Hello all and sundry, my name is Erin.  I'm not yet a teacher but am researching the possibilities.  I'm thinking about teaching history at a private school.  Specifically 10th or 11th grade.  What i would like to know is, what are the pitfalls?  Is there a great deal of red tape?  Do incoming teachers have to kowtow to the upper echelons or is it more egalitarian?  How does the hiring process work and what are they looking for?  What can i do now, as I'm still in school, to make myself a more attractive candidate?

 

Thanks for your time,

Erin 

Erin:

This lonely message has been here by itself for two months now, so I thought I'd keep it company.

I believe that the answers to these questions all depend on the specific school you end up teaching in. The last question you asked is the key. "What can I do now ... to make myself a more attractive candidate?"

Some things you can do include:

Get out of the classroom and get into the classrooms
You don't learn nearly as much about teaching by sitting in a class as you do by observing and actually teaching classes. Start tutoring middle school and high school students. Tutor in history since that's what you want to do, but also tutor in any other subject area you might be compotent in. I suggest tutoring middle school students as well, because I wanted to grow up and be a professional orchestra conductor until I started teaching sixth graders. Then I fell in love with teaching middle school band. Expand your horizons. That also gives you a larger depth to your résumé. That's a good thing.

Ask questions
Find out how a certain teacher keeps the class quiet as they entre the classroom. "We set the rules up from the beginning" is not enough of an answer. HOW do you establish the rules? Ask questions and keep digging. You will know you have enough information when you've been teaching for about 10 years and almost feel like you're starting to know what you're doing. I would identify as many possible scenarios (entering the class, asking to use the restroom, fire drill, interruptions, etc.) and figure out how you specifically want those situations to unfold. From there, formulate a behavioral script that the students are expected to follow. Then figure out how to eloquently articulate that script to high school students.

Volunteer
The single best way you can beef up your resume is to have leadership experience. Clerk at Chevron is not going to look as good as Historian for Alpha Beta Gamma, Sigma Delta Chapter. Unless, of course Alpha Beta Gamma is in the news for hazing or something else. Or start your own business. Erin's Housekeeping Service. That shows initiative, foresight, and leadership. Plus, it's great experience for your life down the road.

Also, keep this in mind. It may seem sacreligious coming on an education website, but the secret is....

NOBODY CARES ABOUT YOUR GRADES EXCEPT FOR YOU AND YOUR MOM

That being said, be wise and studious. Don't waste a semester failing a class. But don't worry about that as much as your own skills that are being developed through the three above ways.

Hi Erin, I just finished my fourth year of teaching so I'm not too far from when I started. I also worked in the corporate/technology world for seven years before I went into teaching. I think I have some unique perpectives. First of all I believe (at least where I teach) that if where I teach was a business it would have gone under a long time ago, but that's a whole other discussion. Plus, teaching isn't really a business, yet another discussion. Your looking into private schools which are different from the public school system. I'm in public school where salary and standing are based on years taught (steps) and degrees held (Bachelors +30, Masters, Masters+30 +60, Doctorate etc..) There is always red tape when applying to any job and within the job. Don't complain just go through the hoops. The state I teach in (PA) I beleive it is required for every district to post their job oppenings even though they may have someoen in mind internally. Don't dicouraged if you go into an interview and think it went great (it probably did) and not get the job. They may have chosen a building sub or someone they know and has been proven to them. Try not to hang around the nagative teachers, you know the ones that complain about everything  and are generally not good teachers. Find the good positive teachers and befriend them and soak up as much knowledge from them as you can. I think the other comment on here suggested tutoring middle/high school kids, get involved with community, volunteer for summer or after school programs etc... I would agree with all of this. It shows your interested, have drive and have a bit of experience. If you can't get a teaching job right away sub, sub and sub. Become a building sub ( I mentioned this a few sentances ago) if you can. This is a sub that that the school or district will always use and depend on if someone is out. You get to know the students as well as faculty and administration. Also, if possible, long term sub. You may be there for half the year because of a maternity leave or whole year due to maybe a sabaticle. This experience is inavaluable for a young teacher.

I teach history and love it.  There are so many dialogues that lead to meaningful learning.  In terms of private school, that might work well.  There is usually a lot of freedom regarding your teaching methods and curriculum.  I'll mention some pros and cons of high school and middle school:

Teaching middle school

Pros - kids are energetic, fun, just beginning to create convictions about life, they have been raised around technology, which makes integration easier

Cons - they're junior high kids, which makes classroom management tough

Teaching high school

Pros - more mature, able to think well about life, sense of humor is more developed, better work

Cons - they can be apathetic or think they know everything

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"The unexamined life is not worth living." - Socrates