Excited to be a middle/high school teacher (secondary education). I have a good ACT score and a decent GPA.
Looking for any recommendations or guidance on how to go about it. Feel free to comment.
@shivaya The first step in becoming a middle school or high school teacher is to chose the subject area that you would like to teach. Some subjects offer K to 12 certification, others just 9 to 12. For some subjects, you can get an extension to teach lower grades, but that will be based on the state in which you teach and the subject area.
You mention NYU, so I’m going to assume that you live in NY and want NY certification.
This should get you started: http://www.highered.nysed.gov/tcert/
As to where you go, “prestige” is less important in education than in many other fields. You can find great teacher prep programs at Hunter, St. Johns, a number of SUNY campuses… lots of choices there. Find the right campus environment and price tag.
As @uskoolfish mentioned, you’ll have to choose a particular subject to teach. Right now, on LI and metro NYC, English, History and Phys Ed tend to be flooded (as does Elementary Ed.) Probably the best choices in terms of employment opportunity are Physics, Chem, and Secondary math.
Look for a school that has you observing in the classroom as early and as often as possible. So much of what you’ll learn about becoming a good teacher will be a result of what you observe other teachers doing.
Once you decide on your subject area, the other thing to consider is whether you want to get your education degree and certification while an undergraduate, or if you would rather major in your subject area as an undergrad and then go on to get a masters degree in educations specializing in your subject area.
D decided to get her BFA in studio art (to get a very strong art background) and then did her MA in art education in less than one year. She got her BFA in May 2016 and will be teaching September 2017, having completed her masters degree and getting state certification in just 10 months.
My suggestion is to have certification, and a job, before that Masters.
Lots of schools will let you be, say, a Math major in the School of Education.
@bjkmom Being a math major in the School of Education may or may not be the same as being a math major outside of the education department. I think that will vary school to school. I know D had a much more comprehensive education in art by getting her BFA in studio art (close to 90 or so art and art history credits) than if she went for an Art Education degree which is essentially like a double major.
I want to take a moment to thank all of you for such informative feedback.