Hi All, As I am nearing the completion of my B.S, I have become increasingly interested in pursuing a career in education. Yes I do already work in the field, but I don't want to be a counselor anymore, I want to teach. I do eventually want to teach college, but I believe that teaching middle/high school will give me a satisfying career as I finish up my Master's Degree. I know full well that teacher's do not make a very good salary, but trust me, UOP pays less than any teachers job in nearly any state, and I spend about 60 hours a week @ work! I would love to start off teaching business, history or literature, and would appreciate any input on how to get started. I officially graduate on August 15 from UOP, and want to know what I should do to get my foot in the door. If anyone is familiar with the state of VA's requirements for praxis testing, licensure or anything of the like, advice would be greatly appreciated.
Do an internet search for "state licensure requirements - teaching" to find whether beautiful VA has any alternative lecensure procedures. If not, Liberty University in beautiful VA Beach has an MEd via DL that meets initial certification requirements. Meantime, as you approach your MBA graduation, throw out a few resumes for adjunct positions at your friendly neighborhood local community colleges and/or evening school type "working adult" universities and/or a few DL schools. Then, go for your PhD while teaching HS/CC/DL and get a few journal articles published while working on your doc, and you should have the perfect mix for an assistant professorship by the time you finish (doc, teaching experience, publications record).
Another possibility: you might check out the possibility of teaching in a private HS. I've lived in states where private high schools were not only not required to insist that their teachers have education degrees but the private high schools would often prefer to have someone with a BA/MA History over someone with a BA History/Education for their history teacher. At any rate, if you want that full-time tenure-track assistant professorship eventually, remember: doctorate, teaching experience, publishing record.
To teach in a public school, you'll have to complete a state-approved credential program, which will take you another year (full-time). If you go that route, you might want to turn it into a master's degree. To teach in a private school, you may not need a state credential, but you often do. Even still, teaching at a private school normally requires more than a degree. You might have to have a specific skill set, background, or affiliation. To teach in a college or university, you'll need a master's. An exception is for technical training, either in a community college or a trade school. But the subjects you're interested in aren't normally a part of such curricula. The master's degree is the key.
Liberty University is in beautiful Lynchburg, VA. You may be thinking of Regent University which is located in Virginia Beach. ODU's website provides information on teacher certification in Virginia. http://www.odu.edu/webroot/orgs/Educ/ECI/eci.nsf/pages/home
Thanks, and I know all about Liberty, I went there for a year I will check out odu's website, they have the teletechnet center in loudoun, so maybe I can take course there.
Ah, yes, from time to time, I've been known to confuse Virginia schools which offer DL MBA, MDiv, & MEd degrees and which are run by famous TV preachers. By the time I realized my error, the ten-minute edit period was long gone!
Thanks for the information guys, sounds like master's is the Key, so i'll probably just end up taking the college route later on.
