Education

I am a certified elementary teacher and have taught in the public school system for the past eight years. I am currently unemployed and looking for work.

Why are you unemployed? I have taken the TeacherReady course at University of West Florida for alternative certification, and took the Florida teacher tests (3), am now certified for English 6-12. (This is this past year). I did not get a job.

But I have been told that Texas is THE PLACE to be a teacher, that there tons of jobs out there, (and bla, bla, bla). I have started the Praxis (44 other states use it).

But what about you? How come you're unemployed in Texas when I'm told there are tons of jobs out there?

There aren't exactly "tons of jobs" here. Texas is finally feeling the recession and job growth has been slower here. I had an interview at Baylor Medical Center that was scheduled for shortly after Thanksgiving, but has been postponed because of the economic downturn here. I have also seen many more "going out of business" signs than "now hiring" signs. And a few of my friends had to relocate out of state as well due to the lack of good-paying computer-related jobs.

www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/columnists/sbrown/stories/DN-recol_05bus.ART.State.Edition1.4ab91e5.html

Not so sure about teachers and Houston but the Dallas ISD recently laid off 375 teachers due to budget constraints. blogs.nea.org/ednotes/2008/10/dallas-school-district-fires-375.html

Mary inTampa in Tampa, Florida said: Why are you unemployed? I have taken the TeacherReady course at University of West Florida for alternative certification, and took the Florida teacher tests (3), am now certified for English 6-12. (This is this past year). I did not get a job.

But I have been told that Texas is THE PLACE to be a teacher, that there tons of jobs out there, (and bla, bla, bla). I have started the Praxis (44 other states use it).

But what about you? How come you're unemployed in Texas when I'm told there are tons of jobs out there?

Hi Mary,

I recently relocated to Houston and in the process of getting certified as well. I've passed 3 TExES content exams and I'm ready to head to the upcoming job fairs. I was also called for an interview (finally),, Monday at 2pm!! I'm trying to stay positive. The teaching jobs are there, but the candidate pool has significantly increased due to many professionals having turning to teaching careers due to layoffs in other industries. Yes, Dallas ISD is laying off due to mishandling of their finances which have resulted in needed budget cuts. There are no talks of teacher layoffs in the Houston districts. Go for it!!

I feel your pain...I am 62 years old...have not had a classroom of my own under a contract for almost 30 years....stayed home with my disabled child and had a husband,ex now, who made lots of money so I did not have to work...now divorced and still caring for my children...it seems I have two adult children with the same physical problem..one in a wheelchair and one soon to be in one. All I can get is subbing jobs...and there aren't any benefits with that....I am up the creek and have no idea how I am going to make money. The jobs that are out there are going to the right out of school teachers not OLD ones like me...Houston is a huge place and although there maybe lots of schools it is near to impossible to go too far from home or the time and cost of getting to a job would not be worth it. I KNOW I am a great teacher and the few jobs I had subbing for a semester and had evaluations I got exceeds expectations....but that just doesn't matter at my age...they will USE you but not employ you with benefits...
Anyone interested in teaching should keep going to school and get the education to teach in college. Good luck to you.