What constitutes teaching experiences?

[bellefast]

Hi all,

 

I am in an education program PhD program. I want to teach and research on children and language, but I do not want to get a certificate to teach children. Looking at jobs for the future, I see that they want 3-5 years of teaching at p-12 level (I am not a certified teacher) and I have a year as an instructor in geography and world cultures for K-3rd grade children. I plan on teaching pre-college writing for 9-12 grade students through my institution, but not through a public school (I plan on doing this for about two-three years). However, this is only in the summer. 

 

Also, I am not sure I can teach during the school year (for places that will take me) for research reasons. So my question is, do you think this is considered teaching experience even if I do not have my teaching certificate? Even if I only can teach in the summers? I know it might seem like a silly question, but I just am not sure. 

 

If I need to get a teaching certificate, then I assume I would do it when I get my PhD through an alternative program so that I can teach in private, public or charter schools that will take me. But, I will try not to have to do this because my I love research and only want to do that. 

 

Thank you all!

 

 

 

[fuzzylogician]

You should ask your advisors these questions. My understanding of your post (which may be wrong since I am not an expert) is that you have only one year of relevant teaching experience + some summers, which is about half of what the job ads you are seeing require. Based on that, my guess is that you will not be qualified for these jobs, and even if you are, you will be competing with people with far more experience than you and you'd have to have some other special skills that would make you more attractive than those more experienced applicants to win a job. So the question is twofold - can you spin your experience to somehow make it seem relevant and sufficient, and can you explain what other skills you have to compensate for your relative inexperience?

[bellefast]

You should ask your advisors these questions. My understanding of your post (which may be wrong since I am not an expert) is that you have only one year of relevant teaching experience + some summers, which is about half of what the job ads you are seeing require. Based on that, my guess is that you will not be qualified for these jobs, and even if you are, you will be competing with people with far more experience than you and you'd have to have some other special skills that would make you more attractive than those more experienced applicants to win a job. So the question is twofold - can you spin your experience to somehow make it seem relevant and sufficient, and can you explain what other skills you have to compensate for your relative inexperience?

Thank you for the reply. Well I have many more years (like 5-6 yrs) left before I leave here, so I have more time to accumulate the experience. Also, I spoke with my advisor and she said that I would still be able to get a job without that experience. But, I still want some teaching experience so that I know that I am qualified even though I would not be certified. (So my question would be if this type of teaching is sufficient. Thats what I am not sure about) I also have taught ESL adding to my teaching, but it was with adults so I am not sure if that will help (probably not)

 

That said, I am not concerned about other people experience because, some way or another someone will have more experience than me. But, I am confident that my research areas and experiences thus far, puts me ahead of the game, minus my lack of teaching. I have much more research, admin experience, and experience with at-risk students (and multicultural work) in the area of study, so I feel confident. 

 

To answer your questions, I make it a habit to spin my experiences   and other than the experience above, I have 5 years of research, I am in a research group now, I go to conferences, my research is drawing from different areas, making it apply to many aspects of child research, and I actively tutor students each year. Since I am fairly young and have time, I cannot publish yet. But I think so far I am on the right track