Best elementary/middle/high schools?
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Anonymous
| Hi everyone! I'm new to DC, and I'm interested in becoming a teacher. I would like to shadow elementary, middle, and high school first so that way I can decide if I should get my degree in elementary education, middle, or secondary. Do you guys have any recommendations for the best schools that I could shadow? I know that a lot of people that become teachers can have an awful time due to a lot of factors, and some of it can easily come down to the school. I want to give this a fair shot. Thank you! |
Anonymous
| Are you in a teacher’s education program? Schools don’t let random people who “want to be teachers” hang out at their schools. I don’t know any teacher who didn’t have a subject or grade level interest. Being a K teacher is a very different job than teaching AP Physics. If you are truly this unsure about what you are looking for, maybe try subbing. We need subs and you could get a feel for being in a school. |
Anonymous
Are you looking for the best schools in terms of "quality" or the best schools that would give a fair representation of what teaching in an urban district is like? If it's the former I call troll |
Anonymous
school volunteers have to be fingerprinted and background checked, fyi. you can't just pop in and watch other people's kids. |
Anonymous
Yes, but this process isn't that hard. Go ahead and do it OP. Schools are desperate for subs. |
Anonymous
Fixed it for you. |
Anonymous
|
No one asking for "best" gets a good answer here.
See for yourself in DCPS: https://dcps.dc.gov/page/substitute Public charter schools hire their own subs, and where aftercare isn't provided by a third-party company, afterschool staff: https://dcpcsb.org/work-public-charter-school |
Anonymous
| You often don’t get to pick the school you teach at. You get what’s open. So if you aren’t open to teaching at a “bad” school only a “good” school I would suggest your degree is a waste of money. |
Anonymous
| The only people who are really allowed to shadow teachers for a day are usually already enrolled in teacher preparation programs or it is set up through a university. As a teacher I wouldn’t even respond to an email from a person I don’t know just asking to spend the day observing me. And my principal wouldn’t allow it anyway. |
Anonymous
I'm enrolled in a program to become a teacher, and they have several options between either elementary education, middle school, or secondary school. I plan on going for biology. I'm confused why people are immediately trying to think I'm a troll? I only came on this site to ask because someone told me that I could get better answers here. I do have to complete hours to shadow in order to get licensure and my degree, and you are allowed to call up certain schools to ask, and I can have them contact my university. I was just curious about what specific schools had better staff, administration, etc. so I could have a less risk of being exploited and a more realistic view of what it is like to be a teacher. But thank you |
Anonymous
That's okay with me. I have already experienced this process through getting jobs so that's not really an issue |
Anonymous
I stated specifically in my post that 'teachers can have an awful time due to a lot of factors', specifically meaning that it can come down to how well supported they are in terms of staff/administration, how well supported the kids are, etc. Before I graduated high school, I went to several different ones and my experience at each one was vastly different. Some of them were a better experience that made me feel more comfortable with the idea of being a teacher, others I was treated horribly and the administrations of the school did not care about their students, and it was a lot of shady things going on. So, in terms of your question, I would like a more fair or accurate representation of what it's like to work in a school without having to worry (as much) about the possibility of those things happening. I know that some unfortunate things can be inevitable, I am aware of that. But I am aware that certain schools can either make your life as a teacher hell, or with a better supported staff/administration, and schools that actually care about the well being of their kids and try their best to show it, can make your life as a teacher great. I don't know if you guys get trolls or something often or not, I'm new to this site and was recommended it by a person, but I'm not really interested in doing any of that. I'm interested in asking for advice to lessen my chances of being exploited like a lot of other teachers go through. |
Anonymous
| If you want to teach biology, you would do that at the high school or maybe middle school level. How are the other students in your program handling this? Just calling schools at random? |
Anonymous
|
Student teachers work a full time job for no pay for 3-10 months. I’m not sure “not wanting to be exploited” will work out.
Honestly, you need to choose which level you want to teach. Seeing a well-run elementary school isn’t going to help you teach bio to HS. Your school should be coordinating observation hours and student teacher positions. Not sure if any DCPS school is going to meet the OP’s standards. I did a full year internship at a truly awful HS in Boston. But I became a much better teacher because I had to learn things fast. My first year year as a “real” teacher was so easy in comparison. |
Anonymous
| Yes, bio would be high school (maybe middle school.) Banneker HS and School Without Walls are two I’d try to get placed at if I were a student teacher. Nice and small and motivated students. McKinley Tech is a science magnet but I found it to be huge! DCI charter school is generally organized and has many motivated students. That may help for a start, and I’m sure there are others. Students often really like science, especially labs, so that’s a promising field to go into—plus, it’s not tested as often as reading and math, so you can do your own thing a bit more. Signed, former teacher |