Best teaching specialty for work/life balance

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am part time SpEd and love it. I am a case manager for 6 high-functioning students, and work in their classrooms as what is basically an assistant. I also work with a few teachers in an assistant role for hours that my own students don't need.
But, I don't make much because I'm at 50%.

Do you have a master's in Special Ed? I'm wondering what it would take to get into the field. Thanks!

No, but my BS was in both elementary and special ed so I'm doubly certified. I know in NoVa at least you can't just add sped endorsement by testing in. You definitely need coursework and possibly student teaching, which I have as a result of my double major.

[Anonymous]

The grass almost always looks greener on the other side.

I've heard that reading specialist positions might be a bit more flexible compared to a full time classroom teacher position.

And SLPs have to deal with IEP meetings frequently too which can take a lot of time.

I got the impression that MCPS was shrinking it's allocation to ESOL somehow. Which personally doesn't make sense to me as that's one of the struggling populations that affects the overall numbers for MCPS.

Some of the other positions mentioned, such as gym, art, etc, you have to be careful about because if there are ever any funding issues, they may be the first on the chopping block.

Also it's not necessarily my point of view and am repeating what someone else said. But to illustrate the view about the grass looks greener on the other side, I've heard some people mention that elementary school teachers don't really do anything more than babysitting. Where as previous poster mentioned, once you hit middle school student performance in passing benchmarks/tests are looked at more closely. Again not my point of view. I've also heard some things that says a student's academic success or track is determined in the third grade. But the point is, that there are some that would say ES teaching jobs are pretty easy.

[Anonymous]

If you can afford it, become an IA; t's the only educational position I know of where the person can show up, do their job, then leave at the bell. This doesn't diminish the importance of the role, as good IA's are desperately needed!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've worked for 15+ years as a special ed paraprofessional and I have observed that speech teachers have the sweetest job in the school. Also very rewarding.

What's a speech teacher? You mean an SLP? What makes it the sweetest job in the school? My SLP friends seem to be pretty over worked. Not that they don't enjoy it, but there seems to be huge numbers of students and paperwork.

The SLP at my school has plenty of time built into her schedule for paperwork, plus the SLP and all of the special ed teachers have an entire day of the week off from students for admin work. It's the day when the IEP/EMT meetings are scheduled so sometimes they attend the meetings if it's their grade level but often times they don't have meetings scheduled for their students so they have an entire full day of the week to plan and do paperwork. They are excused from any before and after school duties because they have convinced the principal that they have such a large workload. They have max 10-11 kids on their caseload and 2 paras who help fulfill the IEP hours and also do their filing for them. They rarely arrive early and they walk out right after dismissal, often already dressed in workout clothes.


Must be nice.

There is no way that an MCPS SLP has a caseload of 10-11 kids. Full time is more in the range of 60-65.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In my school the teachers with the cushiest jobs are the Computer/Technology teacher (it's a special) and the Resouce Teachers. They have Spec Ed endorsements, but they pull out/push in to their assigned 3-4 classrooms and their students are fairly high functioning. They seem to be in and out of the lounge all day and definitely have more flexibility in their day. YMMV.

The students receive special ed service but are "pretty high functioning"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've worked for 15+ years as a special ed paraprofessional and I have observed that speech teachers have the sweetest job in the school. Also very rewarding.

What's a speech teacher? You mean an SLP? What makes it the sweetest job in the school? My SLP friends seem to be pretty over worked. Not that they don't enjoy it, but there seems to be huge numbers of students and paperwork.

The SLP at my school has plenty of time built into her schedule for paperwork, plus the SLP and all of the special ed teachers have an entire day of the week off from students for admin work. It's the day when the IEP/EMT meetings are scheduled so sometimes they attend the meetings if it's their grade level but often times they don't have meetings scheduled for their students so they have an entire full day of the week to plan and do paperwork. They are excused from any before and after school duties because they have convinced the principal that they have such a large workload. They have max 10-11 kids on their caseload and 2 paras who help fulfill the IEP hours and also do their filing for them. They rarely arrive early and they walk out right after dismissal, often already dressed in workout clothes.


