Junior High History Teacher

Kathleen N. "I teach 8th graders in the State of Texas everything they need to know about US History, from our colonization to the time period known as Reconstruction, after the Civil War."

Education

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Required License(s) You must have a  teaching certificate in the area you wish to teacher (e.g., to teach History, you must take the History exam, to teach English, the English exam).

Required Degree(s) Bachelor's degree

Importance of GPA somewhat important

What do you need to do to maintain your license(s)?

You must obtain a certain number of professional development hours in order to keep your teaching certificate active.

Kathleen's Highest Degree: Bachelor's degree
Kathleen's College Major: Bachelor's of Liberal Arts in History with a Teaching Certificate in a Single Field and a minor in English
Kathleen's College GPA: 3.6-3.9

Salary

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It completely depends on the state you live in. 

I started my teaching career in Florida and the salary was only about $32,000 a year. But in the state of Texas, the salary jumps to about $50,000 a year. It all depends on the state and school district you work for.

Getting the Job

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How did you get your job?

I knew a person working in the district I wanted to be in. She talked to the principal of her school and then after I applied, I was called and asked to come in for an interview. It does help to know someone in the district you want to work for, but you don't necessarily have to know someone. I know plenty of teachers who have gotten jobs simply based on their qualifications, resumes, and references.  That is how I obtained my very first teaching job in Florida.

How important was networking to landing your position?

Fairly important, but not essential. If you want to move up at all in eduction, that is when who know matters more.

Life on the Job

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What is a typical day (or week) for you like?

A typical day starts at about 6:00. I'm at school between 7:00 and 7:10 am. Students start coming into my classroom at around 7:30. I go through 2 periods teaching the same thing with a slightly modified lesson because the level of students is different in my first two classes of the day. Third period is my planning period. I usually use it to grade papers, make copies, lesson plan, or plan with the others on my team. Periods 4, 5, and 7 are the same as periods 1 and 2. Period 6 is a little different because I go down to the gym and help out with our athletics period since I am a coach at the school. (I coach 8th grade volleyball and 7th grade girls basketball. It keeps me pretty busy during the Fall and Winter but I love it.) I round out the day with 8th period advisory. Once the school day is officially over, it's on to more grading, calling parents, inputting grades, going to faculty meetings, helping out with the school's History club, or tutoring students who need the extra help. As teachers, we put in so much extra work that it's often I'm not home until 5:30 or 6:00 in the evening.

How closely does your typical day (or week) match up to the general "job description" for your position?

Pretty much exactly. (Although the extra hours can catch up to after a while.)

Does being a woman affect any aspect of your career?

I think at times it does. But I do work in a female-dominated field. Plus most students are used to having females as their teacher rather than males.

What is the best thing about your job?

Getting to talk about history all day long is great! I love history and I love passing on my love of history to my students. And even though there are days when they drive me absolutely insane, I do love my students. It's fun seeing them mature and grow from the beginning of the year to the end.

What is the worst thing about your job?

Dealing with difficult students and parents, and state standards. They are the worst!

How demanding is your job?

My job isn't too tough physically. (I usually make my students do the heavy lifting!) Mentally it can be exhausting. You cannot be a shy or timid person (especially with middle school students) because they will eat you up and spit you out.

Do you have any advancement opportunities?

Yes there are. You can become an Instructional Coach, which gets you out of the classroom but still working with your chosen subject area, a Vice- Principal, Principal, or you can move up and work for the districts Central Office. I'm not sure if I want to take those next steps or not. I may be interested in becoming an Instructional Coach at some point, but as of now I have no desire to be a Vice-Principal or Principal.

Advice for You

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What are the skills, characteristics, or talents that are most important to be effective in your position?

You must be organized, able to multi-task, patient (SO PATIENT), caring, understanding, stern, open, firm,

What advice would you give to someone thinking about pursuing a career like yours?

Teaching is not a walk in the park, like some people seem to think. Yes we get holidays off and long summers, but we work very hard during the school year and get very little credit for that work. You have to really enjoy working with kids, adolescents, and teenagers to be able to survive the education, and you have to have a pretty thick skin. Kids today can be brutal. So don't go in thinking this is going to be easy. It will be hard but at the end of the day will be very rewarding!

If you could do it over again, would you still pursue the same career?

I think so. There are times when I think about what else I could have done with my History degree. But I enjoy teaching history, I enjoy working with young people, and I enjoy the people I get to work with.

Follow Up

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Want to learn more? Check out Kathleen's site here. Want to read later? Pin me -->

Anatomical Pathology Technologist/Pathology Technical Curator

Carla V. "In the UK, the Anatomical Pathology Technologist (or APT for short) is responsible for assisting Pathologists—medical doctors—with autopsies. The APT carries out the evisceration of the deceased patient and removes any specimens such as toxicology and histology as well as running the mortuary, training other APTs, assisting families with viewings, and much more."

