[indieFan]

Sanddrag,

Quick question: Why do you want to go into teaching?

If the answer isn't because it's something you've wanted to do for the majority of your life, chances are you won't be happy doing it. Make sure your reasons for going into it are clear.

Now, substitute teaching is most definitely not the same as teaching. Neither is mentoring a FIRST team. If you're thinking it's a way to springboard yourself into always having a FIRST team, don't! After a long day of teaching, you probably will be kicking yourself most of the time at staying even longer. (Staying over at any job is not fun.)

The Single Subject Exams are supposed to be extremely difficult to pass, at least in English. I took the Praxis and SSAT for English immediately after graduating and had no problem passing them. Many people take them at least twice from my understanding. Take the tests immediately after graduation while you remember half the stuff. The other half won't help because it will do things like give you a prompt and then ask a question that seems completely unrelated to the prompt.

There are also a variety of ways to get a credential in the Los Angeles area. The first is to go to school before getting into the classroom. The drawback here is that you may spend a lot of time and money before realizing this is the wrong thing for you. The second is to go into teaching with an emergency credential. This lets you into the classroom immediately and take classes at night. The third option specifically for LAUSD, although other districts might have it, is their District Intern Program. This is a program where you teach during the day, go to classes paid for by the district once a week for three years, and then get a credential. Be aware that the units earned from this program are non-transferrable meaning that if you were to switch districts, your pay would drop to the bottom of the scale. This program also requires things like 16 hours of visiting where the students hang out, their homes, jobs, etc with only 2 hours being allowed at a single location. It also requires a portfolio to be made.

In all of the above cases, some of the classes will teach you something useful, but more often than not, they are busywork. Until you are in the classroom, you won't know what questions to ask.

And, once again, I would ask yourself why you want to go into teaching. The answer to this is critical to whether you should be doing it at all.

Hope this helps,
indieFan