Teaching out-of-field in Foreign Languages
I am working on my dissertation and have been job searching. I had a temporary position at an elementary and middle school. Yes, it's back to the K-12 teaching for me. I choose to teach at this level because jobs at this level are easier to find than the college positions in the area where I am and due to my years of teaching experience, it pays more than college teaching.
Spanish is the language I am certified to teach. This is supported by the bachelor's degree that I received in Spanish from Cornell University and the passing score on my teacher certification test required by my state. Spanish is the foreign language that I know best. However, my minor language (my third), is in demand. Go figure! I am so nervous about approaching a school to teach it because I am not the most confident in it. However, if someone is going to do it, it might as well be me. If I remember correctly, I felt the same way about teaching my native and major language when I first began teaching many moons ago!
There are so many articles that vilify out-of-field teachers. To my current understanding, out-of-field teaching can mean one of two things. I may mean that you have a degree in your area, but have not gone through your state's teacher licensing program, nor do you have a degree in education. Or in my case, it could mean that you are a certified teacher, but you are not certified in the area that you are teaching.
I feel some sort of way about the latter, as I've taught a college course in an area where I never took that specific course (Victorian Literature), but I figured it out. Educational professionals can do that. We love to learn. Should I have not taught that class because I lacked a class on my transcript that said I was taught that particular course? Of course not. As an educated instructor my employer entrusted me to do the work necessary to make my students competent, and that's just what I did. I read so many books and researched the historical context of the era that I started to become a specialist. It became my favorite class that would later inform my dissertation topic. So, I don't necessarily agree with the credentialing process in my state; however, that's the political end of it. It is a fact that being licensed is only one factor in what makes someone competent in their area of specialty. I believe the practice of doing something over and over, like an apprenticeship, is what makes one a specialist.
Back to out-of-field teaching, I personally feel that if you have a degree in an area, that you can do the work necessary to teach the subsections in your field even if you don't have course work in that field. To say that a teacher needs a degree with classes that address all subareas of field is ridiculous. That means that those who create these rules feel as though education is stagnant and never changing. New fields pop up all of the time and schools have to make adjustments and be flexible in order to have students who are prepared for the "real world". Many schools are very flexible as to how they staff a class. Many school districts have applied for waivers to the department of education, because certification and staffing requirements pose a hardship that would leave them without teachers.
Each state has their requirements for teaching out-of-field. Some are open to it, some shun it and others don't really address it. My main questions regarding considering out-of-field teachers are the following, do you have certification, are you competent in the major area, and can you get up to speed before school starts? Rural and hard-to-staff schools seem to be more open to candidates doing more outside of their field. There's less competition and it's harder to find candidates so they work with what they have which can work in your favor
So, if you are brave enough to still consider it, here are my recommendations if you are considering teaching a language out-of-field.
1. Contact the school/department of interest - See what level of language that they need. The lower level of language classes they need, the more flexible they may be.
2. Wait to apply closer to the beginning of the next term - If they don't have anyone by late July, they may be more willing to have you teach the class. This may not be the case for college, as they need to have the numbers earlier in the year to be able to offer the classes.
3. Follow up with your contact - Even if they don't hire you to teach that language, stay in touch. Who knows, an opening may come up!
4. Always remember, there may be someone more knowledgeable in your minor language, but YOU are there - This is related to that old adage....location! location! location! Yes, there might be a native teacher living in the country or countries where your language is spoken; however, they are over there, and you are actually in their face applying for the job.
5. As always, network! Network! Network! - Tell everyone that you know that you are able to teach not one, but two languages and repeat 1-5.
Have a great one!
Update! I ended up attending a last-minute job fair and had the chance to speak to a principal whom I had sent my credentials. He told me that he would have had no problem hiring me to teach my minor language. It just so happened that he filled the position a week before I had reached out. Follow your dreams people!
Spanish is the language I am certified to teach. This is supported by the bachelor's degree that I received in Spanish from Cornell University and the passing score on my teacher certification test required by my state. Spanish is the foreign language that I know best. However, my minor language (my third), is in demand. Go figure! I am so nervous about approaching a school to teach it because I am not the most confident in it. However, if someone is going to do it, it might as well be me. If I remember correctly, I felt the same way about teaching my native and major language when I first began teaching many moons ago!
There are so many articles that vilify out-of-field teachers. To my current understanding, out-of-field teaching can mean one of two things. I may mean that you have a degree in your area, but have not gone through your state's teacher licensing program, nor do you have a degree in education. Or in my case, it could mean that you are a certified teacher, but you are not certified in the area that you are teaching.
I feel some sort of way about the latter, as I've taught a college course in an area where I never took that specific course (Victorian Literature), but I figured it out. Educational professionals can do that. We love to learn. Should I have not taught that class because I lacked a class on my transcript that said I was taught that particular course? Of course not. As an educated instructor my employer entrusted me to do the work necessary to make my students competent, and that's just what I did. I read so many books and researched the historical context of the era that I started to become a specialist. It became my favorite class that would later inform my dissertation topic. So, I don't necessarily agree with the credentialing process in my state; however, that's the political end of it. It is a fact that being licensed is only one factor in what makes someone competent in their area of specialty. I believe the practice of doing something over and over, like an apprenticeship, is what makes one a specialist.
Back to out-of-field teaching, I personally feel that if you have a degree in an area, that you can do the work necessary to teach the subsections in your field even if you don't have course work in that field. To say that a teacher needs a degree with classes that address all subareas of field is ridiculous. That means that those who create these rules feel as though education is stagnant and never changing. New fields pop up all of the time and schools have to make adjustments and be flexible in order to have students who are prepared for the "real world". Many schools are very flexible as to how they staff a class. Many school districts have applied for waivers to the department of education, because certification and staffing requirements pose a hardship that would leave them without teachers.
Each state has their requirements for teaching out-of-field. Some are open to it, some shun it and others don't really address it. My main questions regarding considering out-of-field teachers are the following, do you have certification, are you competent in the major area, and can you get up to speed before school starts? Rural and hard-to-staff schools seem to be more open to candidates doing more outside of their field. There's less competition and it's harder to find candidates so they work with what they have which can work in your favor
So, if you are brave enough to still consider it, here are my recommendations if you are considering teaching a language out-of-field.
1. Contact the school/department of interest - See what level of language that they need. The lower level of language classes they need, the more flexible they may be.
2. Wait to apply closer to the beginning of the next term - If they don't have anyone by late July, they may be more willing to have you teach the class. This may not be the case for college, as they need to have the numbers earlier in the year to be able to offer the classes.
3. Follow up with your contact - Even if they don't hire you to teach that language, stay in touch. Who knows, an opening may come up!
4. Always remember, there may be someone more knowledgeable in your minor language, but YOU are there - This is related to that old adage....location! location! location! Yes, there might be a native teacher living in the country or countries where your language is spoken; however, they are over there, and you are actually in their face applying for the job.
5. As always, network! Network! Network! - Tell everyone that you know that you are able to teach not one, but two languages and repeat 1-5.
Have a great one!
Update! I ended up attending a last-minute job fair and had the chance to speak to a principal whom I had sent my credentials. He told me that he would have had no problem hiring me to teach my minor language. It just so happened that he filled the position a week before I had reached out. Follow your dreams people!
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