teacher salery question, and scholarships?

[zumbergc]

ok, i have a cousin who is planning to study education, and wants to focus on music.

So, in my mind, i have concerns about this because there seems to be one teacher that does music in a building, and some of those programs are getting cut everywhere. I'm hoping she might do music plus another specialty, just because I don't want to see her after 4 years of school and scarce pickings for a job.

We are in ohio, and wondering if someone can point to a website or statistics on teachers pay, which specialty there are more openings in etc. Like is it easier to find a job if your math and science, or if your music, english etc.

Also, i've heard some people talk about programs, where they pay for you to goto college, if you work in the inner city schools for an agreed to time period.

TIA

 

[SandrA9810]

Well for starters, you can't just teach an extra curricular activity. While that might be her strong point, she'll still need to get a secondary degree in one of the basics, math, science, english, history. Kari want's to be a school teacher for theater, but would have to double major in something else to actually get a job.

Here in Florida, we've found that you have to work for particular schools for the minimum of 5 years for them to pay off the school loan or you pay back the money they gave you. I don't know what starting salary is, but here it's some where in the 35,000 range. Of course she might end up substituting for a while before finding a permanent position.

 

[zumbergc]

thanks that is great information to know. Sometimes with the college programs they don't tell you that flat out, even though its true.

 

[etoiles]

You can teach just music at school, many teachers do. However, it can be a more difficult field to find a job.

I am in a similar position. I studied art education and graduated with a degree/certification to teach art at all levels. I was lucky and did find a job teaching art full time for nine years but after my position was cut last year I did have to take a part time position this year. After the economy went down there are not many schools looking to expand and have full time art teachers for next year and I haven't had a ton of interviews.

I would recommend her to get special education as an additional certification or just see what she feels like. To teach math or science she would really have to know her stuff at the high school level and maybe she isn't comfortable in all of those subjects.

I would NOT recommend English or social studies because those are overcrowded fields as well. Special ed is the most in demand field.

 

[HunnyPots]

Well for starters, you can't just teach an extra curricular activity. While that might be her strong point, she'll still need to get a secondary degree in one of the basics, math, science, english, history. Kari want's to be a school teacher for theater, but would have to double major in something else to actually get a job.

Here in Florida, we've found that you have to work for particular schools for the minimum of 5 years for them to pay off the school loan or you pay back the money they gave you. I don't know what starting salary is, but here it's some where in the 35,000 range. Of course she might end up substituting for a while before finding a permanent position.

Sure you can. All of our music teachers teach music only. You get a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Music with teacher certification, and you can specialize in either vocal (choir) or instrumental studies (band, orchestra). If you want to teach in the elementary grades, you can certify in either early childhood or upper elementary with a music minor.

 

[lajones81]

Sure you can. All of our music teachers teach music only. You get a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Music with teacher certification, and you can specialize in either vocal (choir) or instrumental studies (band, orchestra). If you want to teach in the elementary grades, you can certify in either early childhood or upper elementary with a music minor.

Bingo!

 

[Cindy B]

I just graduated in December 2008 and I have two teaching certifications with a double major... Writing and Elementary Education. I have a k-5 elementary education and middle school English certifications..

I have a high GPA (3.9) with a well respected teaching college...

AND I CAN'T FIND A JOB!

I have been searching every week in my state... i have applied to over 100 districts, interviewed for 10 positions and such.

I would seriously tell anyone who is still in school to consider a major change.

Special ed is getting more diffucult in my state because districts are now requiring candidates to be highly qualified and certified in every subject they are teaching.. for example a district is looking for someone with a special ed cert as well as science, math, social studies and english certs... many districts are looking for candidates with triple or four certs... maybe it is just my state, but it is awful.

I'm thrilled that I have had 10 interviews and I had the priviledge of working in a great long term sub position but no full time jobs.

In my area, there are a lot of teacher positons being cut.. in some districts all , yes all non tenured teachers got cut due to the levys failing.. These certified teachers are now all fighting for aide positions. So now, even aide positions are getting hard to come by.

So here I am 6 months after graduation and no promising teaching jobs on the horizon.

I am at a point where I am looking at non teaching corporate jobs just so I can find a job.

Think hard and carefully-- you may have to relocate to another part of the country to find a job.

 

[etoiles]

I just graduated in December 2008 and I have two teaching certifications with a double major... Writing and Elementary Education. I have a k-5 elementary education and middle school English certifications..

I have a high GPA (3.9) with a well respected teaching college...

AND I CAN'T FIND A JOB!

I have been searching every week in my state... i have applied to over 100 districts, interviewed for 10 positions and such.

