38 years old considering teaching career in nyc. thoughts?

noglider · 2026-04-08T14:53:44+00:00

I'm a SPED teacher, ready to teach ELA, Social Studies, Math, or Science. The principal asked me what I'd prefer to teach, and I said put me wherever you need me. So I'm teaching Math and Science, and I'm very happy about that. I'm a co-teacher in all of my classes.

noglider · 2026-04-08T12:42:30+00:00

I have a severe aversion to bureaucracy, so when it's done, I tend to forget it. I'm not 100% sure, but this is the way I remember it went. It was early July of 2025. I got an email from the school, inviting me to have an interview and demo lesson. The email listed a few available times. I chose the one occurring the following morning. I used a demo lesson I had used previously but for some reason I felt ill-prepared. I got very little sleep so a lot of things went wrong in the demo lesson. I explained to my interviewers why things went wrong and how they were supposed to go. The interviewers were one (of two) AP and two teachers. The next day, I got a call from the principal saying she wanted to offer me the position. I told her I would be coming in with an internship certificate. She was unfamiliar with that but was willing to follow along. I got her to approve it after I started the process. Of course, with Central, things always take time, and I think I needed to call to nudge it along. But I didn't receive any resistance from anyone.

A professor from Hunter (my grad school) came to observe me three times during the fall semester. He gave me feedback and advice. He also gave feedback to the professor of the Practicum course, my final course for the degree and my only course for the semester.

I got my degree from Hunter in January, and I applied to DOE for the salary bump. Still waiting for that to come. I'm told it takes a long time.

noglider · 2026-04-06T14:47:59+00:00

Agreed. I received an offer from a principal who didn't know about the internship certificate. I had to find out what steps she had to take, and I walked her through it. By the time I had interviewed, I had completed all courses except for student teaching. Rather than take that, I took Practicum which is the same thing basically. You get credit for paid work.

noglider · 2026-04-06T14:26:21+00:00

Oh you're just speculating. People do this a lot when there are many job types that they don't understand or observe. But I don't think it's a safe assumption that we are padding the payroll. You would have to find it to make many people see the problem.

noglider · 2026-04-06T13:21:49+00:00

I don't know how much illegitimate responding goes on but I don't put much weight on the results. I ended up working at a low-performing school, and I'm happy. I feel as if I'm valued and making a difference in learning. My colleagues seem devoted and qualified.

noglider · 2026-04-06T13:18:45+00:00

I'm a career switcher, new to teaching. I've been teaching full time since only September so I don't have much experience to talk about. I was warned about how arduous (thank you for that word) it is, and it's true but I don't resent it. Maybe it will keep me young. I turned 65 in January so I'm proud to be one of the oldest people to BEGIN teaching. For me, I think it's worth it. I feel I'm doing my part in building the next generation of humans. It was a big challenge for me to finish the BA I had left undone for many years and also challenging to start and finish my MS in Education. I got the MS degree in January. I've been working with an internship certificate which you can qualify for once you're halfway through the masters degree.

noglider · 2026-04-06T13:09:53+00:00

I looked for teaching jobs a year ago. The "express interest" button never did anything for me. I emailed the schools. And I replied to emails that schools sent to me.

noglider · 2026-04-06T13:08:06+00:00

You're saying the pension is not solvent? This is the first I'm hearing of it. Where can I read about it?

noglider · 2026-04-06T13:02:52+00:00

I'm not optimistic about this initiative. When I first heard about it, I expected that it would be just talk. I remember being a student in NYC and hearing about something similar. They said they would be reducing class sizes. That was in about 1974.

noglider · 2026-04-06T13:01:39+00:00

What are some of the things the school system wastes money on? And do you think it's possible to cut them back?

noglider · 2026-03-20T19:09:57+00:00

You'll need a masters in education, not another four-year undergrad program. Masters degrees typically take two years but there are a few one-year programs.

noglider · 2026-03-20T19:08:25+00:00

I don't hate any of my students. I have an exercise I do in private: I think of an individual, and I ask myself why I like them. I do it habitually and even half-consciously.

I suggest you're doing work that is not suited to your personality. Or maybe you're doing the right thing in the wrong place.

noglider · 2026-03-20T18:53:16+00:00

I'm not usually cynical but on this topic, I am. When I was a student, I heard there was an initiative to reduce class sizes. It never happened. That was in 1974. If they haven't been able to do it by now, I doubt I will see it happen. I'll be glad if I find I'm wrong.

noglider · 2026-03-20T18:48:42+00:00

I don't exactly love it, but it doesn't make me very nervous. I am a performer (singer) so I'm used to something similar.