Must be nice.

But what about lesson planning for all of those different grade levels and subjects?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The grass almost always looks greener on the other side.

I've heard that reading specialist positions might be a bit more flexible compared to a full time classroom teacher position.

And SLPs have to deal with IEP meetings frequently too which can take a lot of time.

I got the impression that MCPS was shrinking it's allocation to ESOL somehow. Which personally doesn't make sense to me as that's one of the struggling populations that affects the overall numbers for MCPS.

Some of the other positions mentioned, such as gym, art, etc, you have to be careful about because if there are ever any funding issues, they may be the first on the chopping block.

Also it's not necessarily my point of view and am repeating what someone else said. But to illustrate the view about the grass looks greener on the other side, I've heard some people mention that elementary school teachers don't really do anything more than babysitting. Where as previous poster mentioned, once you hit middle school student performance in passing benchmarks/tests are looked at more closely. Again not my point of view. I've also heard some things that says a student's academic success or track is determined in the third grade. But the point is, that there are some that would say ES teaching jobs are pretty easy.

I have never heard anyone say elementary teaching job are easy and if they did they are insane. It takes hours and hour of time at home each week to plan for teaching lol of those different subjects, not to mention that lnguge arts and math tend to be in centers, so that's several more activities to plan right there. I know several people who have switched from elementary to secondary and say that can't believe how much lighter the workload is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you can afford it, become an IA; t's the only educational position I know of where the person can show up, do their job, then leave at the bell. This doesn't diminish the importance of the role, as good IA's are desperately needed!

Gee if you can afford it, just don't work at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've worked for 15+ years as a special ed paraprofessional and I have observed that speech teachers have the sweetest job in the school. Also very rewarding.

What's a speech teacher? You mean an SLP? What makes it the sweetest job in the school? My SLP friends seem to be pretty over worked. Not that they don't enjoy it, but there seems to be huge numbers of students and paperwork.

The SLP at my school has plenty of time built into her schedule for paperwork, plus the SLP and all of the special ed teachers have an entire day of the week off from students for admin work. It's the day when the IEP/EMT meetings are scheduled so sometimes they attend the meetings if it's their grade level but often times they don't have meetings scheduled for their students so they have an entire full day of the week to plan and do paperwork. They are excused from any before and after school duties because they have convinced the principal that they have such a large workload. They have max 10-11 kids on their caseload and 2 paras who help fulfill the IEP hours and also do their filing for them. They rarely arrive early and they walk out right after dismissal, often already dressed in workout clothes.


Must be nice.

There is no way that an MCPS SLP has a caseload of 10-11 kids. Full time is more in the range of 60-65.

Ok but what I want to know is how does the size of their caseload affect what they have to do at home at night? Do SLPs really have to do much lesson planning or does a high case load just mean they are busier during their workday? I can handle being busy at work, I just want to be able to go home and be DONE!

[Anonymous]

In part, it depends on which grade levels you work with. At the younger ages, you do more crafts etc so there is some planning for that. I do most of my planning mentally. I work with Pre-K through grade 8. I make photocopies of material and books, and for the older kids, use their curriculum materials as much as possible. I spent almost no time at home planning lessons, but occasionally spend an hour or 2 per week finishing a report. I don't need to do that, but I prefer to so that my work time is more flexible. Love my job! Hours are great and so are the kids. The downside is the IEP meetings. I have at least once per year per each student. The paperwork takes me 30-60 minutes per student and the meeting itself is usually an hour. That's time when I miss seeing the students I normally do at that time and then I have to figure out how to make that time up. Join us if interested!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In part, it depends on which grade levels you work with. At the younger ages, you do more crafts etc so there is some planning for that. I do most of my planning mentally. I work with Pre-K through grade 8. I make photocopies of material and books, and for the older kids, use their curriculum materials as much as possible. I spent almost no time at home planning lessons, but occasionally spend an hour or 2 per week finishing a report. I don't need to do that, but I prefer to so that my work time is more flexible. Love my job! Hours are great and so are the kids. The downside is the IEP meetings. I have at least once per year per each student. The paperwork takes me 30-60 minutes per student and the meeting itself is usually an hour. That's time when I miss seeing the students I normally do at that time and then I have to figure out how to make that time up. Join us if interested!

