Easiest State to Become a Certified Teacher - Arizona???

[MNomadic]

I was actually a career & technical education teacher for a year teaching dual enrollment cybersecurity and IT courses at a high school. They were desperate to fill the position (they hired me like 6 weeks into the semester) and they technically had a "warm body" present to satisfy the certified teacher requirement(she just didn't have knowledge on the subjects being taught). Because of that, they bent the rules a bit for me while I was finishing my degree and had me under a temporary staff contract until I qualified for a full teacher position. I never bothered with getting my teaching certificate because the administration is an absolute incompetent joke and obviously teacher's pay leaves a lot to be desired(especially with AZ's rising housing costs) so I didn't continue teaching after the first year. Interestingly, my replacement for the next school year quit after 2 weeks because the administration mistreated him as well, and his cybersecurity skills are in demand so he didn't need to put up with low pay and abuse. 

I guess what I was getting at is I don't recommend trying to make a career out of being a public school teacher in AZ. There's a "teacher shortage" because there's little reason for qualified people to take on a low paying, thankless, high stress job. Instead of trying to improve pay and working conditions, places like AZ and Florida are just lowering the standards. Don't get me wrong, I love teaching and will probably return to teaching at a community college or something similar after my master's degree. The year of teaching at a high school did a lot for my public speaking/technical communication skills and helped me break into my current job which takes a blend of technical and soft skills.

The Florida thing really irks me and I am a veteran. There are plenty of qualified, competent veterans who can make great teachers but there's nothing special about being a veteran that would make one any more qualified to be a teacher than anyone else with life experience and 60 college credits. The new Florida law is just another bandaid that doesn't actually address the underlying cause of the teacher shortage and instead presents itself as pro veteran virtue signaling.