Anonymous
Post 08/08/2024 10:33     Subject: Teacher trainee?
A paid internship in another field because nobody paid student teachers. I also had to pay for the year of student teaching. It was so intense with classes four nights per week from 4:30-8pm that I would’ve never been able to work on top of it. I got a regular summer job in the summers in between.
Anonymous
Post 08/08/2024 10:31     Subject: Teacher trainee?
Anonymous wrote:It's our area's way of "fully staffing" schools with folks who have no training.


Yard sign-check
Anonymous
Post 08/08/2024 10:31     Subject: Teacher trainee?
Anonymous wrote:It means the teacher is learning on the job like a student teacher but without any prior training or supervision. Welcome to the new normal in education.


It's not ok. It's like hiring someone to be a surgeon and putting them in the operating room that day. FCPS is not doing much to oversee or support these trainees. We had two leave from SPED-not their fault.
Anonymous
Post 08/08/2024 10:27     Subject: Teacher trainee?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I never thought majoring in education was a waste. It’s like other professions. If you aren’t trained properly, you are going to struggle and quit. I student taught for an entire school year in my education program prior to becoming a teacher. Anything less isn’t enough IMO. But it was a financial burden to follow this path. I student taught for free. It was an unpaid internship. That needs to change. Why would students choose that when they can get paid internships in nearly every other field?


That is ridiculous. For an entire year? Was this in FCPS? Is that even legal?


My internship was also a year. One semester was two days per week with two days of classes at UMD. The second semester was full time with one required evening class at UMD. We had to pay tuition + an extra fee to participate in the internship. It was part of the 4 year program and took place during the regular semester. Someone in their student teaching year could certainly do a paid internship during their summer break.
Anonymous
Post 08/08/2024 10:27     Subject: Teacher trainee?
Anonymous wrote:It was in MD. Nobody I knew who student taught was paid. They still don’t here.


Maybe they get college credit or it is part of a course?
Anonymous
Post 08/08/2024 10:25     Subject: Teacher trainee?
Anonymous wrote:What's the deal with teacher trainees? Has anyone ever had experience with one? Good or bad? What would compel someone to want to be a trainee?


Teacher trainee means they do not have the coursework completed and are not or have never been credentialed/licensed.
Anonymous
Post 08/08/2024 10:18     Subject: Teacher trainee?
It was in MD. Nobody I knew who student taught was paid. They still don’t here.
Anonymous
Post 08/08/2024 10:10     Subject: Teacher trainee?
Anonymous wrote:I never thought majoring in education was a waste. It’s like other professions. If you aren’t trained properly, you are going to struggle and quit. I student taught for an entire school year in my education program prior to becoming a teacher. Anything less isn’t enough IMO. But it was a financial burden to follow this path. I student taught for free. It was an unpaid internship. That needs to change. Why would students choose that when they can get paid internships in nearly every other field?


That is ridiculous. For an entire year? Was this in FCPS? Is that even legal?
Anonymous
Post 08/08/2024 10:07     Subject: Teacher trainee?
We had a teacher trainee last year as a Special Ed teacher for my son. She was terrible - taught him 3 years behind his actual baseline, did not communicate (even when we pressed her), and was not interested in forming any real relationship with the student. It was an epic disaster and we were in the school all the time trying to get my son just taught where he actually was. The oversight at the school was abysmal and I doubt there was any real training going on. I honestly think she was left to try to figure it all out on her own, which is a terrible way to train anyone. I hope all schools are not as hands off with trainees as ours was or our teacher trainees will go on to be just awful teachers.
Anonymous
Post 08/08/2024 09:57     Subject: Teacher trainee?
I never thought majoring in education was a waste. It’s like other professions. If you aren’t trained properly, you are going to struggle and quit. I student taught for an entire school year in my education program prior to becoming a teacher. Anything less isn’t enough IMO. But it was a financial burden to follow this path. I student taught for free. It was an unpaid internship. That needs to change. Why would students choose that when they can get paid internships in nearly every other field?
Anonymous
Post 08/08/2024 09:14     Subject: Teacher trainee?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The one my child had left in the middle of the year, so there's that.


Alternative certification programs have a high drop out rate. Most of these candidates are going to title ones, have a ton of “mentorship and coaching” that adds to the workload, they have to study for tests and taking classes online after school and complete regular teacher duties.


