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Carla Hayes
What can you do if the school year has started and you haven't found a teaching position? Or, perhaps you have a teaching job but you would like to supplement your income and gain valuable work experience. In either case, there are several alternatives to teaching in a traditional school.
For example, have you ever considered tutoring in your areas of expertise? I have done it for several years and find it very rewarding. Tutoring offers a lot of flexibility. You can work out of your home, in a public library, or in a school. You can also work for a learning center, but the center sets the fees and, because they have to pay for the overhead costs of running the facility and still make a profit for themselves, tutors are often not paid as well as they would be if they worked privately. Unless you are working in a school during regular class hours, a majority of your tutoring jobs will be late afternoon, evenings, and weekends which can be a plus if you are doing it to supplement your regular teaching job.
To be an effective tutor, you will need to have access to the textbooks that your students are using. It's usually not practical to purchase them in Braille or large print because many schools change textbooks often and not all your students may be using the same books. I have found two workable solutions to this problem. Sometimes, I borrow a copy of the book from the school, scan the pages that I need with my Kurzweil, and transfer the text files to my Braille Lite where they can easily be read. I am also a member of Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic. If the books are available, I have the option of borrowing them in recorded formats for as long as I need them.
Finding tutoring students is usually not difficult. You can run ads for your services in local newspapers. Also, the guidance department of many schools maintain lists of tutors who are available in various subjects. Make sure that your name is on the tutor lists of all your local schools along with the subjects you are qualified to teach. If you are a certified teacher, that information should also be part of your ad or the information about you on tutor lists; many people will be more likely to hire you if they know you are a certified teacher.
Another employment option is to work as a homeschool instructor. The homeschooling movement has been growing exponentially over the past several years because many parents are not satisfied with America's public schools. Some homeschooling parents may not feel qualified to teach their children such subjects as math, science, and foreign languages, especially on the secondary level. When this happens, several families might get together and hire qualified teachers to teach classes in these subjects. This is where you can help as a qualified teacher. Even though being certified in your subject is a plus, it is not always necessary. As a homeschool instructor, you may teach classes on your own in your home, in a church, or public library, or you may work as part of a homeschooling co-op that usually meets once or twice a week in a church or another public facility where several classes are taught in different subjects by several instructors. In such a setting, groups of students would rotate from class to class in much the same way that they do in a regular school, and you might be expected to teach two or more classes on different levels. You may even be responsible for providing the curriculum.
Parents are usually willing to purchase or borrow new or used textbooks for their children. However, you will be responsible for buying your own copy of the textbooks and preparing tests and supplementary handouts. Whatever teaching materials that you use, you must have them in an accessible format to be effective and this will be your responsibility.
For my homeschool foreign language program, I was able to obtain several copies of textbooks which were being discarded by our local school district. Luckily, I already had these books in Braille. So, I lend the books to my students and supplement them with my own handouts. Even though most homeschooling families are on a tight budget, your pay as a homeschool instructor can be decent if several families are working together to pay the bill. Of course, being a homeschool instructor usually requires much more preparation, paperwork, and record-keeping than tutoring. In addition to teaching, you will need to prepare and make copies of handouts, give and grade tests, prepare grades and student transcripts, and you will often be called upon to write letters of recommendation for your students. Remember to keep this in mind when you are deciding how much you will charge. On the other hand, you cannot charge homeschooling families too much or you won't get enough students to make it worthwhile.
To find work as a homeschool instructor, you will need to run ads in local newspapers as well as in newsletters for homeschooling families and on homeschooling websites. It is also a good idea to speak to local homeschool groups and attend homeschooling conferences in your area. I have been teaching foreign language classes for homeschoolers through my business for the past 14 years. When I was first asked to do this, I have to admit that I was skeptical. "How could children learn at home without the guidance of trained teachers and the social interaction with classmates?" I wondered. However, as I worked with these students, I learned the true advantages of homeschooling. Students can work at their own pace which means not having to rush so that they don't get behind the class, and not having to wait for other students to master something when they're ready to go on. To be successful, homeschoolers must learn to be self-disciplined and to manage their time wisely at an early age. This makes most of them much more diligent and motivated than a majority of the students that you would find in a typical school. Homeschoolers generally get more individualized attention from their parents and professional teachers than they could get from regular classroom teachers with large classes, and you, as their instructor, will have more time to give them the attention that they need.
