Teaching Math

One of the things I have always been thinking about exploring in retirement is teaching math. I’ve always enjoyed teaching others during my career and with my own kids. And, I love math; so combining the two feels like something worth exploring. Also, from a practical perspective, I thought that helping out with the US STEM education challenges would be a way of contributing in an important area.

I’m excited to report that I have accepted a position to teach math at the Columbia High School in Maplewood, NJ. I must admit that I’m somewhat apprehensive about how this journey will turn out since it is so different than everything I’ve done before but I’m hopeful it will be a fulfilling experience.

In the rest of this post, I will discuss the journey to becoming a teacher for those interested in learning more about it.

Step 1: Tests

Before applying for being certified as a teacher I had to pass a couple of tests: (1) The Praxis Core test that all teachers (at least in NJ) have to pass. It is similar to SAT and includes Match, Reading, and Grammar multiple choice questions. This part of the test was quite straightforward. The test also includes writing two essays. This required some practice in terms of getting the timing right (30 minutes per essay) and preparing a little bit about the essay topics which are typically around education. In all, I spent about three weeks to prepare and take the test.

After that, I focused on the Praxis II Math (5165) test which would allow me to teach Math at any level in public schools including high schools. I spent about three weeks preparing for the test which ended up being an overkill. I had not done calculus since college except for working with my kids when they had questions. I bought a prep book for the test and took several practice tests. The questions in the actual test ended up being relatively basic and straightforward. I finished in less than half the allotted with no errors. The prep time was not completely wasted though since I hope that going over all of the material would provide a good foundation for when I get into teaching.

Basically, I started preparing for these tests in the beginning of August after I came back from my long trip to Greece and was finished by mid September.

Step 2. Application for certification

I then put together the paperwork for being certified by the state. The NJ State requirements for teaching math can be found here: https://nj.gov/education/license/endorsements/1900CE.pdf

I pursued what is called Alternate Path because I did not do my undergraduate degree in education (and really had not taken any classes relating to how to teach). The key requirements are:

• BS degree: My only challenge here was that my undergraduate degree was from Greece and I had to go through one of the third party companies that evaluate foreign degrees and verify equivalency of the degree. I went with a company called Scholaro that did a pretty good job.
• GPA above 3.0
• 30 credits in Math during college of which 12 should be in advanced topics. Fortunately this was not an issue for me.
• Praxis Core test and Praxis II Math test as discussed earlier
• A straightforward test relating to health/nutrition

It took me a couple of days to put the material together and apply because I had taken care of the long lead items (in particular the Scholaro evaluation) while preparing for the tests.

Getting the certificate though ended up taking two months which was quite frustrating especially because the process is supposed to take about four weeks and because my requests for updates from the state on the status of my application went unanswered. I applied late September and I received my teaching certificate the day before Thanksgiving.

Step 3. 50 hour Pre-service course

Because I’m part of the Alternate Route to teaching (as explained earlier) I’m required to take a class before I can work at a school. I’m also required to take additional courses once I start teaching. The 50 hour class includes observing teachers at a school (4 hours) and delivering a lesson to a class. I took the course at Rutgers over a three week period (12/3-12/23). It was a very stressful experience especially in the beginning because:

• I had to develop a lesson plan and find a school that would be willing to let me deliver the lesson to their students.
• I had to get agreement to observe teaching at a school.
• I had to volunteer for four hours on something relating to kids of age relevant to my teaching goals.
• I had to study a lot of material on teaching, write various relating essays, and pass tests on the course material

It all worked out. I found out schools are very willing to help and they operate at a very fast pace. I was able to accomplish almost all of the class requirements within two weeks which I never expected. The most difficult part was getting organizations to let me volunteer. Having a 57 year old ask them to work with their teenagers was a bit weird and I didn’t get responses from several organizations I reached out to (not terribly surprising). Thankfully,  YMCA let me get involved in an activity in a support role and so did the local Berkeley Heights Police Athletic League. I did learn a lot in this course and it is definitely a very important component of my preparation to become a teacher.

Step 4: Interviews

I decided to apply to all permanent high school math openings that were available within 30 minutes from my home at the time that I applied (early December). This was in the middle of the school year which limited options. There were 7 openings. As a backup, I also applied to two longer term replacement positions (replacing teachers for a few weeks that went on maternity or other leave). Surprisingly, I got invites to interview with almost all the schools I applied to. Also, surprisingly, I got contacted by the schools within a couple of days of applying or within a week at the latest. Because things happened a lot faster than I expected I was not particularly well prepared for the first couple of interviews. Those interviews happened before I had worked on the lesson plan for my Rutgers class and I had not delivered my first lesson yet. I would say if I did this again, I would have waited until after finishing the Rutgers course before applying for openings. Some schools had concerns about me not having taught before. I would have been in a better position to respond to their questions if I had a least done my first lesson and combined that with doing a few substitute teacher engagements. After I got some experience with the interviews and progressed in my Rutgers course, it all worked out. I got several offers and picked the school that was strongest academically which also ended up being the one closest to my home (20 minutes away). The whole process from submitting applications to getting an offer, getting approval from the board of education and singing a contract took less than a month. The process was wrapped up by 12/22. This was a bit of a frantic pace (especially if you consider that I was taking the three-week Rutgers class at the same time). The Columbia High School that I’m joining supports South Orange and Maplewood. Both are really interesting towns very similar to where I live and I think I’d be a good fit for the school.  I’m looking forward to the experience.