I'm not completing my PhD now, I know that. Maybe later, maybe not, but not now. I will be applying to Teach for America. A few days ago I thought I would apply as soon as possible, so that I would know what I will be doing next year and could stop worrying about it. However, I recently decided that I want to keep my options open for longer. I will apply to the spring deadline of Teach for America (either way I start working for them in the summer/fall of 2008) so that I can take a longer look into community college teaching. I've long thought that I'd prefer community college teaching over high school and have only been planning the high school route because I don't really know how to enter into community college teaching.
If I wind up teaching high school biology I'm sure I will be happy. To engage my kids more fully than I could in a community college setting, to be a part of a high school community, to help them at a time when more than academic help may be be necessary...I would find all of those things rewarding. But I'd rather not deal with the disciplinary issues, with parents and their excuses, with detention, with a place that doesn't want me to use the word 'evolution.' I'd rather teach in an environment where I can more fully challenge my students, where the entire proceedings are more adult, where I might get a chance to teach a course in ecophysiology.
While I continue to work toward Teach for America I will also seek out and apply for teaching internships that exist at a few community colleges (Portland, San Diego, Tempe at least). In these programs interns are paired with a more experienced community college teacher. At first the intern observes and assists, but in the later terms the intern takes most of the responsibility for teaching a full course. It sounds like a perfect introduction to community college teaching.
Fortunately, I know that either way, high school or community college, it will work out.