Moreover, I have found most homeschoolers to be much more mature and articulate than their public school counterparts because they spend more time with adults and they are not distracted by the social trends that are present in most secondary schools. Surprisingly, many homeschoolers perform two or three grade levels above traditional students on standardized tests. In short, I have found that being a homeschool instructor can be very satisfying work and I highly recommend it.
An alternative avenue for employment is the local community college. Although you must be qualified to teach, certification is often not necessary. When considering
community college work, you will have to decide whether to
teach credit or non-credit courses. There are advantages
and disadvantages to both. Generally, a course that offers
credits pays more than a non-credit course, but it also
requires the added responsibility of preparing tests and
correcting papers. If, on the other hand, you teach an adult
continuing education course that doesn't award credits to
students, you won't be paid as much but there isn't as much
paperwork involved. In addition to teaching courses in your
area of expertise, you might approach your local community
college about teaching professional development courses for
teachers who often need continuing education classes in
order to keep their teaching certificates current. In the past, I
have taught several community college foreign language
courses. It was a rewarding experience and a valuable
addition to my resume.
Depending on what you teach, corporate work might be
another employment option to consider. Some corporations
offer such classes as public speaking, business writing,
foreign languages and computer applications to their
employees and hire teachers as subcontractors to teach
these courses. Although you obviously need to be skilled in
your area of expertise, you don't need a teaching certificate
to teach corporate classes and the pay is usually very good.
In addition, companies may hire you to do other tasks
besides teaching. Although the work may start out as
temporary, it could lead to permanent employment. Through
my business, I have had several corporate clients over the
years. In addition to teaching foreign language and ESL
classes, I have worked as a translator, assembled technical
vocabulary lists in several languages, and written and
produced bilingual audio scripts for training and
demonstration videos. As you can see, corporate work can
be an interesting way to gain experience and supplement
your income and it may even lead to a full-time career in
which you can use your teaching skills without the hassles of
grading papers and discipline problems.
Another alternative to working in a traditional brick and
mortar school is teaching in a correspondence school or
cyber school. If you were a correspondence school
instructor, teaching materials would be mailed to your
students who would complete their lessons and return them
to you by mail for your correction. Instead of meeting with
your students face to face, your contact with them would be
by mail, by phone and perhaps by computer. In addition to
traditional correspondence schools, technology has
spawned cyber schools and distance learning programs on
all levels in which instruction is done via the computer. For a
growing number of students in Grades K-12, cyber schools
supplement or even replace traditional public school
education. In addition, many colleges and universities of the
21st century offer online classes to accommodate their
students' hectic schedules.
Online teaching offers its
advantages for blind and visually impaired teachers. First,
online teachers can often work from home, thus eliminating
transportation problems. Second, since much of your
students' work and the documentation you are required to
submit will be in electronic format, you will have less need of
a sighted reader. Online teaching also has its share of
requirements. It goes without saying that you will need to be
skilled in the use of a computer and all the necessary
programs and access technology. In addition, many
institutions require that their instructors use the school's
computers and these computers must be equipped with the
access technology you will need. Finally, online teaching
usually requires similar qualifications as teaching in
traditional schools. Most public cyber schools require
teaching certificates and colleges and universities that offer
online classes will likely require their professors to have
advanced degrees.
Finally, you might want to consider working as a
freelance instructor. Freelancing involves forming your own
classes and finding a place to teach them. Libraries,
churches, YMCAs and community centers are often open to
offering classes for children and adults of all ages in a
variety of subjects. This type of teaching offers the
advantages and responsibilities of designing your own
courses, selecting your own teaching materials and setting
your own price within reason. When deciding how much you
will charge, be sure to factor in your costs and preparation
time.
As you can see, there are many exciting opportunities
for teachers beyond traditional schools. So, if you can't find
a school teaching job, don't despair. Instead, give one of
these options a try. You will be glad you did.
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