I would seriously tell anyone who is still in school to consider a major change.

Special ed is getting more diffucult in my state because districts are now requiring candidates to be highly qualified and certified in every subject they are teaching.. for example a district is looking for someone with a special ed cert as well as science, math, social studies and english certs... many districts are looking for candidates with triple or four certs... maybe it is just my state, but it is awful.

I'm thrilled that I have had 10 interviews and I had the priviledge of working in a great long term sub position but no full time jobs.

In my area, there are a lot of teacher positons being cut.. in some districts all , yes all non tenured teachers got cut due to the levys failing.. These certified teachers are now all fighting for aide positions. So now, even aide positions are getting hard to come by.

So here I am 6 months after graduation and no promising teaching jobs on the horizon.

I am at a point where I am looking at non teaching corporate jobs just so I can find a job.

Think hard and carefully-- you may have to relocate to another part of the country to find a job.

Completely agreed. I have nine years of experience, a master teaching certificate, got National Board certification (highly desirable) and I cannot find a full time job either. I had an interview today and the guy told me that they were interviewing the rest of this week and all next week as well before they could let me know about moving to a second interview!! That's competition!!

I don't know what other field to go into or what else to try. Any suggestions??? Cindy, what other fields are you looking into?

 

[SandrA9810]

From Kari's mouth... who went to college for teaching in Florida (I guess different states, different rules): In order to get a teaching certificate for theater education, I had to get a second major in one of the four major subjects (math, science, english, history), and a minor in secondary education.

Of course she could never pick a second major and spent five years changing it.

 

[tasha99]

There are some new student loan repayment rules coming out that could benefit public school teachers a lot (lower caps and loan forgiveness after 10 years of paying.) She should consider special ed or speech language pathology. Not sure how long these fields will stay that way, but right now there are huge shortages. A lot of second year grad students in the slp program I'm starting this fall secured their jobs 9 months before they graduated.

 

[golfgal]

Well for starters, you can't just teach an extra curricular activity. While that might be her strong point, she'll still need to get a secondary degree in one of the basics, math, science, english, history. Kari want's to be a school teacher for theater, but would have to double major in something else to actually get a job.

Here in Florida, we've found that you have to work for particular schools for the minimum of 5 years for them to pay off the school loan or you pay back the money they gave you. I don't know what starting salary is, but here it's some where in the 35,000 range. Of course she might end up substituting for a while before finding a permanent position.

From Kari's mouth... who went to college for teaching in Florida (I guess different states, different rules): In order to get a teaching certificate for theater education, I had to get a second major in one of the four major subjects (math, science, english, history), and a minor in secondary education.

Of course she could never pick a second major and spent five years changing it.

In MN for elementary school you get a degree in Elementary Ed and you can then get a concentration in Music or you can get degree in K-12 music with an education minor (usually for middle and high school teaching). Keep in mind that the loan forgiveness plans generally work in inner city schools where budget cuts often eliminate music programs. As for having one teacher do all the music, maybe in some elementary schools you find this but in our high school we have 3 full time band directors, 2 choir teachers and a general music instructor (school of about 1800 students 9-12). We have 5 band instructors at our middle school, a choir teacher and a general music teacher. The elementary schools have a music teacher and a band director. Some form of music class is required here through 8th grade and in the high school level you have to have some "arts" credits to graduate. It is not an extra-curricular activity here.

Finding a teaching job isn't easy especially if you have a degree in elementary ed, English or Social Science. Getting a double certification is always good but if you can get that in a high demand area like special ed, science or math that would be the best. Adding any certifications to help with extracurriculars is a bonus too. If she can coach a sport, head up the yearbook staff, etc. that will help. Also, don't get TOO much of an education to start. Most schools will not hire a teacher with a Masters without experience as they cost too much.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Well for starters, you can't just teach an extra curricular activity. While that might be her strong point, she'll still need to get a secondary degree in one of the basics, math, science, english, history. Kari want's to be a school teacher for theater, but would have to double major in something else to actually get a job.

Here in Florida, we've found that you have to work for particular schools for the minimum of 5 years for them to pay off the school loan or you pay back the money they gave you. I don't know what starting salary is, but here it's some where in the 35,000 range. Of course she might end up substituting for a while before finding a permanent position.

