After earning bachelors degree in education what should I do?

Question

After getting the bachelors degree of education, It is required I believe to get some masters degree. So you can get a teaching credentials on-line or take a masters program on a campus. I am going to be teaching American History to grades 6-8. I was wondering, if it would easier of taking the Masters course on-line or taking it at a university, and what the cost and benefits are of each.

Also if I take the masters program on-line, what could I do to make money, would they allow to my to teach at a school or substitute while still in progress of reaching my masters.

Anything else would be helpful.

Answer 1

You are mistaken in one area.

masters programs are not the same as a credential program. There *are* some that offer them in conjunction, but often they are different.

Here is where you are mistaken:

There are no online credentialing programs.

Every single instance online is a masters degree program - without the credential work. The reason is student teaching. There are no state approved online credentialing programs because none of them offer student teaching -= impossible for them to offer mentors across the entire country.

Answer 2

They should let you go ahead and teach.  I teach math to 8th grade and I do not have my masters degree.  It is not required in my state (IL) though.  Something you should check on is to see if your district will pay for part of your tuition.  When a school has a student teacher in their building, usually the principal and the cooperating teacher get hours to the university where the student was from.  This is how my husband paid for his entire masters degree.  He did not pay for any of it out of pocket.  All of the money for his degree came from the free hours his principal got because of hosting student teachers in his building.  But, go ahead and teach and work on your degree while you teach.  Sometimes if you have a masters degree before you start teaching it will be harder to find a job because districts will have to pay you more even though you are just a first year teacher.  They will hire someone else who may be just as qualified, but they can pay them less because they only have a bachelors degree.  

In a nutshell, go ahead and teach and work on your masters degree at a university.  Work on it in the evenings during the school year and in the summer.  Good Luck!