Question about Graduate degrees/education

Is there a way to get a teaching degree part time while working a 9-5 job?

If not, is there another degree I can get, and then later just take the student teaching and classes should I decide to teach?

Re: Question about Graduate degrees/education

yup, Rich does it. He graduates w/ a masters in special ed in 2 weeks
He's presenting his thesis outline as we speak.

His classes were generally Tues and Thurs at night...these past few semesters were just Tues. He's at CUNY Queens College - definitely the most affordable option.

Re: Question about Graduate degrees/education

Posted by Shorty

yup, Rich does it. He graduates w/ a masters in special ed in 2 weeks
He's presenting his thesis outline as we speak.

His classes were generally Tues and Thurs at night...these past few semesters were just Tues. He's at CUNY Queens College - definitely the most affordable option.

Re: Question about Graduate degrees/education

I did my masters at night while working during the day. My classes were all evening classes and I got it done in a year and a half by doing winter and summer courses, too.

ETA: For student teaching, well, I quit!

Message edited 5/13/2008 9:21:14 PM.

Re: Question about Graduate degrees/education

i am taking a Master's degree through touro and nysut that is after school hours and really easy. I already have one master's and I am using this one for credits and salary purposes but there are some people taking it as a first master's. It is a degree in literacy education birth to grade 12. I believe you come out with that certification. Most classes start at 4pm though. Some at 4:45. It is worth checking out. one of the first 18 core classes is on line and the second 18 credits can almost all be taken online, with the exception of the two practicums.

The classes are offered at local district schools, not at the Touro campus

Re: Question about Graduate degrees/education

Posted by JenniferEver

Posted by Shorty

yup, Rich does it. He graduates w/ a masters in special ed in 2 weeks
He's presenting his thesis outline as we speak.

His classes were generally Tues and Thurs at night...these past few semesters were just Tues. He's at CUNY Queens College - definitely the most affordable option.

I was thinking of Queens. How did he do student teaching?

Re: Question about Graduate degrees/education

Posted by Shorty

Posted by JenniferEver

Posted by Shorty

yup, Rich does it. He graduates w/ a masters in special ed in 2 weeks
He's presenting his thesis outline as we speak.

His classes were generally Tues and Thurs at night...these past few semesters were just Tues. He's at CUNY Queens College - definitely the most affordable option.

I was thinking of Queens. How did he do student teaching?

i know he did it in his undergrad.... he had to do an internship for this degree - he was at QSAC in Whitestone for a whole summer in 2006.

Re: Question about Graduate degrees/education

I went part-time for my master's at Queens College also. If you are going for a teacher cert. program you need to take the core education classes first, which is I think around 25-30 credits.(if you have not already done so as an undergrad). You must also do a semester of student-teaching. Then you are able to go into your "major field" graduate courses. I remember though that Queens is very tough about the student teaching and you must do it or else they will not send in your application when it comes time to become certified. I found out the hard way and was told since I was teaching for over 5 yrs that they would waive the student teaching. WELL when I completed the program they did not honor that, so I had to send my application myself and the state certified me. Now Queens College said that I can not complete my master's program in edu. since I did not complete "their" edu. program, it was a mess.

Sorry for such a long post, but I hope it helps you.

Re: Question about Graduate degrees/education

Its definitely possible. If you're willing to deal with night courses.

For my Masters I did 440-640 courses or 650-850. What helped me complete it quickly since I only did 2 courses each semester (part time) was to double up during the summer. I did 3-4 courses each summer 2 years back to back. The difficult part came when I had to do my internships. My major required to do one each semester 3 semesters in a row. The first was practicum so it was 100 hours. I was able to just use vacation and personal days to do this one. The next two were 300 hours each. Thank god for a great boss because I was able to work out a schedule with her where either I would stay late on some nights or leave early and then work at my internship when they had evening hours. I also saved my 4 weeks vacation for the internships. It was hard and exhausting but I did it. It was worth it and I'm graduating this Sunday

Good Luck!!!

Message edited 5/13/2008 10:30:51 PM.

Re: Question about Graduate degrees/education

Yes, I did it at Queens College. I already had an English degree, but I did have to make up all of the education classes. I got a teaching job during my first semester taking courses, so in the end, I didn't have to student teach--my job "counted" towards that requirement. I also went on to receive my Masters part time. Took a while, but I have my MSEd now!

Re: Question about Graduate degrees/education

Definetely! You can take night classes...My classes at Hofstra start at 6:30PM

Re: Question about Graduate degrees/education

My mom works at Hofstra. There have been many people who worked in her office FT and went to school PT at night and then after all the classes were done had to stop working to do student teaching. I know one person took out a student loan to cover rent and stuff while she was not working. But the rest of the degree was free since they were university employees.

Re: Question about Graduate degrees/education

Is there a related degree I can get...education but not teaching that would cover most of the basic courses, so i could get a masters in some other education and if I want to do teaching I can just go back from student teaching and other courses?

I'm not sure I want to teach. I think I will eventually end up teaching, but I am happy where I am now. So I'd love to be able to get a degree without sacrificing my career, but something that will help me if I want to teach later.

of course my dream degree is an MFA but that's full time and craziness so I can't afford it.

Re: Question about Graduate degrees/education

Re: Question about Graduate degrees/education

you def can....most masters classes are at night .....

Re: Question about Graduate degrees/education

I agree - you will be able to do everything but student teaching at night. Queens even has an advanced Bachelor's Degree - to get your certification.

You could probably get a masters in ed philosophy or something like that - which wouldn't need st teaching - I think the Teacher's College at columbia would be your best bet for finding something like that.


could you take a personal leave from your job to do st teaching?

Re: Question about Graduate degrees/education

There are lots of schools that offer education classes at night. Queens college being one of them.

Unfortunately student teaching is required and must be done during the day. I know in the MAT program in Queens you only have to to it for 1 semester for about 3 months. But thats just for Elementary Ed.

Also you have to figure out what level you want to teach when applying for your major. Majors are split by early childhood (birth-grade 2) elementary (grades 1-6) and secondary (7-12), then there are sub catagories like literacy, special ed, math, science. and for secondary ed you have to chose a subject content area such as history, math, science etc.

Eventually if you want to teach you will have to student teach, but depending on how fast you want to go through the program it may be years down the line for you. and student teaching is basically the last thing you have to do, so you'll have some time to prepare, plus save money if u need to take time off work or quit altogether.

Good luck and I HTH

Re: Question about Graduate degrees/education

My mother wasn't working at the time (she did volunteer work) but she got her masters in elementary ed at Hofstra and took all her classes nights -

Re: Question about Graduate degrees/education

yep I did it. the only problem is when you student teach in the last semester.

Re: Question about Graduate degrees/education

my DH is doing it now as teaching fellow... so his job is teaching while he gets the degree.

I worked at a university durign the day and did my classes at night. luckily, they understood my situation and gave me the time i needed to do the student teaching portion as well as pay my tuition!