THEATRE is not the same as MUSIC. Theatre is generally considerd a subset of English, whereas music is considered its own subject. Most teachers who teach a theatre class in High school or middle school are English teachers. It would be a RARE school (I have never heard of one other than a school for the arts) which would have more than one or two sections of Theatre per semester at most. Those same teachers who are teaching the theatre course are also teaching regular English courses, or composition courses or journalism, etc.
A middle or highschool will usually have several sections of music (various chiors and band/orchestra). Often enough for a full time teacher or two doing only music in the school. Some smaller schools may share one teacher between two schools.

Either music OR theatre becomes "extra curricular" when it is an after school activity. Thus, the person "running" the after school theatre program (nearly all school productions are this), or the marching band (sometimes--this is often a class AND an afterschool activity), or coaching the football team, etc. does not have to have a certification in the area. Thus, while most school directors are English teachers, you could be certified in any subject and if you are the one person willing to put in all those after class hours with the kids you may well get to do so.

At least that is how it works in all of the states I have lived in (and taught in, and been highly involved in community theatre in, etc.).

ETA the example of the highschool I attended:
I went to large high school. One of the English teachers also taught a class on theatre which was counted as an English class toward graduation. She taught "Theatre 1" every year during first semester and "Theatre 2" every year during second semester. This same teacher was the director of all of our school productions. She held auditions, rehearsals, purchased rights, etc. She worked together with a science teacher to "coach" this activity. The science teacher worked on getting sets built, etc. They also collaborated in the spring with a music teacher who "coached" a live orchestra for our musicals.
Because we were such a big school we had two full time music teachers. One taught only vocal music. She had 5 classes a day of vocal music (choirs). She also coached girls lacrosse and one other sport (can't remember what) in the after school hours. The other taught only insturmental music. He had five classes a day of band and orchestra. He also "coached" marching band and the pit for the spring musical.

The theatre "coach" was a certified ENGLISH teacher. The music teachers were certified MUSIC teachers.

 

[Tinijocaro]

Well for starters, you can't just teach an extra curricular activity. While that might be her strong point, she'll still need to get a secondary degree in one of the basics, math, science, english, history. Kari want's to be a school teacher for theater, but would have to double major in something else to actually get a job.

Here in Florida, we've found that you have to work for particular schools for the minimum of 5 years for them to pay off the school loan or you pay back the money they gave you. I don't know what starting salary is, but here it's some where in the 35,000 range. Of course she might end up substituting for a while before finding a permanent position.

Music is not at all considered an extra curricular activity in public schools. It is mandated by the state and is part of the overall curriculum. In some areas, band and orchestra programs are getting cut, but general music is a requirement.

Nowadays, the chance of having to move to get a job in music is greater than it used to be. You do not need to have a second major though.

 

[HighClass]

One of our friend's son has a master's in Music rehabilitation.

 

[DisneyTeacher]

I teach in a small district, about 100 students per grade, and we have 4 full time and one half time music teachers. They aren't extra curricular teachers, they are music education majors and only music education majors. Theater is totally different than music.

If your cousin would think about teaching science or math he/she will have a much easier time finding a job.

 

[MrsPete]

So, in my mind, i have concerns about this because there seems to be one teacher that does music in a building . . .
We are in ohio, and wondering if someone can point to a website or statistics on teachers pay, which specialty there are more openings in etc. Like is it easier to find a job if your math and science

Your line of thinking is exactly correct. In my high school we have TWO people teaching music, but we have SIXTEEN people teaching English. We have only TWO librarians, but we have SEVENTEEN math teachers. We have only ONE theater teacher, but we have FIFTEEN history teachers. No matter how good you may be, if the school has only two music positions and they're already filled, you're out of luck.

If she really wants to teach music, I'd suggest that she double major. The "big four" -- English, history, science, and math -- are always a safe bet, math being the positions that the school always struggles to fill. Also, schools have trouble finding enough teachers in foreign language and special ed.

I have never even been to Ohio myself, but I think things are bad there for teachers. Why? Because Ohio teachers are pouring into NC in droves. At my daughter's middle school there are more teachers from Ohio than from NC. I understand why large numbers of people would choose to leave a difficult job climate, but I've wondered how they all end up HERE.

I have a high GPA (3.9) with a well respected teaching college...

AND I CAN'T FIND A JOB!

This varies widely in different parts of the country. In my area, we are hiring teachers. My student teacher was offered two high school English jobs right here in our county. She turned down interviews farther afield because she had good options right here in her chosen location.

However, even though there are jobs here, teachers have been treated badly over the last year. We had a paycut last year, our insurance went up, and our deductibles doubled. They're considering taking a number of our benefits away, and they're talking about a 10% paycut next year. If that 10% happens, I'll be back to earning less than $40,000/year -- and that's with 16 year experience. I understand that everything's tough theses days . . . but teacher salaries are already low in NC, and while they're cutting our salaries they're still building new roads, still expanding the "More before 4" program for pre-schoolers, and buying a new $75 million state park!

