I already have a bachelor's degree in another subject but I want to become a teacher (in Texas)?

I think in Texas a person must pass the Praxis exam, and have state certification. I, personally, would stick with an accredited college or university. I had a degree in another area, and went back for my education degree. The university accepted the basic courses from my other degree, so the only courses I had to take were education courses. I did it in three years. A person also has to have completed student teaching requirements. Texas looks for accredited colleges or universities.

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I am going through an alternative certification program now. You need to have a degree, but NOT in the education field. You also need to pass Praxis 1 and Praxis 2 (in your content area - for me it was elementary ed. content knowledge, grades 1-5) in order to be accepted into the program. This is a very intense program with all the most important information distilled into presentations which are given by professionals in the field. About half of our participants have already worked in schools. Everyone must find employment in a school system during this program and will be monitored throughout. We also will be attending 3 hour classes twice monthly over the course of the school year. Most principals love teachers from this program, others don't want them. It just depends on the principal. I think we will all be well prepared by the end of this year-long process. I mean, we all have degrees, have been interviewed, psychologically tested, etc. AND have passed our Praxis exams. We are not just folks off the street who want to teach and this program is accredited, of course. Principals who may be wary of us are simply uninformed! I'd go for it.

You have to take classes for education major, then student teach successfully. Many in your situation get into a program that will award a Master of Arts in Educ as well as earn the teaching certificate. In Illinois an elem certificate is for K-9 gr, and a secondary certificate is Gr 6 - 12. For middle school you can have either, but might need an endorsement on the certificate. Endorsement is just a couple of classes extra. One suggestion: In Illinois you can get a substitite teaching certificate with just a bachelor degree and drug test. Then you can try subbing to see if you like teaching. Hint: it is a LOT different than most people think it is when they have never tried it.

I had a degree in Marketing from 1993, so I went through the graduate program at UTA. The program takes 5 online graduate-level classes to complete (plus your internship), and when you are done, you walk out with the ability to take the exams necessary to become a fully certified teacherr. After you are certified, schools don't care HOW you got there; they are satisfied with the certification itself.

The best part for me is that I took the GRE test and passed, so UTA counted those credits as also going toward my MEdT (Master of Education in Teaching). So, not only did I walk away with a certification, but I also have 5 of the 12 classes that I need to get a masters degree with UTA!!

Not to mention the fact that I loved the online interaction with the other students who were going through the process. We all helped each other with ideas, and some of us even networked some job leads at the end, too.

Good luck!

I went through the program last year. My degree was in business. I just finished my first year teaching. I taught 7th grade math. Just like what they teach you in college, the real world is different. It help me on what to expect not how to handle situations. I got hired right away because not very many people want to teach math. Just look at the type of openings at your district to see what positions are always open and try to get in those positions. If you want to teach PE, good luck trying to find a teaching position because there are a lot of people that want to teach PE. Good luck.