From: Minnesota Madness <baselope@yahoo.com>
To: Teacher2Teacher Public Discussion
Date: 2004112220:17:38
Subject: Yet another engineer cum teacher


Hi folks,

I though I would chime in as I seem to fit the description here - 

I am an early-mid career changer with an M.S. in chemical engineering
and 4 years of professional experience.  I'd love to teach AP-track
math, as I was taught it by my favorite teacher.  I realize I might
not find this exact position for some time but teaching in general
interests me.

I know I would enjoy it - I love tutoring math and working with kids,
and I have what I feel are some realistic views of classroom
management.  Of course the pay cut is hard to stomach but, well, you
only go around once and I think it might be worth it in my case.  Plus
4-5X current vacation time and a nice predictable schedule wouldn't be
so bad!

Here in Minnesota it is a bit of pain to make the transition - you
must slide through the square hole or be cut to fit.  This for me
means two years of evening courses to get a license and a teaching job
I could think of supporting my family with.  The governor has been
making noises about simplifying the process for folks like me, but I
doubt change will come in time to make me a teacher next year as
opposed to three years from now.

I believe that my experiences in industry and other areas of my life
after school have been valuable in terms of what I can bring to the
students.  And nothing is a better diversity teacher than being in a
diverse classroom of obvious equals like I was in engineering graduate
school.  If I was back in my hometown in Tennessee i could probably
start next semester :-)  

Any advice I would appreciate it - as I said I probably want to teach
at least some of the college-track and gifted courses that are hard to
get as an entry level guy.

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