Any education questions?

Defending you in the process. Perhaps I should think twice about doing it again, though.

 

Ehh. No biggie.

I am not in the business, but I enjoy the knowledge shared by people who are still in the business by visiting this board.

Many people are naive when it comes to how a school actually works and what to do to get the best results for their own child.

Thought I could give a little back.

 

93- How difficult would it be for someone with a BJ D) to wind up teaching at the high school or college level (journalism) some day? What steps would I have to take down the road to make it a realistic possibility?

 

Depends on the state. Each state has their own education requirements, but some school districts or states will do something called "career switcher" or something like that.

This is what is in Virginia right now.

http://www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/newvdoe/CareerSwitcher/

I would suggest speaking at a j class in a high school in your area. Maybe shadow the j teacher for the day or have you teach a 10-minute lesson. Get a taste for school life and what "kids" today are like.

You will know after 15 minutes of explaining to a group of students that 29 words is the limit for a lead if teaching is for you or not. I guess a good rule of thumb is if you enjoyed coaching kids, you will enjoy teaching kids.

The pay is slightly better, but at least you get state benefits and the hours are great.

 

From what I understand, it is also fairly rare to find a full-time journalism teacher at the high school level. Maybe 93Devil would know better. I know an English teacher at on of the local high schools here and he handles their journalism classes as well.

I used to work with a guy who had a Master's in Journalism and he taught at the college level, but he was unable to get a full-time job. It is extremely competitive and the head of his journalism department said that it is difficult to carve out a full-time career if you stop at your Masters.

 

Possibly.

What might work is going to a larger school district with multiple high schools. You could be a traveling teacher that spends half of the day in one high school then teaches the same class in another high school. That happens a lot in the larger districts.

Right now, many high school newspaper classes are taught by English teachers, and it is shockingly obvious when I see their newspapers. Any experience in photojournalism would help as well. Teaching a photography class along with doing a newspaper would be a valuable asset to a school district. There is nothing wrong with teaching a little English as well, but it is a very difficult subject to teach to high schoolers because many do not like to write and grading the good writers can take a very, very long time. No one spends more time grading than an AP English or creative writing teacher.

How I did the switch was going back to school full time for two years. It took 60 credit hours, and maybe I should have looked at getting a master's degree then instead of a second bachelors. I don't know. Things worked out OK, so I am not about to question it. I was also single with no kids when I did it.

 

I've heard this all my life, and I have yet to understand it. Obviously, I only hear it from people who are ... gasp ... not good at taking tests. I was never one of them. For a long time, I thought it was just a crutch. I'm still not convinced it isn't.

So, is it a pressure thing? Is it a better-at-recalling-at-your-own-pace thing? Why do otherwise smart people so often say, "Well, some people just aren't good at taking tests" when plenty of other people, well, are good at taking tests?

 

The mind is fascinating.

Buck, I know people who cannot read well or write a complete sentence, but they can take apart and reassemble an entire engine. That is something I cannot do. Does that make them dumb? Does it make me dumb?

I know people who can paint or sculpt wonderfully, but doing math is very difficult. I am a wiz at math, but I cannot draw at all.

Everyone is good at something, and just because you have trouble reading or writing or doing math does not mean that you are not going to be a successful person. Heck, I'll bet the guy that fixes your car makes twice as much as you. That's not a shot at you, but it shows that you can be very successful in life and still flunk the SAT or the ACT.

Some people learn by reading. Some people learn by hearing. Some people learn by putting their hands on something. Some people learn by watching others do it. And these are not the only ways.

The NCLB tests are geared to only one type of learner - the reader. That is the problem.

 

buckweaver, it's not that simple. And I say this as someone who always tested extremely well. I remember doing well on tests and even larger standardized exams even though I really didn't know the material that well. There is a skill to taking tests, and it can be learned.

That's the problem. Some schools start focusing too much on preparing their students for tests rather than teaching them. There is a difference between the two, which I'm sure 93Devil can explain better than I can.

These standardized exams tend to test the schools more than they test the students, and at that point you start losing sight of what the real goal is supposed to be.

Edit: yup, 93Devil explained it much better than I did.

 

That's exactly what it ends up being. Instead of a test for the students, it's really a test to make sure the teachers did a good enough job teaching the little bastards taking the tests.

 

I honestly do not know why some people are not good at tests. I know students who read at an amazingly high level, but they still have a hard time getting an A on any multiple choice test they take even though they understand and know the material.

Some people will always pass the test they take with a C or better, but getting that 94 out of 100 just always seems out of reach.

 

My test-taking problems were usually a result of my ADD. When I went back on the Adderall I hardley had a problem.