursue? Any thoughts are welcome. Also, does anyone use e-books in their classroom? If so, how do they work?
Go with Your Heart Have you voluteered in the other age group classes? Find time to do this to determine what age group you like. I was like you, I was initially enrolled in elementary and switched to pre-k through kindergarten licensure.
Volunteer time in classrooms when you can, and see from experience which is your niche. In Michigan, state cert's work a little differently. You can get your Early Childhood Endorsement, which you need if you will teach Kindergarten and Preschool, but that is on top of an elementary teaching certificate. If you were, for example, a Language Arts for Elementary major and an Early Childhood minor, your cert would be an Elementary teacher's cert, and the ECE endorsement. If you choose to you can take the subject test as well, and be certified up to eighth grade in your subject area (in this case, Language Arts). You can also get your secondary cert, of course. Is there any kind of thing in Ohio that gives you this broad of a range that you could teach? Perhaps if there is, this might be an option. When it all comes down to it though, you have to follow your heart and do what you feel called to do. Hope this helps, and best of luck!
Thanks for the advice. No, I do not think we have any certification for a broader range but I will check on that. I feel so much pressure that I will make the wrong choice. I have ruled out high school altogether. I really do not want to teach middle school but with the way our certification works, I will be able to teach 4-9. This is such a hard decision. I am going to volunteer in other grades to see what its like. Again, thanks for the advice. Also, have you ever used e-books in the classroom? If so, how do they work? For instance, do you pay $11.99 for one download and then share it with other computers? I am doing research on this for an assignment. Any info would be great. Thanks
Hi Leslie, I teach in Ohio but was certified when you could still get K-8. I would recommend that you go for what you think you will like, but keep in mind that (at least in my area) it is much harder to find a job opening in K-3 than in 4-9. I'm not sure how this new system will work out over time; a friend who teaches at a nearby university said virtually all of their students are going for the K-3 certification.
Leslie, I have only used one e-book type of a thing. it wasn't really an e-book, more like supplemental downloads, and such. I had to purchase the access code for like 10.00 or 12.00 dollars and was able to download readings for a certain period of time (the length of the semester.) Hope that helps.
I'm the last of a K-12 certification in AR (for music).. It's wild to be certified for such a wide range, because at some schools, like the one I"m at, you end up teachign exactly that! I knew I was more suited to older children going in to it, who knew I'd also enjoy the very young kids (kindergarten and 1st grade mainly!) If I hadn't had that broad of a range I never would've had the opportunity and never would've known what it was like to teach Kindergarten and first grade who I adore!
High School or Middle School English? I have passed all of the tests and will enter a District Intern Program in the spring. At that time I will have to choose between teaching English at a Middle School or High School. Please forward any input you feel might be helpful regarding your experiences teaching at either or both levels. Thanks.
I decided by analyzing what I wanted to teach. I wasn't up to teaching reading, so I chose high school, who knew I would be working on reading anyway? I love the kids, the conversations, the links, everything about the high school creatures.
I too recently graduated from college here in OH (kent state) and I understand the difficulty you are facing. My idea age range is 3-4th grades and of course they had to split the program right between the 2 grades I wanted to teach. arg! So heres what my decision was based on, which of the two extremes is worse (preschool or highschool) personally I'd rather be certified for preschoolers than highschoolers. In addition to doing the classroom observations, and volunteering, I might suggest you take time to talk with the classroom teachers. What made them pick their age level, what is their ideal age level, what are the pro's, con's of that age level does that help? elissa
I also base my choice on the content I am most interested in. Though I love, love, love to watch the K's and 1's, I would get too bored with the limited content area. 5th grade material is challenging enough (what does that say about my intellect???) for me to spend hours and hours on. I don't want to go beyond that grade, though; kids in the throes of puberty aren't my favorite.