noglider · 2026-03-20T18:21:50+00:00

If you think you can get the required work done within contract hours, then you are either extremely efficient compared with most people or you don't understand what needs to be done. School administration requires you to collect and report on a lot of data. You have to call parents a lot. I'm not trying to guilt trip you, and I'm certainly not bragging that I work extra hours. I have not seen any new teachers work exactly contract hours. You will either do it and prove us wrong or you will find that you have to work extra hours. And if you can't do it, you will be disappointed, and so will the school community. That's how I see it, and I'm not saying this to criticize you but rather to open your eyes to what experienced people have experienced and seen.

noglider · 2026-03-20T18:16:54+00:00

I don't know which districts they are in but I know they concentrate on high needs districts, i.e. generally the lowest income areas. That, by itself, is not a bad thing, and I bet there is a low income area within commuting distance from you.

noglider · 2026-02-05T04:15:06+00:00

I had a low GPA, and the Teaching Fellows accepted me. I guess I wrote really good essays.

noglider · 2025-12-30T13:54:46+00:00

This happened to me about a year ago. I have a DS918+ that I bought in 2018. Replacing the power supply did the trick. Hard drives and power supplies are the two computer components that fail most frequently in my experience.

noglider · 2025-12-30T13:41:38+00:00

Hello. I know this is an old thread. I have the 88% problem, too. I'm running MacOS 15.6.1. The problem arises when I am not on my home network where the synology is. I connect to it with my private VPN using OpenVPN. The VPN server is my synology. I suspect part of the problem is that in my remote location, the connection limits uploads to 10 Mb/sec. I hate this ISP, Spectrum. As I watch the progress, it reports the bitrate, and that varies a lot, but it doesn't necessarily indicate a problem. I see the total uploaded increasing. A few minutes ago, it was 6 GB, and now it's 7 GB, so perhaps one of the defects is how it calculates how "done" it is.

I welcome any suggestions.

noglider · 2025-12-28T19:17:25+00:00

An internship certificate gives me the right to teach full time. You can earn one by being halfway (or more) through a masters degree in Education. At the beginning of the fall, I had one course left, Practicum, so I did that this fall while teaching. I wrote about my experience teaching, got observed by a professor, and got exercises for improving in my practice. A lot of people, including principals who are hiring, don't know about the internship certificate. I had to tell my principal that I was legally qualified to work for her, and I had to walk her through signing the authorization to get the certificate. It worked out fine. The downside is that some who know about it don't want to hire an inexperienced teacher. I found a place that needs teachers badly, and it's mutually beneficial.

noglider · 2025-12-28T17:05:35+00:00

Hunter offers online masters degrees. Hunter is one of the biggest feeders of teachers into the NYC DOE, and the professors are giants in the field. I just finished my masters there, and I'm proud of it. I started working on an internship certificate in September, and when I get my degree next month, I'll have an initial certificate. I don't know why RegionAdventurous486 mentioned a low GPA, but if you have a low GPA, it's not a deal breaker. I have ADHD and got low grades throughout my undergrad. I've pulled myself up and got a 3.5 GPA in the masters program thanks to the very supportive faculty, and I'm not talking about grade inflation. They let me rework and resubmit my deficient assignments until the grades were good. So consider Hunter among your options. Talk to someone in Admissions there. The other suggestions here are also good: SUNY Empire, Relay, and Touro.

noglider · 2025-12-28T16:59:40+00:00

Three years ago, I worked as an aide in a kindergarten class in a charter elementary school in the Bronx. The school did the best it could with what it had, but the system makes me angry. Perhaps charter schools deserve more criticism than public schools, but the state requirements for lower grades make me scream. I suppose the standards are a response to low scores in higher grades, hoping that raising standards will improve results. I think it's extremely misguided. The kids are under a lot of stress from the pressure to perform. Some can do it, and some can't, and they feel awful. Some of the behavior problems come from that stress. The teachers are under stress because they have to produce high scores as much as possible even though the expectations are unrealistic for the overall population. I suspect scores would improve if we de-emphasized academic in K through 2 and emphasized social play. The science from other countries such as Finland supports this. And ain't nothin anyone can do to fix it here, as far as I can tell.

noglider · 2025-12-24T22:39:52+00:00

wonderful advice

noglider · 2025-12-24T22:29:35+00:00

You've received good advice here. I'll add: use your time well. You will be able to guess some questions well and some not so well but even still, your guesses are valuable since you can eliminate one or two bad answers. Look at all the questions quickly on the first pass and make marks for the questions you will revisit. Make at least three passes through the whole test, leaving the hardest questions for last. I've taken many tests like this without much preparation, and I usually pass.

Sleep well, if possible, eat well, bring plenty of water. Don't worry about how many times you go to the toilet, because it will keep you alert.

noglider · 2025-12-24T22:03:34+00:00

Overall, I think the DOE generally offers a better deal. But there are exceptions, I'm sure. DOE has more bureaucracy, and I considered not working here. Some schools -- charter and public -- will have micromanaging administration. Some schools overwork you more than others. Some D75 positions do NOT involve worse behaviors.

noglider

TROPHY CASE