They also didn’t waste as much time & money on it as education majors who paid for their degree in education along with doing unpaid student teaching. It’s easier to walk away from something when you haven’t wasted much time or money on it.

Also, the trainees are being put in rough schools or forced to teach terrible classes that no one else wanted to teach. They are set up for failure.

Teaching is very much dependent on the environment. The people who quit may eventually be good teachers, but they never had a chance to get into a better school or a grade level that may be more appropriate for their personality and interest.

People need to have a teaching license to be pickier about what grade level or school they want to apply for. I recommend anyone thinking about teaching to sub and observe a lot of teachers to see what your preferences are. Talk to people and do your own research. If you are still interested in teaching, then apply for the cheapest online program to get a license.

This way you can choose where you apply and what you’re applying for. The trainee program saves money because you get paid while you’re getting a license, but it is not worth it. This is a shortcut that I think very few people can withstand because they put you in classes where they cannot get licensed teachers. That means you’re getting a job that no other teachers wanted - it’s that bad.

If you truly want to be a teacher, it is not a good starting point.


It’s been said many times on this forum, but I’ll just repeat it one more time. The majority of teachers are not education majors. That is a common misbelief.
Anonymous
Post 08/08/2024 09:12     Subject: Teacher trainee?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It's our area's way of "fully staffing" schools with folks who have no training.


I give it 10 years until the majority of teachers come in alternatively. Nobody is majoring in it anymore.

I recall being in high school and my teachers being former lawyers, corporate people, etc that just got tired and wanted to do something different. It's not necessarily bad.


I think the teacher trainee formula works better in the high school setting. Most teacher trainees are going to special ed and elementary positions.


That is also where many of the open positions are
Anonymous
Post 08/08/2024 09:05     Subject: Teacher trainee?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It's our area's way of "fully staffing" schools with folks who have no training.


I give it 10 years until the majority of teachers come in alternatively. Nobody is majoring in it anymore.

I recall being in high school and my teachers being former lawyers, corporate people, etc that just got tired and wanted to do something different. It's not necessarily bad.


I think the teacher trainee formula works better in the high school setting. Most teacher trainees are going to special ed and elementary positions.


I have always thought that special Ed should differentiate between kids with learning differences and kids with emotional/behavioral problems. Many teachers can handle the former, the latter, however is usually the cause for many teachers to pack up and quit the profession.
Anonymous
Post 08/08/2024 08:55     Subject: Teacher trainee?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It's our area's way of "fully staffing" schools with folks who have no training.


I give it 10 years until the majority of teachers come in alternatively. Nobody is majoring in it anymore.

I recall being in high school and my teachers being former lawyers, corporate people, etc that just got tired and wanted to do something different. It's not necessarily bad.


I think the teacher trainee formula works better in the high school setting. Most teacher trainees are going to special ed and elementary positions.
Anonymous
Post 08/07/2024 23:32     Subject: Teacher trainee?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The one my child had left in the middle of the year, so there's that.


Alternative certification programs have a high drop out rate. Most of these candidates are going to title ones, have a ton of “mentorship and coaching” that adds to the workload, they have to study for tests and taking classes online after school and complete regular teacher duties.


They also didn’t waste as much time & money on it as education majors who paid for their degree in education along with doing unpaid student teaching. It’s easier to walk away from something when you haven’t wasted much time or money on it.

Also, the trainees are being put in rough schools or forced to teach terrible classes that no one else wanted to teach. They are set up for failure.

Teaching is very much dependent on the environment. The people who quit may eventually be good teachers, but they never had a chance to get into a better school or a grade level that may be more appropriate for their personality and interest.

People need to have a teaching license to be pickier about what grade level or school they want to apply for. I recommend anyone thinking about teaching to sub and observe a lot of teachers to see what your preferences are. Talk to people and do your own research. If you are still interested in teaching, then apply for the cheapest online program to get a license.

This way you can choose where you apply and what you’re applying for. The trainee program saves money because you get paid while you’re getting a license, but it is not worth it. This is a shortcut that I think very few people can withstand because they put you in classes where they cannot get licensed teachers. That means you’re getting a job that no other teachers wanted - it’s that bad.

If you truly want to be a teacher, it is not a good starting point.