Metal Mouth Message Board

Nah, the way my teaching degree works is that when i go out to look for a permanant job as a teacher once i am qualified my placement notes are what i bring to the interview. So if i have written on my placement notes, sometimes hard to understand or communication difficulties, it limits my chances of getting a job. Aswell as taking my degree down a couple of points it can limit my job oppurtunities as it is the last placement folder the school looks to in deciding whether i will be the teacher for them.

Newmetal

Nah, the way my teaching degree works is that when i go out to look for a permanant job as a teacher once i am qualified my placement notes are what i bring to the interview. So if i have written on my placement notes, sometimes hard to understand or communication difficulties, it limits my chances of getting a job. Aswell as taking my degree down a couple of points it can limit my job oppurtunities as it is the last placement folder the school looks to in deciding whether i will be the teacher for them.

Newmetal

I guess I can see both sides. But wouldn't it be better if it really were a problem to have the braces while you are in school rather than actually teaching? How long in the assessment period again?

There was a wonderful (true) story here in the US ( I think it was on 20/20 or a similar show). This guy with Turrets syndrome wanted a job as a teacher and everyone kept turning him down. Finally this one principal took a chance on him and he has turned out to be one of the best teachers ever! With his disability he is able to point out to these kids (kindergarten/1st grade) that people are different and it actually puts the kids at ease. They learn very young that everyone is different by race, religion and even physical limitations. Imagine this guy in a room with a bunch of kids and he has these occasional distracting episodes!

Good luck NewMetal. Good thing you have 9 months to think about it.

I wont act on anything, i have 9 months to decide but im going to think about it, ill ask a few of my lecturers. Although, i want to avoid negative comments on my final placement sheet though.

Newmetal

That is totally ridiculous! However....
I got pregnant while student teaching. My cooperating teacher downgraded me because there was a couple weeks where the only pants I fit in was my husband's jeans. I was too big for my clothes and too small for maternity clothes.

Of course my cooperating teacher was never married, no kids.

Kim

Hmmm, where do you live? I'm a professor of education in an American University. I evaluate teachers in the schools, work with practicum classes which take University students in to public schools and I teach University classes. Guess what???? I HAVE BRACES (and some of my students do too). I haven't found speech clarity to be a problem for me at all (except right after double jaw surgery when I had a splint in my mouth but my surgery was during the summer anyway). Communication and clarity are important skills for a teacher but there are more to these pedagogical skills than speech alone!

Oooh 25 cent word alert Nice one.

Come on, Meryaten... that's got to be a 50-center!

Ooooh a converstation I can partake in! I just finished getting my teaching credential in the US and I find this outrageous. While I acknowledge getting qualified to teach in the US is much different than in England, I just don't think braces is that big of a deal. I was in the credential program with people whom English was a second language for and it was difficult for me as an adult to understand them. But they had strong pedagogical skills and a good presence in the classroom which is where the true distinction lies. My advice is do what you are doing, wait the 9 months see what happens, and seek the adivce of other "higher ups".

science teacher, that is horrible that your cooperating teacher was so, well, uncooperating. I lucked out and had wonderful cooperating teachers, although my first university supervisor was HORRIBLE. The second one was INCREDILBE and I learned so much from her.

Now If I could just get a teaching job I'd be in great shape. The job market for elementary school teachers is, well, nonexistant in Southern California. I am stuck subbing for the meantime. I am DYING for my own classroom. I've been in school forever, I finally get out, and I find nothing but dissapointment I am seriously contemplating moving, but now I have braces

Hi Newmetal,
I'm sorry to hear of your predicament. I think your assessor must be one hyper critical guy, most of the lecturers on my HNC were incoherent!

Quite often in my job I have to give demonstrations on the equipment we manufacture, and after a while of blabbing I suffer the same problem with my mouth drying out. What I do now is take a bottle of water with me, and during the natural pauses when you’re letting them digest what you’ve said, or if it becomes a Q&A session, I take a drink and rinse around my mouth. This usually works and I get some control back over my lips.

Another cause I have for enunciating badly is if I try to talk without showing off the hardware, which I still sometimes catch myself subconsciously doing. It’s often worse if you’re talking to new acquaintances or crowds (or both!!). Next time you’re talking in class try to check and see if you’re falling into this trap as well. Once I drop that shy routine the clear speech immediately returns.

Also, are there any other assessors you have access to on your degree course who you can ask for a second opinion, especially with such a contentious issue. It does really seem a bit unfair and a bit discriminatory to suggest wearing braces might hold you back in your career.

Whatever the outcome I wish you all the best.