Category: Let's talk
I'm considering becoming a teacher of children, probably in reading comprehension. Now before anyone asks the all-too-familiar question "why don't you teach the blind" I'll answer. I wouldn't mind teaching the blind if I could just teach braille and other blindness-related things. But being a teacher of the blind also means that you have to teach the visually-impaired, which can range from people with simple light perception to people who can see well enough to do everything except drive once they get older. I'd need to be able to teach low vision skills, something I don't feel I can properly do, since I've never seen. But more importantly, I'd also have to deal with mental disabilities, from retardation to learning disabilities, some of which can be so bad that the child can't truly learn passed a very limited point, to autism. I don't mind physical disabilities. I can teach someone in a wheelchair, someone with poor hand or speech skills, and wouldn't even mind learning sign language so that I could teach the deaf. But I have very little patience for severe mental disabilities and these students really need a teacher who is attentive and who can give her/his all. Sure, there will always be students who are a bit slower than the rest and who may need things explained a little differently, but these are still within a normal range of understanding.
In order to become a teacher in a public school in New Jersey, you either need to have a traditional BA in education or you could take the alternate certification route. Basically, if you have a BA in a field other than education, you can take courses to learn how to teach, do some student teaching, take a test, and eventually start in a class of your own. The information can be found here.
http://www.state.nj.us/education/educators/license/advisories/applicant.htm
Of course, I don't mind learning how to teach and fully understand why I'd need to be monitored for awhile. But I don't understand the mathematics requirements.
Quoting from the above page. "In addition to the 200 hours of formal instruction required of alternate route teachers, novice K-5 alternate route teachers hired as of October 31, 2009 must complete an additional 90 hours of instruction, for a total of 290 hours, in a department-approved program. Of these 90 hours, 45 are in the teaching of mathematics at the K-5 level and 45 are in the teaching of language arts literacy at the K-5 level. This requirement may be fulfilled by previously completed coursework or through previous experience."
I know that elementary teachers are expected to teach all courses. But then why do they have reading comprehention as a speciality, and if I choose to pursue this route, why must I know how to teach mathematics? Furthermore, blind students learn this subject very differently from the sighted when it comes to actually writing out the problems, at least in the American system called Nemith, as many of you know. Then, there are the amounts of paper that a problem could take up. This is especially seen in things such as algebra where a single problem could take two or even three sheets of paper. I personally barely understand maths passed arithmetic, unless it's economics, and they've changed alot since I was in elementary school so that things that my generation learned in middle school are now being taught in K-5. So how could I teach them given all of that? I took Algebra I and Micro and Macro Economics in college and also took the Nemith Certification course from Hadley School for the Blind but am not sure if those would count. Still, I'm willing to go through the coursework, if I can, and to get the certification. It means a job with over $57,000 at the highest per year ($30,000 or a little higher) at the lowest in a public school plus a three-month holiday and lots of days off in between.
Meanwhile, I'm looking into private schools which accept teachers who are not yet certified, since their requirements are different from those in public schools. I figured it's better to get my foot in the door that way and then go for the certification.
So has anyone here, preferably with little to no usable vision, taught a class of sighted individuals? If you've taught children versus high school (secondary school) aged students, what are the major differences in style and approach? Have any of you gone through an alternate certificate program? If so, and if your state required proficiency in mathematics, how did you manage it if your understanding of the subject was limited? If you've had to teach it to the sighted, what was your experience like? How, in general, do you get sighted children to listen to you and to respect you as they would another teacher? I'm assuming that's all in personality and in how you act as far as doing things and showing self-confidence. One thing that I've always wondered is how do you know who's misbehaving if you can't see the students? I've never been a fan of punishing the whole class because of the actions of a single student. Have any of you had teacher's aids, and if so, was it difficult to get them? If anyone has worked in both private schools and public ones, could you tell me some of the major differences that you've seen between the two? I've read a few things online but I'm referring to their acceptance of blindness, ability/willingness to give you modifications etc. Thanks for any help given.