Ep 87 | How to Change Your career Path into a Classroom?

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I do think from a parent perspective, especially, I think there's a relatability to someone who has been in a nine to five job, or maybe who waited tables for several years, or who had a different career path and is now come into education, and they bring those things in with them. They bring those talents and the those abilities that they mastered in a different environment into that classroom and then overlay them with the tools of education. And I think it's a powerful mixture.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

Welcome to the Voices United in Education podcast. Each week we showcase the teachers, administrators, and community members who go the extra mile to contribute to the success of every student in Escambia County. You'll meet the real people behind the titles and learn about the amazing resources to support every student's success. We tend to think of educators as lifers. We envision them as kids playing teacher at recess, volunteering to grade other students' papers, and tutoring to make extra money. But the numbers belie the stereotype. 75% of new teachers in Escambia County are alternative certification teachers, meaning they didn't start out on the educational track and took a different route to get there after college. My next guest is the program support specialist at the Professional Learning Certification Program. Today she's going to share why this program is so popular, why it could be a good fit for you, and how it works. From corporate to classroom, Washington High School graduate, future teacher seeker, Rachel Rodriguez Scrimsher. Thanks for being here. Thank you for having me. You have a background in finance and mortgage lending, which is so interesting, but you also taught in the classroom. So I'm curious what your perspective is on what you found your corporate background brought to your classroom.

SPEAKER_00 2:09

So having the experience I had in the corporate world gave me the team-building perspective. It also gave me some perspective of dealing with various types of people. So when I was in the classroom and dealing with students and dealing with building relationships with them and dealing with connecting with parents and connecting with other teachers on my team, connecting with administrators, I felt that I was prepared for those connections, having been in previous experiences in my career building those relationships to build clients, build relationships with brokers and things such as that.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

So the ecosystem of the school, the classroom, the parents, you were able to integrate more easily into it because of the corporate ecosystem? Absolutely. Yes. That is so interesting. You wouldn't think, I was kind of guessing what your answer was going to be, and I guessed wrong. What's your job entail now as the program specialist?

SPEAKER_00 3:12

I work with several dynamic teacher leaders who also work with all of our teachers in our district that are on the path to certification. So those teachers come from us from a myriad of backgrounds and they are on their track to professional certification from alternate certification. Some of them have gone through college and have degrees in a subject area specific, say they have an English degree, or they may have a business marketing degree or even criminal justice. And that wasn't the path that they wanted to take. Or they did take that path for a little while and they've decided they want to be an educator. That's where we come in. So we work to support them. We help integrate them into the world of education. We provide them with support of the, we call them FEPS. There's a lot of letters that go into education. You learn about all the acronyms. All of these acronyms, but FEPS, which is the Florida educators' practices that they will work through over a period of the time from temporary certification to professional certification to master the concepts that you would have gained if you'd gone through an educator preparation program in traditional college. Through that, you have classroom walkthroughs with your teacher mentor that's there to support you. Is that the teacher leader you were referring to earlier? Okay. Yes. So they're there alongside you to support you and help. They do monitoring, they do modeling. We have workshops and trainings. We actually have one next Monday that we'll be leading with our all of our teachers. We'll come and have a half a day of training of new learning strategies and teaching strategies that they can take back to their classroom and implement immediately. So as a whole, that's a very summarized version of what we do in our department.

SPEAKER_01 5:13

I think you summarized it. Great. Thank you. So it sounds like if I'm hearing you right, your role is to support the teacher leaders who are really like boots on the ground with the Alt CERT teachers to be. Did I do that right? That is absolutely correct. Yes. Beautifully said. Okay, excellent. So as the person over the teacher leaders, how do you ensure that the Alt Cert teachers coming up are getting what they need? Do you have like meetings with the teacher leaders, or is it an intuitive process because those teacher leaders are already in the classroom?

SPEAKER_00 5:47

A couple different things. Um we have a morning huddle on Mondays. I huddle with my team every Monday. That sounds kind of fun. Yes, absolutely. There's donuts. Sometimes there's donuts. They've asked me to please stop with the donuts because some of them are really trying to be um calorie conscious. I did bring a king cake though from Raddy Girl. Um, but we do weekly huddles just to all come together. Really, sometimes it just turns into let's talk about what's going on in your world. But we talk data, we do talk about where their teachers are, what they need from me, how we can how I can support them this week, if it's go out with them to a school to help with an advisement, if it's to go in their place to a school because they need to be at another school, we can do that too. I also pull data routinely to look at teacher progress on the courses that they need to complete for us, enroll them in courses, make sure that they have the support they need for the state assessments that they have to take and keep them on track.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

And I want to talk more about the nitty-gritty and the process in a minute. So I want to like come back to that of the how-to's, but I wanted to ask you what you perceive from your communication with the public and your teacher leaders that people misunderstand about alternatively certified teachers.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

