Advice

Hi everyone! I’m currently finishing up my bachelors and applying to grad schools to becomes certified in special education. I recently had two wonderful opportunities offered to me recently; however I wanted to gather input from those actively in the field.

Opportunity one is a fellowship that would cover the cost of my tuition. After obtaining my masters and certification I would have to stay within a district for a certain amount of time.

Opportunity number two is teaching for the elementary school I currently am a para in, while they pay for me to obtain my masters and certification.

I feel like both options have some pros and cons. The fellowship is through a very reputable school, and would also provide a stipend for the year. The cons being that the school district I would be work in can be very hit or miss, and I wouldn’t be guaranteed to continue working with elementary kids.

The pros of option two being I am already very familiar with the kids and staff/admin at my school now, and I love it here. The biggest con is I’m afraid transitioning straight from a para to teacher might be too big of a leap?

Tl;dr- I have to choose between a great program but a hit/miss chance for the following four years or go straight into teaching in a school I already enjoy.