1) Are there any certifications or licenses required to do
your job? If so, how do you go about receiving it? (E.g., Teaching Certificate,
Business License, Food Safety Card.)
I doubt I
would have been considered for my teaching position without at least one of my
college degrees (Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts, both in English). Since I
didn’t have a teaching certificate at the time I was offered the job, I was
required to enroll in a Master of Arts in Teaching program at the University of
Alaska Southeast and to obtain an Initial Teacher Certificate from the Alaska
State Board of Education & Early Development. My advisor at UAS coordinated
my application process, both through the university and through the state. That
process required fingerprints, exams, essays, letters of recommendation, and
lots and lots of paperwork. My Initial Teacher Certificate stipulates that I
must graduate from the MAT program at UAS.
2) What training (college, technical school, on-the-job
training) have you received in order to do your job?
Most of my
training has been on-the-job, or on-the-campus. I worked as a teaching
assistant (TA) in graduate school and spent two years as a substitute teacher
at the Skagway School. Otherwise, my training is ongoing, both through my
studies in pursuit of my Master of Arts in Teaching degree and through the
learning opportunities I find in each day of teaching.