THEATRE is not the same as MUSIC. Theatre is generally considerd a subset of English, whereas music is considered its own subject. Most teachers who teach a theatre class in High school or middle school are English teachers.

This varies. At my high school theater, band, chorus, and symphony are all in the fine arts department (along with art, pottery, ceramics, etc.). The theater teacher teaches JUST theater all day long, and her degree is in theater. She is not certified to teach English.

Similarly, when I was a high school student Bible was an English elective. At the high school where I teach, it's a history elective. Both make sense, but different counties/states do it differently.

 

[MrsPete]

I teach in a small district, about 100 students per grade, and we have 4 full time and one half time music teachers. They aren't extra curricular teachers, they are music education majors and only music education majors. Theater is totally different than music.

Except that we offer an elective in MUSICAL THEATER.

 

[Teacher03]

I teach in Ohio, and teaching jobs are very scarce here. I graduated in 2004 and teach in a private school, but public school teaching positions are very hard to come by. I did hear on the news last night that Akron school district is calling back 60 laid off teachers and hiring 73 new. So that is hopeful.

I did not encourage any of my three children to go into education. Thankfully, they had no interest!

 

[Cindy B]

I'm in NJ. The starting teacher salary BA - Step 1 can range anywhere from $42,000 to $52,000 depending on city, location in the state, district, etc.

In the surrounding towns -- the starting is usually anywhere from $44,000 to $47,000. However there is a strong union presence so good salaries are guaranteed. There were a few retirees in my district-- one vocal music teacher retired from a $91,000 salary and one instrumental music teacher left with an $89,000 salary.

Theater is part of English here. Here is something to consider- I was a theater major many years ago and switched to teaching for the stability. Little did I know that the job competition would be so fierce. I face more rejection daily as a teaching candidate that I did as a theater candidate...

I don't want to move, my kids are in great schools and my DH has his job. Plus, I'd have to sell my house. If you are young and can move-- more power to you.

i know someone who left this area as a teacher and moved to SC. This person can NOT find a job even though he has experience, certs, etc. Plus the pay is about $15,000 less than what he was making around here.

I went to a job fair where two elementary jobs were available in this small rural district. Several hundred people stood in line (best estimates 600 ) just to hand in a resume/application.

Just a straight K-5 cert is fairly useless. A special ed cert is actually less desirable unless you have all the cert in all subject areas.. which means more classes, more praxis tests, more cert fees-- and no guaranteed job.

It is very fierce-- you almost have to be a mercenary to find a teaching job. Even the charter schools in the less desirable urban areas are getting full. Plus with charters you are working 6:45-5 pm Monday-Friday with 2 Saturdays a month as well as starting August 17th and going until June 28th. and the pay is low, like mid 30's. -- (I interviewed for a charter school yesterday.. )

 

[daughtersrus]

My two oldest DD's are Special Ed majors. The oldest will be starting student teaching in Aug. In IL, we have a program called the Illinois Special Education Teacher Tuition Waiver (SETTW) Program. This program will cover tuition (not room and board) at a state school with the provision that you teach in IL in the field of Special Ed for 2 years. Here's a link to College Zone that may help you find a similar program in OH. There are other waiver programs as well but most have restrictions (race, income...) whereas this one does not. Maybe there is a similar program in OH. Our second DD will apply for this program as well this year.

http://www.collegezone.com/416_941.htm

There is also a loan forgiveness program that your cousin may be able to qualify for. We just started looking into this so I don't know the details. Here's a link for that as well.

https://www.tcli.ed.gov/CBSWebApp/tcli/TCLIPubSchoolSearch.jsp

Lastly, the IL State Board of Ed has reports with teacher salary information. I didn't look at OH, but they may have something similar.

http://www.isbe.state.il.us/research/htmls/teacher_salary.htm


There was an article in the Chicago Tribune about the oversupply of teachers in certain areas.

Here's a link to that if you're interested.

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2009/feb/04/local/chi-too-many-teachers_city_zonefeb04

My DD graduates from IL State University in Dec with a degree is Special Ed ages 3-21. We're hopeful that she will be able to find a job. Even with the cuts in staff, in our area there is still a need for Special Ed. The Special Ed director at the school where she did her field base at last semester said that she would like to hire DD. The staff there have been in contact with her all summer keeping her up to date with regard to the positions that are open. We're hopeful that there will still be a position open and that the director will still remember DD.