I think the perception of an alt cert, as we call teachers, could be negative. Maybe it could be it's just a teacher without experience. Um, and in some ways it is a teacher without teaching experience from the perspective of they didn't attend a college of education. But there's a reason that that person has been led to a school. And at the end of the day, teaching is about serving. It's about serving our community and serving the students. For us, it's the students of Isgambia County. And those teachers bring something very special to the table that a college graduate from a college of education may or may not have. Let's say someone graduated from high school, never worked, went to college, really didn't have a job. Their first job was a teacher. That's really great. And that's an amazing course to education. But on the other hand, you also could have someone that has a really incredible experience. I spoke with one of our Alt CERT teachers, Amanda Pemberton, and she came from the SWAT team here in our state, and she worked in children's services, and she is a teacher now. Wow. She's one of our Alt Cert teachers, and her heart is in our schools, and it may give me goosebumps every time I think about her. But how amazing is that what she brings into that classroom every day and the things that she's seen and the experiences that she's had with students and the way that she can now make an impact on them from the other side of their of her world and impress upon them for the rest of their life.

SPEAKER_01 8:46

I wonder if there is a higher level of connectability between the student and the teacher and the teacher and the parent when you come from an alternative background, because not at any fault of the teacher who takes the traditional route, but I'm imagining a parent's um misconception of maybe what an a traditional path teacher would her his or her um perspective on the world would be. Like if I'm a parent, I might think, well, well, that's nice. What are you? 20? You you you don't, you know, have you never even had another job outside of a classroom, your whole life has been a classroom. I can see a lot of, you know, cynicism potentially being thrown at a teacher on a traditional path. Again, not at any fault of the teacher, but I can see maybe like a different level of connection being able to be sewn together between the teacher that like was a SWAT team person, right, or worked in corporate finance, or worked as a home builder, or whatever the case may be. And and the that would give it another point of relatability to those parents and even the students, like, oh, you have a life outside of a you've been a different person. Oh, oh, you know what I mean? Am I am I just imagining these things or have you seen that to be true? No, I completely agree with you.

SPEAKER_00 10:14

And I I think that's very true. I think I I just actually asked my nephew this past weekend. He mentioned that he saw one of his teachers in a parade. And I said, Was that crazy to see your teacher not at the school building? And he said, Yes. He said, It's weird to not see her just at school. I said, I know, you know that she does things other than be a teacher. And he said, I know, but I don't like to think about it. So, but you know, that's the mind of a child, that's what it is. But I I do think from a parent perspective, especially, I think there's a relatability to someone who has been in a nine-to-five job, or maybe who waited tables for several years, or who had a different career path and is now come into education, and they bring those things in with them. They bring those talents and the those abilities that they mastered in a different environment into that classroom and then overlay them with the tools of education. And I think it's a powerful mixture.

SPEAKER_01 11:19

I agree. Powerful is a great word to bring that to. Okay, so let's get into the nitty-gritty now, because the beautiful thing about this certification path is it is available to a wide audience. So my first question is what are the prerequisites for someone to consider this path?

SPEAKER_00 11:38

In the state of Florida, we have several different paths. We have if you are a retired military veteran, you can apply for a temporary certificate with the Florida Department of Education, and that gets you your statement of eligibility to then apply for a teaching position at a school.

SPEAKER_01 11:59

Okay, quick clarification. Retired veteran, and that can be enlisted officer, anything. Anything. Okay. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 12:07

Yes. If you are a graduate of a college and do not have an education degree, you can apply directly with the Florida Department of Education for a temporary teaching certificate, and they will send you a statement of eligibility. With that statement of eligibility, that is your ticket to apply for a position. And then what will happen when you're hired as a teacher, then that starts the ball moving of your alternate certified. So there's a couple different paths that you can choose. You can stay and do the program that we offer here in the district within my department, or there's some outside organizations that offer a teacher prep program as well. It just depends on what your comfort level is and your financial ability because there's a cost associated any way that you go.

SPEAKER_01 13:00

Well, what is the cost? Can we, since you mentioned that, not the all outside one, but what is the the cost associated with the program in Escambia County?

SPEAKER_00 13:09

We have really worked hard to keep our cost very minimal for the teachers. Um this year our cost is now $700. It is payable in small increments, $150 a year split up over three paychecks and payable over the course of five years. But if a teacher were to finish all of their program early, then they do not owe the remaining payments. So it's an incentive to finish as quickly as they can.

SPEAKER_01 13:42

So the duration of the program can take up to three years. Is that what you're doing?

SPEAKER_00 13:48

They have five years. Your temporary certificate lasts for five years. So it was in previous years only a three-year shot. Then the state lengthened that to a five-year window. So they have five full years, but it really three years is a better window to finish the program and really get the most out of it. If you link if you pull it out to the full five years, it's I don't think you're getting as much because you're dragging it out too long. You really want to get what you can get the first few years and really dive in.