This was in reply to the PP just above me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In part, it depends on which grade levels you work with. At the younger ages, you do more crafts etc so there is some planning for that. I do most of my planning mentally. I work with Pre-K through grade 8. I make photocopies of material and books, and for the older kids, use their curriculum materials as much as possible. I spent almost no time at home planning lessons, but occasionally spend an hour or 2 per week finishing a report. I don't need to do that, but I prefer to so that my work time is more flexible. Love my job! Hours are great and so are the kids. The downside is the IEP meetings. I have at least once per year per each student. The paperwork takes me 30-60 minutes per student and the meeting itself is usually an hour. That's time when I miss seeing the students I normally do at that time and then I have to figure out how to make that time up. Join us if interested!

Would you recommend this to a career changer, with a family, who wants good work lifeel balance?

[Anonymous]

There is no way that any slp at any public elem school has a caseload of 10-11 kids. The average kid on,y receives speech for 30 minutes- 1 hour once a week, many more on a strictly consult basis which is why an slp can have 60+ kids on their caseload as well as very often doing small group therapy to manage the number of students.
A full time SpEc caseload is about 10-12 students, and depending on the student needs the teacher can have IA's help fulfill the student needs if they can't fulfill it on their own or if the principal feels the need doesn't need a certified teacher there to meet the need. I'm a Sped teacher and I do not get any guaranteed time to do paperwork or testing. However when I do need to do testing sometimes I pull that student to test at a time when I would be in their classroom anyway. Sometimes I can't do that or it's a new referral for initial eligibility and I just have to find the time by not going to one of the classrooms I am normally in- I try to spread it out so I don't always miss services for the same students.
I think this varies by school as well- I have a colleague who never did testing at their previous school (same district) because their school had a part time teacher who managed and did all the educational testing for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In part, it depends on which grade levels you work with. At the younger ages, you do more crafts etc so there is some planning for that. I do most of my planning mentally. I work with Pre-K through grade 8. I make photocopies of material and books, and for the older kids, use their curriculum materials as much as possible. I spent almost no time at home planning lessons, but occasionally spend an hour or 2 per week finishing a report. I don't need to do that, but I prefer to so that my work time is more flexible. Love my job! Hours are great and so are the kids. The downside is the IEP meetings. I have at least once per year per each student. The paperwork takes me 30-60 minutes per student and the meeting itself is usually an hour. That's time when I miss seeing the students I normally do at that time and then I have to figure out how to make that time up. Join us if interested!

Would you recommend this to a career changer, with a family, who wants good work lifeel balance?

I definitely do recommend it. The tough part will be balancing school, internships, and family for the 3 years you'd be in school. If you can make it through that, you can work full or part time easily. There are also a variety of settings that would be available to you. Schools, private clinics, hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, rehab centers, your own private clients, etc. This is a very broad field and it'd be impossible to get bored. MCPS never has enough SLPs. We are super short-staffed right now, but I am managing and easily balance work/life/family etc.

[Anonymous]

I'm in the process of getting my ESOL endorsement in order to hopefully get out of the classroom. My dream job would actually be to be a school librarian, but I was concerned with not being able to find a position that doesn't require a long commute. If you don't mind dealing with problems a lot of the day, school counseling could be a good option. I would definitely second the suggestions for music, art, or PE if you have any talent in one of those areas. The downside of those jobs can be that you may have to split your time between schools when you start out. That can be true for ESOL too, but I wouldn't mind getting hired at .70 percent or something like that. I have a preschooler and 7th grader, so it would actually help my work-life balance to have that as an option.