I am licensed to teach middle school in Massachusetts but plan to move to Vancouver (or Toronto) at some point soon. What are the steps necessary to teach in Canada and are there many teaching positions available for math teachers at the secondary level (middle or high school)? Thanks.
Thanks so much for the response. Does anyone know if there are a number of teaching positions available in Vancouver BC specifically and what _their_ requirements are?
Hi, congratulations on moving to Canada.
Teaching in Ontario requires the approval of the Teachers College. All teachers are either trained here, and subsequently qualified, or otherwise if they are trained as a teacher somewhere that is not recognized, then that teacher will be required to take a test to become certified. Take a look at the Ontario Teachers College for specifics. This process however only applies to the public school system.
Private schools are another matter, and as far as I know they do not have any specific requirements for teaching credentials. There are many private schools in the Toronto area that you could likely get a job with, as you are working towards your certification for the public system, if you so choose.
As for teaching positions, there are many. There are somewhere around 100,000 teachers in Ontario, I believe. As with the States, many are now nearing retirement age, opening positions for teachers in all disciplines.
Cheers, and good luck.
Our administration has this crazy idea that the RSP teachers should move with their students for all three years. We have many arguments against this. Of course this was sprung on the RSP teachers and they were asked to outline reasons against this.
I’m not a teacher but may I answer this from the viewpoint of someone who went to school starting in the 50’s?
In the lower grades, maybe kindergarten to 2nd grade, I think stability means a lot to kids who have not been separated from home and parents to this extent before. I know expectations have changed since I was in school, but the lower grades teach(or should begin to teach) the basics-reading, simple math, etc. I think one teacher CAN handle that.
However, as the grades progress, the work becomes more specialized according to subject. I don’t believe that we can expect every teacher to be proficient at every subject. I learned more from teachers who KNEW more about what they were teaching-and if they LOVED that particular subject, it was a bonus for all of us.
May I give one sad example heard from a friend who teaches at a Catholic high school? She was originally from Canada-spoke French like a native, taught the subject for years, and every year took her students on a tour of France. The school ran low on money-the choice was to retain the French class, or begin a Spanish class. We all know Spanish is getting rammed down our kids’ throats, like it or not. My friend couldn’t speak a word of Spanish. She & her sister were supporting an elderly, disabled mother and an old family house-neither woman ever married because their mom needed them so. My friend needed her job so bad that SHE offered to teach the Spanish class, not knowing a word! She took the total immersion type classes and when school started, she was able to stay far enough ahead of her students to be able to teach them. The school dropped the Spanish class the next year and re-instated the French class. I tell you this to show that for many of our teachers, that job is all that stands between them and the unemployment line, & its best for students to have the BEST teachers in their particular fields, instead of forcing teachers to learn a little about EVERY class but being an expert in none but their original specialty. The "jack of all trades" analogy….:)
are middle school teachers mean than elementary school teachers?
Well, they demand a little more from you, but they aren’t necessarily meaner! You may have to do a little more work than you are used to, but most teachers are very friendly and personable. I’m sure you ran in to a few meanies in elementary school, and you will definitely have to face a few really bad ones during the course of your education. Just remember that you only have these teachers for one year, so try your best to get along with them and do what they ask! You’ll get through it, don’t worry!
How would you react if the students at your school were having a major strike for lets say lack of freedom. I dont mean a peaceful strike I mean students trying to take over the school with bombs and guns.
I am not a teacher but I would get the **** out of there asap
it is ridiculous
do they make enough money to get a house in the suburbs and live normally or do they sort of make good money and need to work for a while first before getting a house
do teachers get to choose where they work? im planning on going to college and working in a suburban middle school
Yeah, loads… almost as much as me…
I’m a history/education major and I know that getting a job teaching history is pretty tough unless you want to be a coach also. I really don’t want to coach a sport. Does anyone know of any metro areas where there is a healthy(ish) job market in the history teacher department at the middle or high school level?
I hate to break this to you, but history and English majors are a dime a dozen; you really are going to have to do something that sets you apart from the crowd. You don’t want to coach; how about debate? Or Mock Trial? or something else?
Most schools expect teachers to act as advisers to clubs if they are not coaching, so figure out something you would enjoy doing.
Before, my school always had planners for each student and I would have to sign it before they went to the bathroom. Next year, they are not doing the planners, but giving us hall passes for each of our rooms. I generally do not let students leave my room during class, but I understand that there are emergencies. How can I regulate students using up their "emergency" bathroom visits? I was always able to look in their planners before. Does anyone give out 1 or 2 bathroom passes per quarter or anything like that? If so, does it work well?
I can tell the "mom of three" has never taught in a public school. It is against most school policies for a teacher to leave a classroom to go to the bathroom. We do go during the breaks, and we do usually use the staff bathroom which for some reasons is always on the other side of the building.
There will always be students who abuse the system. After awhile you will know who they are. In my school the principal passed out a list of students who were not to be issued bathroom passes (caught with boyfriends, trips outside to smoke etc.) Just keep notes on who is going the most, and if necessary contact the parents and ask them if their child has a medical reason for missing class & the frequent bathroom visits.
Because wikipedia is not a reliable source and most can’t ever use it in college and even most of high school.
I think Wikipedia gets a bad rap for no particular reason. I use it extensively to gain general knowledge about topics of interest. It is an extensive database of information that contains little incorrect information. One could go through the exercise of cross-referencing and verifying every bit of information they read on Wikipedia; in my opinion, this would be a fruitless exercise.
History is rife with misinformation (e.g. How Columbus was depicted in school texts fifty years ago); it seems unfair to label Wikipedia as an unreliable source when there are plenty of unreliable sources available. You can just as easily cross-reference incorrect information as you can correct information.
I would expect that encouraging students to use Wikipedia would probably have the following effects: (i) it would encourage students to seek out information on topics that interest them; (ii) it would allow students to gain general knowledge about a variety of topics; (iii) it would give students a source that they can use to research topics for school projects (note: that by middle school, students should use at least three different sources of information); (iv) it might even give them some additional reading practice!
High school and college students would probably have difficulty passing in a paper citing "The Mickey Mouse Encyclopedia of Everything" as a source of information, but a grade one student would be lauded for their use of this (ficticious) source. Middle school students likewise have not necessarily developed the sophistication to use the same sources that high school and college students would. Wikipedia, in my opinion, is an appropriate source of information for middle school students.
One last point to ponder . . . Is the information really important in a research project? When I teach reading, I am teaching reading strategies, not whether Emily will make the right decision by the end of the story. When I assign a research project, it isn’t so students can learn more about marsupials (this is a corollary effect though), it is to teach them research strategies, so when they do enter high school or college, they will be able to tackle the so-called more reliable sources of information with ease.
I make about $200 a day. This is my first year teaching.