Called to teach | Maryland Gazette (HometownGlenBurnie.com)

"If you choose to become a teacher, you have that embedded in you," said Shelane Toal, a fifth-grade science and language arts teacher at Richard Henry Lee Elementary in Glen Burnie. "If you want to work with children, that's what you're going to do."

Ms. Toal was offering information to prospective teachers at an education fair March 12 at Anne Arundel Community College's campus at Arundel Mills mall in Hanover. Students of the college's TEACH Institute, which stands for Teacher Education and Child Care, met with representatives from Maryland colleges, hiring and certification specialists from the Anne Arundel County Public Schools system and recruiters from Maryland colleges and shared their thoughts on how they chose the profession as a career.

"I just love working with kids and knowing that I can make a difference in their lives and influence their growth," said Whitney Durcho, a sophomore at the TEACH Institute. She and her peers are aware of the county's recent cuts, but are not at all discouraged.

"Teaching is a field that's not going to go away," said Jenna Largent, a sophomore at the institute. The Crofton resident will be attending Towson University in the fall, and plans on teaching third grade in Anne Arundel County when she graduates. She'd like to work her way up to principal and later superintendent to leave a bigger impression than she would staying in one position.

Those in attendance at the fair were not only ones who have chosen teaching as their first career, but those who are changing their profession to teaching.

Benjamin Cano, an Edgewater resident, got his associate's in business from Montgomery College in 2001 and went into the hotel industry. He started as a van driver at the Sheraton Annapolis Hotel, moving up to concierge, front desk associate, then front desk supervisor. After the hotel declined to promote him to reservations manager, he quit and he took a position as a special education aide at Central Middle School. He quickly realized what he wanted to do.

"It took me four years to figure out that I didn't want to be in the hotel business," he said, "but it didn't take me very long at all to realize I wanted to be in education." Mr. Cano recalls not having a lot of good experiences when he went to school because of learning disabilities that he feels should have probably put him in special education. It was a struggle for him to get his associate's degree. But these things are what inspired him to teach.

"I could be the kind of teacher that I never had myself, who could give the kind of help I needed as a student and teach them the value of education in our society," Mr. Cano said.

Although the county is cutting 200 teaching jobs, people in Mr. Cano's position may still have luck getting hired since special education is one of the county's critical shortage areas, along with math, Spanish, library media, speech pathology, ESOL, science, technology education and reading. These areas are understaffed, so there are more jobs available in these subjects compared to nonshortage areas.

Cutting 200 jobs doesn't mean firing 200 teachers; it means hiring 200 fewer teachers, said Wayne Bark, a human resources recruitment specialist for Anne Arundel County Public Schools.

This school year, there are 50 vacant teaching positions. This coming school year, 150 teachers will become excess teachers, meaning they will have to apply for vacancies in the school system, but will not lose seniority or pay and can apply for as many positions as they'd like, he said. The vacancies are being created by retirees, resignations, increases in enrollment and increased class sizes in cases where they are below average.

Last year, 600 to 700 teachers were hired system-wide, said Mr. Bark. This year, about 400 to 500 teachers will be hired, he said, adding that the excess teachers will have first access to vacancies.

Even knowing how many fewer teachers will be hired in the county isn't enough to deter potential teachers.

"I think they're a little discouraged," said Jaclyn Finkel, a professor at the TEACH Institute, "but there's such a need for teachers that people think they'll find something."

"Surrounding counties are still looking for teachers," said Colleen Eisenbeiser, director of the TEACH Institute. "Our students realize that there are other places."

Another encouraging factor is the new federal TEACH Grant, which gives students who are planning on teaching in a public or private elementary or secondary school that serves students from low-income families up to $4,000 a year. The students have the next eight years to teach four years at one of those institutions or they have to pay the grant back.