Teaching in America, where to start!!

[louandmikek3 0]

Hi,

I am hoping to teach early elementary/pre-school here in NY state. Does anyone have any experiences to share about getting certified/landing a teaching job? How easy was it? How did your qualifications stack up here? What did you think of the certification exams? Is teaching here far removed from teaching in the UK? etc etc!

I was not a qualified teacher in the UK (I grduated in 05 with a First Class Honors BA degree in Education Studies with Theology and have tons of childcare experience, in England I would have just needed to do my 1 yr PGCE to be qulaified).

From what I gather I can study for the NY state certification at home, take the test, then I think I need some US school experience to land a job in the first place so I was thinking of working as a Teachers Aid for a year before applying for any jobs. Then, from what I can gather, once I get a job I have to take a masters within 3 years of employment.

Does this seem like a game plan???

Louise

[PrincessDot 0]

I will send you a PM.

[shirlJ831 0]

I know in NC you have to be state certified and I know that there is a SERIOUS shortage of teachers !! good luck

[JenT 0]

David teaches English as a second language in Germany but doesn't have a college degree... I would be interested whether anyone know how he can pursue the same teaching here in the US... in Michigan, specifically. Anyone know where we should even begin?

Jen

[PrincessDot 0]

You need to look up your state's teacher licensing board. They're all online - just do a search.

You have to be certified to teach no matter what state you're in, by that licensing board, though you could be going through alt. certification while you're on the job.

[louandmikek3 0]

Thanks everyone, Dot ur PM was so so helpful. Thanks for that