Education

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Required License(s) In order to be an APT you have to obtain a Trainee APT position and train on the job. You receive your Certificate and then Diploma in Anatomical Pathology Technology. (Each one takes two years and involves a log book of technical skills as well as classes and examinations.) This has recently changed to a Level Three and Level Four Diploma but it's mostly the same content.

Required Degree(s) More recently, a degree (Bachelor of Science or similar). The job used to require only minimum qualifications (as you actually train on the job) but it's so popular people with degrees tend to apply now making competition harder

Importance of GPA somewhat important

What do you need to do to maintain your license(s)?

I remain a member of the Association for Anatomical Pathology Technologists in the UK (www.aaptuk.org) in order to stay up to date with any changes in the profession.

Carla's Highest Degree: Bachelor's degree (Bachelor of Science)
Carla's College Major: Forensic and Biological Sciences

Salary

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Varies depending on experience,
but at Senior Level expect around £30,000 (about $41,000).
It depends on location and whether or not the mortuary is Coronial or part of the NHS as well as other factors.

Getting the Job

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How did you get your job?

I took a year out and volunteered at an embalmers before I did my degree. I also volunteered at the local mortuary during my degree and I worked in a lab as a Quality Control Scientist for a diagnostic antibiotics manufacturer. I lived and breathed science, biology and the death industry for a long time before I was employed!

How important was networking to landing your position?

Very. The volunteer work helped, as did attending lots of Forensic conferences and even short courses which I funded myself. Once trained, there is an annual conference for APTs to attend and you can contribute to the website, Twitter, and Facebook Groups to remain in touch with other APTs. I also work as a locum APT (which means I travel the UK and work in different mortuaries for short periods of time) and in addition I set up my own dating/networking site for people who work in all death professions called Dead Meet. It's like a "Linked In" for embalmers, funeral directors, APTs, histologists etc.

Life on the Job

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What is a typical day (or week) for you like?

There's no answer to that as it depends if I'm locuming in a mortuary or curating! In a mortuary, it would involve autopsies in the morning (generally) and releasing deceased to funeral directors or setting up viewings in the afternoon. In the Pathology museum, I might be teaching medical students medical history, repairing human anatomical specimens, or organising events and handling social media.

How closely does your typical day (or week) match up to the general "job description" for your position?

My job is very unusual in that I have two roles so I'm not sure if there is a general job description!

Does being a woman affect any aspect of your career?

I don't think so. There are many women in the industry now.

What is the best thing about your job?

Every day is different. You can never guess what you'll be dealing with

What is the worst thing about your job?

You have to get used to some very strong smells! Decomposed remains, formaldehyde, etc.

How demanding is your job?

Very. I'm incredibly dedicated to exercising regularly to keep my strength up and build muscle. During a Forensic autopsy, it can be mentally harrowing but also physically grueling. You can be on your feet for 8-12 hours.

Do you have any advancement opportunities?

The highest step you can take at the moment is become a Senior APT which will allow you to be a mortuary manager. I discovered, however, that the higher up I was, the less post-mortems I was able to carry out and I had a lot more paperwork to do. Instead, I advanced my career by becoming a Technical Curator of a pathology museum. I repair anatomical specimens which are 200-250 years old, and I teach medical students and the public about pathology and the history of anatomy, etc. I'm now working on my Masters which is a higher qualification so I see my new role as an advancement.

Advice for You

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What are the skills, characteristics, or talents that are most important to be effective in your position?

You need to be analytical, sensitive to families needs, and yet not let every case get to you. You have to be fascinated by the human body because a post-mortem is a very multi sensory experience! You also need to understand it is hard work: it involves lots of cleaning and heavy lifting. There may be quiet days when you have to empty out entire fridge units and clean them or do stock takes—the less "glamorous" things you don't see on TV.

What advice would you give to someone thinking about pursuing a career like yours?

Don't watch something like Silent Witness or CSI and think working in a mortuary will be like that. It involves lots of hard work and mundane tasks but it is a spectacularly rewarding job.

If you could do it over again, would you still pursue the same career?

I don't know. I often think I would take the longer route of becoming a medical doctor then a qualified Forensic Pathologist. However, what I do at the moment is so varied (for example, I consult on films, I appear on the TV and Radio ,and I've written a book 'Past Mortems' which will be released in Spring 2017 by Sphere). I couldn't do it all if I was constantly in the mortuary working on cases, heading to crime scenes, and testifying in court, as pathologists do.

Follow Up

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Want to learn more? Check out Carla's site here or follow her on Twitter here. Want to read later? Pin me -->