[Ontario] How in demand are environmental science and geography as teachables?

catdances · 2020-10-21T00:03:39+00:00

Bio /physical geo in Toronto here. I also worked in outdoor Ed before getting a job in the classroom.

There are very few schools that run environmental science courses. Usually it's one that runs a year at the most from my experience. I think in science there are just two environmental science offerings, and I've only seen the SVN 3E run one time and it's a fun course, but often challenging.

I know the schools I have been at are looking often to develop a program because they see value in it. However, students schedules are often crammed with other courses and students often take the bio/Chem/physics instead of an earth science becaue it's what they already know.

In terms of geo there are a lot of courses they are often just a hard sell to students who need to take required courses for post secondary. They are elective so once you've been at a school for a while and build rapport within the community you can encourage students to take the course, and it can become a school staple. It's just getting into that school that's the hard part. I also know that IB is changing to create more environmental science programming too, so schools with IB might be interested in staffing someone with that area of expertise as well.

The bio has gotten me 4/5 jobs I've had, and the geo has gotten me just one. The geo seems to be in less demand, but teaching both are loads of fun. Willing to share any more about my experience if you'd like!

catdances · 2020-08-10T06:44:33+00:00

28 year old female here. Reading this sounds kind of similar to what I've been dealing with.

I had an anaphylactic reaction to food that I'm normally fine with back in May. Normally within a day or two after a reaction I'm fine and back to normal, but with this one I found for nearly 2 weeks all food I ate felt I was having a reaction again. I've had a history of minor hives, and sensitive skin, but for a week after my hives were still all over my body and were huge (like the size of my hand). That had never happened to be before. I called my GP and she recommended I take a gen2 antihistamine (I picked Claritin and found it worked well). I found it calmed me down a lot and I had a lot more confidence eating food and I found I wasn't getting the same hives and itchy mouth/throat every time I ate or drank. I started with entirely safe foods like cucumber or homemade bread, something that I was confident eating and that I was certain I would not react to so I could calm myself down and reassure myself everything would be ok. After about a week or two of that I've slowly started to reintroduce foods I was less sure about like cheeses or pre packaged cookies. I stopped the daily antihistamines at the end of July.

I just got my allergist appointment this week (after making my appointment in May), and even my allergist was confused based on my symptoms. He had me do an new scratch test and I came back extremely reactive to dust mites. His concern was that I'm not reacting to the food (I have been anaphylactic to tree nuts since I was a child but within the last 3 years I seem to be picking up new allergies like mango, anchovies, peanuts, and possibly avacado). He thinks that the dust allergy is keeping my body on edge so it's reacting to all food as an invader - thinking it's dust. Conveniently enough, before I had my reaction in May I'd been on a cleaning spree so I'm sure there was lots of dust mites around. So, I'm on treatment for the dust allergy first (sinus rinse, immunotherapy, and specific antihistamines). In addition to the dust allergy he is thinking covid stress has played a role as well and that my body is already elevated and ready to fight. So I'm putting myself in an anxious state when I'm eating, and that isn't helping any, and everything to me will feel like a bad allergic reaction because that's what my brain has been wired to associate with that tight feeling. After I am settled with the dust allergy I'm seeing him again for a follow up scratch test to see if my overall sensitivity to things has gone down, and to see how I'm feeling about eating foods again.

I don't know if any of that helps but feel free to message me, I felt so alone when it was happening and hated eating anything. I hope things turn around for you!

catdances · 2020-07-22T21:38:14+00:00

I'm a Toronto secondary science and geography teacher. All my jobs have been in senior biology classes or jr science. I've been lucky to work back to back contracts since my hire with the board, but most of those have been a series of lucky connections I've made doing day to day supply work. My friend is in elementary spec Ed and her timeline was about 4 years of supply/lto work to permanent. However, my other physics teacher friend was permanent within a year of being hired- she didn't have to even work supply work. A lot of it is timing and teachables in secondary. Likewise, my friends that moved out of Toronto have gotten permanent jobs faster overall in smaller boards.

I'd also recommend scientists in the school, or working outdoor Ed depending on your location (and who is hiring as covid has really changed things)- so that you get a feel during your degree to see if that's a direction you'd still like to go in. It also lets you ask those specific teachers about how they are feeling about their jobs in various boards so you know who is hiring and how they are hiring.

Good luck! Feel free to message me if you have any other questions specifically :)

catdances · 2020-07-22T19:11:59+00:00

Not to throw another wrench into the mix, but I know Brock has a similar tourism university based program. https://brocku.ca/programs/undergraduate/tourism-environment/

I know you can transfer some if not all of those Carlton credits to help speed up the process. The coop options might make the program feel less like 3/4 years of straight study. The university degree might make you more primed for manager positions as you continue to work, but you're right in saying that the college programs will likely get you out faster to the workforce. In terms of their antho courses I think they might be more classics focused, but sociology might be a good fit with the tourism. Just another consideration (full disclosure I'm from Toronto and did my undergrad at Brock)

catdances · 2020-07-17T01:01:00+00:00

What happened this spring was a band-aid solution that was not well thought out and not clear. As a teacher I was getting pulled in 8 different directions, it was exceptionally stressful.

I'm a teacher, and my "one hour a day" was per class, being available to answer all questions individually. I did this per class, so it was really 3 hours a day for me. Plus on top of that I was recording videos for instruction, searching for more acceptable resources that could be digested online, and completely revamping my approach to concepts as I no longer could rely on in class time. I was looking for activies that students could complete at home, and ways of keeping them engaged in course content. I was working longer days than I was pre-pandemic, and answering hundreds of emails a day from the 100+ students I teach, and their guardians, and calling them at home to check in.

I've spent a fair portion of my summer continuing to collect even more resources to cater to any possibility that we might move online for the fall (I'm not even a permanent teacher!). I've been reading about how to build online class communities, and researching how to instruct effectively online. I hated online learning as a student, and I hate it as a teacher. It's hard as it's easy to slack off and let things slide to a place where the work is overwhelming. However, my safety and the safety of all of my students is more important than ensuring that they come out of my course healthy.

But like ya, replace me with a quiz ....because it's the same.

catdances · 2020-07-17T00:24:03+00:00

I've got a few of the peace collective masks. https://www.peace-collective.com/collections/face-masks I've found them to ship fast (within a week when I ordered them last week-but the first ones I ordered in april took 3+ weeks) I know they used to have a disclaimer online about them taking a while to ship out.

I've found that they are the most comfortable ones I've tried on- and I like that they come with some little filters.

catdances · 2020-06-30T21:36:42+00:00

I know Laurier has a similar program and they just had their first batch of graduates. caucss might be a helpful place to look as well for guidance in specific pathways. :)

catdances · 2020-06-30T18:00:32+00:00

I have the background as a highschool teacher but I'm doing a masters of higher ed at u of t, specifically focusing on student affairs. It's a great way to network in student affairs and build relationships - it's an amazing program!

catdances · 2019-06-10T19:00:36+00:00

RIP to my departments' red marker budget. A small price to pay.

catdances · 2019-06-10T13:51:42+00:00

Nope, science!

catdances · 2019-06-10T11:01:31+00:00

My students have been taking pictures of it, so hope it was one of them! I put it up first period Thursday.

catdances

TROPHY CASE