Interested in Being a Science Teacher? : Dispatches from the Culture Wars

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Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of Michigan Citizens for Science and co-founder of The Panda's Thumb. He has written for such publications as The Bard, Skeptic and Reports of the National Center for Science Education, spoken in front of many organizations and conferences, and appeared on nationally syndicated radio shows and on C-SPAN. Ed is also a Fellow with the Center for Independent Media and the host of Declaring Independence, a one hour weekly political talk show on WPRR in Grand Rapids, Michigan.(static)

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Interested in Being a Science Teacher?

Posted on: February 6, 2006 3:27 PM, by Ed Brayton

I was contacted this afternoon by Scott Hechinger, a recruiter for the New York City Teaching Fellows program. New York City has a chronic shortage of math and science teachers and they developed this program to help alleviate that shortage. In the last five years, this program has helped 7500 people go through a subsidized Master's Degree program and become math and science teachers, but they need many more. If any of you out there have a bachelor's degree in a math or science related subject and are interested in becoming a teacher, they are taking applications for the June 2006 class right now. You can get grad school almost entirely paid for and have a job guaranteed when you finish. Not a bad deal. So if anyone is interested, click on over and contact them for more information.

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I would also recommend Teach for America, which has a similar program nationwide.

Posted by: Ben | February 6, 2006 3:45 PM

Once you've done the training program, go work at the School for Human Rights in Brooklyn. They're looking for good science and math teachers who are willing to bring a social justice element into their teaching.

(and if you have a question about how to bring science and math to bear on human rights/social justice, take a look here.)

Posted by: sho | February 6, 2006 3:57 PM

I would advise anyone considering this route: understand what you're getting yourself into.

Teaching in NYC public schools is not for skin-thinned idealists.

This program aims to get certified teachers to teach in the city's struggling schools: you will not be teaching calculus to future Nobel laureates at Stuyvesant. Add to that the very, very poor pay and the very high cost of living in New York City.

I have nothing but admiration for people willing to teach in New York City's public schools, but, though it is a service to the community, it is a very tough job. Assess this program very critically. Make sure you do a complete assessment of your current financial position, as well as a cost of living assessment for New York City.

Make sure you understand the ways in which both the teachers' union and the city bureaucracy can and will work against you and your efforts.

Be skeptical. Be very, very skeptical and make sure you know what you are getting yourself into. This is not suburban idyll.

(Disclosure: I am not a current or former teacher in New York City. I am, however, the former spouse of a New York City public school teacher, and I saw daily the demoralizing effects of the New York City public school system.)

Posted by: Dave | February 6, 2006 4:10 PM

Should read "thin-skinned idealists" above, not "skin-thinned idealists."

Apologies.

Posted by: Dave | February 6, 2006 4:11 PM

Dave-

In my experience with public schools (and despite not being a teacher, I have a lot of experience with public schools), this is true of most of them, though I'm sure it's worse in the largest systems. I knew very early on that I could never be a teacher, certainly not in a public school. When I coached debate while I was in college, the school principal tried many times to talk me into going into teaching. I said, "Absolutely not. If I was a real teacher here and not a coach, you'd fire me in a week." Even at 19, I knew that. I could tell stories all night long about the mind-numbing mediocrity you have to deal with and the stupid wars to protect one's turf. No thanks. But it's still an important job and there are people who are good at it and who enjoy it despite the bureaucratic difficulties.

Posted by: Ed Brayton | February 6, 2006 4:17 PM

It is an important job. No doubt about that. I just think people who express interest in it should approach it critically.

Stories are legion about idealistic people coming to teach in the NYC public school system and then being turned off from teaching entirely by the experience.

No recruiter will be honest with a potential hire about what it means to teach for New York City. As I say, there are many who can do the job quite fine. But there are also many who underestimate the difficulties that NYC's public school system poses.

Posted by: Dave | February 6, 2006 4:21 PM