I thought there was a teacher shortage?

As I was once told, if you can convince them that you can teach it, that's good enough. It's not a content cert in NJ.

 

I don't know if it happens a ton across the state, but I taught in a large urban district in central NY and my school really tried to persuade me to teach 8th grade science even though I'm only certified 1-6. I don't even have a science-specific certification. I managed to get out of it, but the knowledge that I couldn't necessarily get out of something similar later is partly why I left the district. (There were bigger reasons, but it was definitely a consideration.) It was a high needs district and they have a very difficult time finding and keeping teachers in certain subject areas at the secondary level so it wasn't that unusual there.

 

It is imperative that teachers know the licensing codes for the state that they teach in and what is and is not legal. I don't take anyone's word for "this is OK" because my mother taught me to take care of myself when she stated, "know what the law says, because people will lie to you". Advice that has stood the test of time.

 

As leaborb said, in NYS there's something called incidental teaching that allows districts who can prove they have a need for that position/subject area to push teachers out of certification. There are certain requirements/limitations, but it's legal.

Chris Render, do you know if there are any districts around you that have a school that has professional/trade tracks of any kind? One of the nearby districts here has a high school where students can pick a career path or trade so they have more business and computer science classes. It's a really neat school.

 

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