FLORIDA TEACHER JOB HUNTING ADVICE & TIPS

Florida is the fourth largest school system in the United States, which means that every year, the state’s school districts face the difficulty of filling more than sixteen thousand teacher positions. Florida schools have the added burden of trying to find teachers for positions where need outstrips availability, such as math, science, bilingual education, and special education. And finding teachers is only going to get harder for Florida schools when you consider that fewer people are graduating from teacher preparation programs every year.

While school administrators may bemoan the availability of good teachers in Florida, this is great news if you want to teach in the state. Since all prospective employers will ask, “Are you certified to teach?” your first step is to know Florida’s teacher certification requirements. You can find the different routes to certification at the Florida Department of Education’s website (www.fldoe.org/edcert/).

After you’ve familiarized yourself with certification requirements, you can search for teaching job openings for teaching positions around the state at the Teach in Florida website. The site’s Educator Recruitment section (www.teachinflorida.com/Recruitment/tabid/195/Default.aspx) contains a plethora of information about job fairs, recruitment contacts, and salaries, as well as a lengthy list of open positions around the state. The Florida Council of Independent Schools website also contains some job postings (www.fcis.org). In addition, the Teach in Florida website also contains recruitment contacts for every school district, which is helpful if you’d like to teach at a specific school or in a specific district.

Once you land an interview, go into it prepared. Take an extra résumé and your educational portfolio with you so you can show prospective employers any quizzes, projects, and unit studies you’ve developed for classroom use. Be ready to discuss your educational philosophy, too, especially if you have little actual teaching experience. Some employers will want to know how you plan to teach the subject matter, structure the curriculum, and accommodate students’ different learning styles.

Don’t be discouraged if you have to interview with several schools before being offered a teaching position. Persevere, and in time, you’re almost certain to be offered a chance to join the ranks of teachers who enjoy the privilege of educating Florida’s next generation.