I lived this decision in 2001. Was an IT manager on a Friday, walked into my boss's office and said my last day was Monday. Took a Computer Science teacher position on a 1 year emergency teaching licence, issued immediately. LOVED it for the first 5-7 years, though I never worked harder or more in my life. Then things slowly began to change. I FIRE'd last June. When I did, I no longer loved what I did, and it was definitely time for me to get out. I would summarize my experience as worth it, but I would not begin the process today with what I know now.
Here is an incomplete list of why I left last year(copied from a past post)
Teaching from 2001 through about 2009 or so I loved very much. After that, things just changed and it was no longer the same. FIRE'd in 2014. Some day I might have returned to the 2001 teaching. I would never return to the 2014 teaching.
Maybe if things change again I would return, but not because I need to. Time will tell.
Was this a NCLB/Testing thing, or something else? What did you teach?
Computer Science in High School. It was not 1 thing, it was a long list of things that accumulated with time. Some of them:
Class size increased from 24 to 30
Added responsibilities not related to teaching
Less prep time
Leadership change that was not necessarily bad, but was not better.
Reduced benefit package
Elimination of a clear path to increased financial compensation
Turnover rate of faculty/staff (about 80% in 4 years)
A subjective review plan tied to compensation
Fatigue and total burnout (BIG TIME)
Moral of faculty/staff
I hit my FIRE #
The fact that I could not set classroom management plans to dictate student phone use
Social promotion. One story:
I taught an AP (college) course with students that were not qualified to be there. The limitations were not in programming, that was why I was there. They ALL had programming limitations. Many had deficiencies I was untrained to address. In April, I taped 10, three digit numbers to my wall, in random order. One month before the college exam I told the 22 students to place the 10 numbers in order from least to greatest on a sheet of paper to collect. I then asked them to raise their hand if they thought everyone in class turned in a correct sheet. No hands went up. First thing they got right all year :) I was unable to teach college concepts to students that were not ready for 5th grade, yet there they were.
I do not mean to sound bitter. It was a great career for quite a while, but I would not recommend starting now. I still talk with existing staff. I do not see policies that are making things better, just different. I left when I should have, and I was very grateful and lucky to have that experience.
My path was 5 years under a Master of Arts in Teaching(MAT). I became certified after 3 years, and was then 8 credits away from a masters. I went from a BS with no teacher certification to a Certified 6-12 grade teacher with a masters.
If you really want to do this, I recommend you just start teaching. You will have a path to certification and can begin to do it immediately. We have a tremendous teacher shortage in the sciences in Wisconsin. It was proposed that core teachers would no longer need teaching licenses. It did not pass last year. It was also proposed that non-core subjects could be taught by people without a HIGH-SCHOOL degree. That meant a freshman could take a course and then teach it as a sophomore. That proposal also did not pass.
http://archive.jsonline.com/news/education/late-night-budget-action-dillutes-teacher-license-rules-b99508103z1-305176951.htmlIf you looked, I bet there is a position you could take TOMORROW in Wisconsin, though I would not recommend starting in week 3. Begin looking next spring. Schools might hold off on hiring non-certified staff until mid-summer, but you never know. If it is not for you, you can go back to engineering without spending the money for the degree. Of course, you could also go the private school route. They are not required to be certified, though most are. I know of people that transitioned from public teaching. They enjoy it more and are paid about half of what they were paid in public school.
Keep us posted.
