Background
> I am a second career teacher. For fifteen years, I was an investment analyst in New York City and Minneapolis at Lehman Brothers, UBS/PaineWebber and American Express. Five years ago, I started teaching at a private school in Connecticut. It has been a great career move. I love my job and my two daughters attend the school too. I teach math and computers at the Middle School level. I am also the technology coordinator tasked with trying to increase the use of technology in the classroom. I do not have formal teacher training, so I am pursuing a Masters in Education. It turns out that I am a lifelong learner and enjoy learning from teachers at my school, as well as, other school. Towards that end, I have invested considerable time building my own PLC (personal learning community) to network with other teachers. My PLC is like oxygen to me and I can't keep up with all of the great teaching ideas I discover. I have a professional blog and a resource wiki. I am active on Twitter (johnfaig) and Delicious/Diigo (johnfaig).
What made you interested in this course?
> I am pursuing my Masters in Education strictly online and I believe that virtual classes and schools are a very important trend.
What experience do you have with online learning?
> I take all of my graduate classes online. It has been a very productive mode for me. I have participated in synchronous classes and meetings for many more hours than I would have been able to sit in a classroom. Likewise, my asynchronous class experiences have been excellent. Fortunately, all of the classes were well-designed and interesting to keep me motivated after teaching all day.
About Me
- johnfaig
- I am a math teacher and technology coordinator at a private school in Connecticut. I love to hear about better ways to teach and consider myself to be a lifelong learner. In my spare time, I learn from my PLN and am working towards my masters at TC. I am a huge Web2.0 fan! Teaching is a second career after 15 years on Wall Street.
Great to see a very unique profile here and it will be great to see what you do project wise here. I am writing from Dubai - so agree that the online option is very convenient.
ReplyDeleteGreat to read about your background here.
Steve
Hi John,
ReplyDeleteIt is so nice to meet you "virtually". I'm surprised we haven't been in classes together before! I chose you because I am also a career changer with a corporate background and I am very intrigued by how you have already been able to make the switch into academia. I had been working at Sun Microsystems (covering financial institutions) for 10 years and decided to pursue this degree and initial certification while working. However, I was affected by a reduction in force last Spring so I am not going to school full time with hopes of finding a job in September! Looking forward to hearing more about your experiences as the class progresses.
-Robin
I lived in Minneapolis for 2 years and have also worked in financial services, so I thought it would be good to share experiences.
ReplyDeleteYes - the change is quite interesting. How are you finding it John? Enjoyable?
ReplyDeleteHmmmm.... second career teacher - rapidly increasing in Singapore. I used to have many collegues who made career switch to teaching. Believe it or not, teaching in Singapore is very well-rewarded [though many Singapore teachers won't admit it ;)], both financially and in terms of job satisfaction! Hence, our ministry has attracted many 2nd-career talents to the teaching force.
ReplyDeleteWhy did you make a career switch [if it is conveneint to share, else it is ok ;)]?
Hi John,
ReplyDeleteGreat to read your profile. It is interesting to hear that you take all of your graduate classes online. Are them all via TC?
Wow! Thanks for all of the comments. Here are answers to the questions:
ReplyDeleteStephen: I also have an interest in you Cognitive Psychology and have taken two courses. I don't see how anyone can be a good teacher without understanding how the brain works and people learn.
Robin/GadgetGirl: Teaching is great, but it is a communication-intensive profession. There is generally little time to collaborate with others and work on anything other than tactical projects during the school year. As a result, I have worked hard to create a PLC that plugs me into smart teachers and research. My PLC is like oxygen!
APH: When I left NY for Minneapolis, it was a major regional asset management player. When I left, AMEX/IDS and most other players were suffering from poor performance (although not my sector - technology). I saw lots of people thrown out of work and companies downsizing.
Puay: I looked at the prospects in technology after the Internet bubble and thought that working 80 hour weeks was only favorable when compensation is very high. I shifted gears and did a bit of downsizing myself. I moved to a more middle-class town, changed careers and put my daughters in private school. I enjoy teaching, but I see aspects of education that I do not like. I love teaching very much, although my paycheck is a bit smaller than it used to be when I was in finance. Having "real world" experience is very helpful and I wonder if we should try and "draft" thought leaders into teaching for five-year stints. Public education in the US is different from your country. Teachers are not revered and the GOAL of our educational system changes about every twenty-years (although very little reform actually takes place).
Yu-Shan: I teach full-time and so all of my courses are online. I learn better online than in a classroom. Not sure if I have some attention or auditory processing issues, but I can work online and several hours have passed unbeknownst to me.