When I got my degree (eons ago!) we could concentrate in primary(K-3) or elementary(4-6) but most courses besides language were for K-6, so I sort of qualified for K-6. 3 years later I got a Spec Educ. degree which qualified me to teach from K-12. I have taught it all from K,1,2,5,6,7,8,9, Basic English in senoir high(which I hated!), I Hve also taught Primary Spec Educ-classroom resource, home schooled a severely disabled child and taught a profoundly deaf child. All positions had challenges and rewards but after 14 years in Spec. Educ. I really needed a change and pushed really hard to get a Kindergarten position which I LOVE teaching. As you can see you may end up teaching a lot of different things before you find your niche. I would think about what age of child you most enjoy being around, and, as said before, what you like to teach. I teach Kindergarten but have grade 6 students as my helpers and really enjoy being with them too. I love science and would probably be very happy teaching sciene to older children. Can you just do a few extra courses to qualify in another area or does it take a lot of time and money? If you really don't like your choice you could go back in a few years and qualify in another area. Upsadasiy: I haven't been around for a while, how are you? How are you doing healthwise? I've been trying to lose a little weight, the Dr. had to put me on BP meds before Xmas but I hoping to be off them soon. Dawn
How did you get there? Did you do an Intern program? I am a bit confused about my level as well...I have been working with 2nd Grade. I would like to go higher, and use my English degree. What do you think?
I did do an intern program in NH, and because I came back to CA I've been jumping hoops galore. after 7 years I should be done this year. You will have more opportunity to use your English at the middle and high school level. I've done everything from 6th-12th. 9th is my favorite. I don't know how you do 2nd. My nephew is in 2nd grade, he's a giant bundle of energy. Like I have said many times before, high school is the place to be.
I always leaned more toward the high school age student. I knew that my decision was the right one when I started subbing. In KY you can sub after you have 60 college credits. I did two days at an elementary school and decided I could never go back. I'm not cut out for little kids. Those two days reinforced how much I need to be with older students, and how much I appreciate those who teach the little ones. If you can't sub in different areas, then definately take the time to volunteer with different ages. Also, look into how much extra effort it would take to get two certifications instead of just one. In KY it doesn't take a whole lot more to get certified for k-8 instead of just k-3. (Maybe an extra semester's worth of classes.) I've had a few friends do this and it opened them up for a lot more teaching positions. Plus, it will give you a lot more room to play around with different grades. You may start out teaching K and think you love it, but 10 years down the road decide to move up higher into, say, 5th grade.
How did I decide on higher ed? Well, several years ago I tried teaching Kindergarten at a KinderCare because I thought I might do early or elementary education, but after a month of working at the KinderCare I decided against it though I loved being called "Miss Elizabeth" by my kindergarteners. I ruled out middle school after tutoring for the State of Illinois' Educational Talent Search Program back in the spring of 2000 as I was finishing my Associate's degree in General Studies. Though, I enjoyed tutoring the kids and I must say that subbing at this level has been enjoyable too! As for high school, I'd rather sub that than actually teach at that level considering how high schoolers can be now-a-days. I live near District 187's high school and there hasn't been much change at the North Chicago Community High School since I went there in '91 and '92 to even warrent me chnaging my mind in teaching at the high school level. So, that leaves one other level...Higher ed. I think I'd be much more happier being a History Professor in life. So, that's what I'll do teaching wise when I wrap up my second year of Master's study and my past experience in tutoring and subbing at the secondary level will be my stepping stone into teaching higher ed.
I have always known I wanted to teach the primary grades. I never liked 4th grade up and up and really struggled in school. I like teaching the young kids we have so much fun. As for high school I could never teach kids taller than me
Thanks for your imput. I like the idea of higher Ed. I think that this will be a goal eventually.,,, B
I don't like the middle grades. I have my ECE for Pre-4th, and my BME for K-12. For internship we did 2 levels. For ECE you either do kind. or 1st, and then 2nd, 3rd, or 4th. For BME you do one placement in lower elem. and then in high school, or one in middle school and then one in high school. You get a wide range. Of course, by the time we got to internship we knew where we wanted to be. They stuck us into the school system our freshman year of college.