SPEAKER_01 14:21

So as soon as your time in the program begins, it sounds like you're already an employee of Escambia County Public Schools. You are. And are you you're working as a teacher and getting paid as a teacher?

SPEAKER_00 14:32

You are, yes. And you're also the first year as a teacher with a temporary certificate, you are assigned into our start program, which is for both our alternate certified teachers and our professional certified teachers. But it is our incredible program that provides you a one-on-one mentor and carries you through your first year of teaching.

SPEAKER_01 15:00

We did an episode on start, and it just, I had no idea that that existed. And it's such a really amazing reassurance because I mean, don't you wish on your first day in in mortgage lending that you had a mentor to go, okay, now do this. This word means that, you know, the jargon. There are so many elements of a new anything that are going to feel very overwhelming. And so what I love about this is it gives open access to uh the right people to get to in the right position without that overwhelm as much.

SPEAKER_00 15:34

Yes, and that safe person and um who's been there and has walked in your shoes. I can remember my first day in the classroom. And I, when I started teaching, I had interned at the school where I was hired. So I was familiar with the school and with the staff and with the students. And still I walked into my classroom and I had my desks arranged and I had my walls all decorated and I was ready for my first day with my students, and I was still in a panic. I was like, there's no one here to tell me I'm gonna be okay or this is what I'm gonna do. Most jobs you have on-the-job training, someone's there with you. And um it was a little scary. I would have loved to have had a CT with me for sure. Just tell me it was gonna be okay. I bet. Oh my gosh. Um, so to overcome it.

SPEAKER_01 16:26

Yes, yeah. Well, that it's nice that all those supports are there. And so any, you know, trepidation someone would feel about a switching careers in the first place, right? That comes with its own set of anxiety-filled thoughts that they could be rest assured that there is someone there to support them. There's multiple someones, it actually sounds like a whole department of someone. Whole department. Whole department of someone, so all the someones your little heart would ever desire. So talk to me about the exams. What exams would an Alt Cert teacher need to take to complete their certification? Okay.

SPEAKER_00 17:01

I'm gonna give you a list of all of them, and then I'm gonna add the caveat that there are current exemptions available for some of the exams under certain circumstances with certain requirements. There are items right now on the board for our state in workshops being talked about. So some of these things might change. Okay. Just to say that. But we have a professional education exam that can that can be exempt and will always be able to be exempt with a master's degree. Then there is a subject area that is required within the first year of teaching in your content area. So there's a general knowledge exam and then your fee's, which is just task work. That should be all the tests. Okay. It's not too bad. And you spread them out so you don't take everything at one time. Okay, so this is not all one sitting. No, no, no, no. You have five years to take all those tests.

SPEAKER_01 18:01

Okay, well, that's plenty. Yes. Okay. Yes. So if a parent is listening and wants to explore this, what would be their first step?

SPEAKER_00 18:08

I would say first apply for your temporary certificate with the state. That would be my first step. So that you can get your statement of eligibility. And then that is your ticket to apply for jobs. Where do you go? Can you to save the website or do you know it off? It's the Florida DOE's website, which I believe is just flddo.org.

SPEAKER_01 18:30

Okay. We'll we'll link it in the episode description so that people can have easy access. Yes, that would be great. What qualities would you say would make for a good teacher? Let's say like someone is is considering this. Now they know the first step, they know all the tests they have to take, they know they have support people. Um, and they're thinking, but how would I know if I would be good at it?

SPEAKER_00 18:54

You know, I think being a teacher is something special. There's different grade levels. When I was in school, you know, you go through the various different flavors of grade levels. There's the elementary babies and your middle school babies, and then your high school babies. Um I love the middle school group. But I think all of it boils down to wanting to make an impact in those students' lives. And you you do and you can, and you have no idea of what a difference that you can make to one child. And that's power, that's powerful. I know I've used that word before, but it is a powerful thing. And maybe the mundane nine to five job is great, and you know it, and it's fun, and you know, it's mindless teaching is not any of those things. Teaching is engaging and it's inspiring and it has a multitude of reward, both intrinsic and outward rewards that are amazing with the love and adoration of your students and families too. So, you know, anybody that is looking to make those impacts, to serve your community, to find a different way to plug and connect in with making those changes. Um, and who has a little bit of patience, maybe, and a good sense of humor. Um, because if we can't laugh some days, we could cry. A good sense of humor is important. Um, you know, but it's the best decision I ever made.

SPEAKER_01 20:44

I can see that just from the way that your facial expressions are when you describe it. That's really beautiful. Well, thank you so much for sharing about this. I do hope it connects the right people with this position. People who have the heart that you described and just thought it wasn't an option because they didn't know. They thought they had to go back to college and do the whole thing over again, but that there's there's a way to do it differently. There's a path, and we want them. We'll get them there for sure. Thanks for listening. Be sure to subscribe and share. Voices United in Education is a production of Escambia County Public Schools.