Seeking a Teaching Job

[ASUADPi]

Originally Posted by When Doves Cry

I was looking for teaching jobs (Elementary) when I graduated, but couldn't find any so ended up in a daycare. I've been there for about a year now, and this fall I plan on going to graduate school to get a Master's in Special Education.. Sigh

Going off what AlwaysSAI said, please don't go into sped because you think that getting a job will be "easy".

First off, sped isn't easy. It is a tough yet rewarding job. Having taught sped, IMPO it is 10 times harder than regular education.

I'm not saying any of this to discourage but I've dealt with some sped teachers who seriously should have never gone into teaching in general, but they went into sped because they figured it would be easier to find a job.

As a dual certified teacher (K-8 Elementary education and K-12 cross categorical special education), it didn't help finding a job. While living in AZ I was one of thousands looking for a job. Plus, I think with sped, administrators are looking for experience over being certified. In this day and age, they can afford to be picky. They don't just have to pick the first canidate who is certified because they will probably have 10 more with the same credentials.

Also please be aware that once you are in sped you might be stuck there. My current sped teacher is dual certified and wants to get into regular education and she was told by administration no. She was pissed.

[AlwaysSAI]

Originally Posted by ASUADPi

As a dual certified teacher (K-8 Elementary education and K-12 cross categorical special education), it didn't help finding a job. While living in AZ I was one of thousands looking for a job. Plus, I think with sped, administrators are looking for experience over being certified. In this day and age, they can afford to be picky. They don't just have to pick the first canidate who is certified because they will probably have 10 more with the same credentials.

I have the same certifications as you (except, I also have middle school math)! My certs in ELED and SPED come from a dual degree program. I studied ELED and SPED simultaneously.

Originally Posted by ASUADPi

Also please be aware that once you are in sped you might be stuck there. My current sped teacher is dual certified and wants to get into regular education and she was told by administration no. She was pissed.

In college, I thought my dual degree would make me extra marketable. Little did I know, once a principal saw the SPED certification, nothing else mattered. If you start in SPED at one school, I would almost guarantee that they will never move you to regular ed. SPED has a high turnover and it is very difficult to fill open positions.

Originally Posted by ASUADPi

First off, sped isn't easy. It is a tough yet rewarding job. Having taught sped, IMPO it is 10 times harder than regular education.

You took the words right out of my mouth here. I wasn't sure how to say it. I didn't want to piss off any regular ed teachers. And, can I just say here: It really pisses me off when regular ed teachers try to compare their job to mine. I once said to a dear friend of mine: "I don't have to do that because I write IEPs and hold IEP meetings." And she responded, "I write lesson plans and grade papers. We should all do the same thing."

I wanted to scream at her. HOW MUCH OF YOUR PLANNING IS EATEN BY IEPS? HOW MANY AFTERNOONS PER WEEK DO YOU SPEND IN IEP MEETINGS? HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU HAD PROVE THAT YOU NOTIFIED TEACHERS WHO DIDN'T ATTEND THE IEP MEETING? HOW MANY TIMES HAS YOUR PAYCHECK BEEN WITH HELD BECAUSE A PARENT DIDN'T RETURN A FORM? OH, AND AFTER I DO ALL OF THAT I STILL HAVE TO WRITE LESSON PLANS AND GRADE PAPERS. (But, that's just my frustrated rant)

Teaching special ed DOES NOT IN ANY WAY compare to teaching regular ed.