Virginia Career Switcher Program Transcript
March 2006
( Floyd County High School mathematics teacher Andrew Givens speaking to class)
GIVENS: OK. We’re going to do a combination of algebra and geometry lesson. Today you’re actually going to locate a cell phone…
(Givens speaking to interviewer)
GIVENS: So much of what I did in the Coast Guard transfers, it’s incredible. In the Coast
Guard, everybody learns to navigate, so that’s geometry in motion. So, you’re doing
navigation and precision navigation and location using latitude and longitude, and
the globe is a sphere with the coordinate system on the globe. It gets more
sophisticated, of course, but the fundamentals of it are algebra and geometry.
(Musical flourish)
( Battlefield Middle School computer teacher Melissa Mansfield speaks as video shows her working with students at computers in a classroom in the Spotsylvania County school.)
MANSFIELD: I actually did my elementary certification when I was in college but I also obtained a business degree and for some reason at that point in time, I think because my parents were both teachers, I just wanted to do something different.
(Musical flourish)
(Students walking in hall of school)
(Elizabeth Branham of the Spotsylvania County Public Schools Career Switcher Program speaks to interviewer.)
BRANHAM: Every year we have to hire between 250 and 300 teachers and the fact is that they just are not out there in the numbers that we need.
(Douglas Fiore, Virginia Department of Education, speaks to viewers)
FIORE: Hi, I’m Douglas Fiore, director of the Virginia Department of Education’s Office of Professional Practice. The career switcher program is a key element of the commonwealth’s strategy for increasing the supply of highly qualified teachers.
(Mr. Fiore continues to narrate as video of classroom plays)
FIORE: Since the program began five years ago, more than 500 men and women have begun second careers as classroom teachers, many of them in hard-to-fill endorsement areas such as mathematics and science.
(Lisa Watts, director of the Old Dominion University Career Switcher Program speaks to interviewer.)
WATTS: They work for ten to fifteen years and they finally make that decision that they want to go back and teach. And a lot of our folks say that teaching has always been in their minds.
(Sheila Smith, principal, Battlefield Middle School, Spotsylvania County, speaks to interviewer.)
SMITH: They come into the classroom and the kids respect them they work well with colleagues.
(Terry Arbogast, superintendent, Floyd County Public Schools, speaks to interviewer.)
ARBOGAST: They bring a wealth of things that we sometimes can’t find among graduates just out of college.
(Brenda Seals, assistant superintendent for human resources, Spotsylvania County, speaks to interviewer.)
SEALS: They’re already gone into some other fields and they have found that this is what they want to do.
(Mr. Fiore continues narration and describes information displayed in outline on qualifications and narrates as video plays of career switcher class at Old Dominion University.)
FIORE: Career switchers must have a four-year degree and the same content-area coursework as teachers who enter through the traditional route and they must pass all of the same tests. Career switchers, such as these at Old Dominion University, complete an intensive, 180-hour program delivered by experienced educators.
(Ms. Watts speaks.)
WATTS: So within that timeframe, they are getting training in human growth and development, special needs, classroom management, lesson plans, technology standards for instructional personnel, how to recognize child abuse and neglect.
(Mr. Givens speaks.)
GIVENS: The issues that individual students may have in their lives and bring into the classroom – they bring all these pieces together to prepare you for instruction and classroom management. They don’t tell you what algebra is, they don’t tell you how to learn physics; you have to bring that knowledge with you and you have to bring that education with you. Once you have that, they give you the tools you need to be successful in the classroom.
(Ms. Seals speaks.)
SEALS: We have a 92 percent retention rate of our career switchers. So, if you get a career switcher, they are there because they are committed to becoming a teacher.
(Ms. Branham speaks.)
BRANHAM: We have principals who ask us about career switchers, are anxious to hire them and have bought into the program wholeheartedly.
(Ms. Smith speaks.)
SMITH: I can tell you one defining quality of all of them is maturity. They all come with having had experiences, life experiences that they can bring into the classroom with them.
(Ms. Mansfield speaks.)
MANSFIELD: The chain of command, communication, you understand some of those things already before you come into the situation.
(Mr. Fiore continues narration.)
FIORE: Maturity, preparation, ongoing instruction, and the guidance of a trained mentor-teacher increase the likelihood of success as career switchers confront the challenges of their first year in the classroom.
(Mr. Givens speaks.)
GIVENS: The mentor helped me sort all that out and stay even-keeled and find the right solution for any given issue that I was having trying to be a successful teacher.
(Mr. Fiore continues narration.)
FIORE: After a year of successful mentored teaching, career switchers are eligible for a renewable five-year license.
(Ms. Mansfield speaks.)
MANSFIELD: There are three other career switchers in my school and we all are very supportive of the program and very thankful that the program exists. And I think the four of us have all proved ourselves as capable teachers – successful teachers.
(Mr. Fiore continues narration as graphic displays list of career switcher programs and telephone number and Web address of Virginia Department of Education.)
FIORE: Regardless of where you are in Virginia, there is a career switcher program near you. You will find more information on the Virginia Department of Education Web site, or call the department at (804) 225-2103.
(Mr. Fiore concludes on camera.)
FIORE: I’m Douglas Fiore – thank you for your interest in the career switcher program and the commonwealth’s public schools.