Becoming a Teacher

[ClaireHoxie]

I am a senior in high school and want to become a 7th
grade English teacher. Some questions for you...

What grade do you teach?

Which three skills are needed for teaching?

Advice about the process?

Thank you very much!

[David]

Hi Claire I'm a primary school teacher. For what its worth, I think the skills you need are based around the type of classroom you want to have. How much noise will you allow during lessons? What discipline methods will you use? I think the main skill you need is being able to control your class well. If you don't have this ability then it makes it very difficult to get the children to do the things you want them to do. You need the duel skills of firmness and fairness to achieve this. You also need the skill to assess at the end of the day how things have gone and alter your plans accordingly.

[SS Rocks!]

What grade do you teach?

6th grade (social studies)

Which three skills are needed for teaching?

Not necessarily skills, but these are the three most important characteristics I could think of...

1. creativity - not necessarily in an artistic sense, but you need to be able to come up with ways to get your future students interested in what you're teaching.

2. open-mindedness - you need to be open-minded about your students, and your professional development. You need to be able to take constructive criticism from coworkers and administrators and use it to make yourself a better teacher.

3. patience - patience with the kids and their abilities (or disabilities), but also patience with yourself as you develop as a teacher.

Advice about the process?

Work hard. Keep your GPA up as high as you can. I'm not sure how the job market is around you, but in my neck of the woods, there is a surplus of English and social studies teachers seeking jobs. Do everything you can to bolster your resume. Grades is one part. I would also recommend volunteering to work with or coach adolescents.

I wish you the best of luck. :clap:

[Maoman1]

I am a junior in High School looking to be a High School teacher. I posted almost the same kind of thing. AtoZ tole me this: "If you look at the second page of the Middle/High School discussion, you'll notice a thread called "Becoming a Teacher" started by ClaireHoxie--she (I'm guessing a she) was given some good advice.

It's good that you're thinking about "the right steps" when you're a junior in high school....doing this at the last minute can be stressful.

Some of the basic recommendations are things you most likely know yourself: keep your grades up; make sure that you're a well-rounded student (do you play sports? are you in any clubs? do you have hobbies? do you volunteer or work?); do your best on your SATs and/or ACTs...
These are good suggestions for any field, not just teaching..and generally, colleges understand that you're not perfect and/or that your life situation may not permit you to do all of those things...for example, a friend of mine worked full time while in high school...she simply did not have time for sports, clubs, etc. She was accepted into a very good college.

The path towards a career in teaching specifically:
It's great that you help other people in your classes--that's certainly one of the ways to see if you like the field enough to enter it professionally. I'd suggest continuing to do that: in college, work at their tutoring center. Once you're 18, you'll be able to get a tutoring job at a local school as well...maybe you can try working with different ages to see what suits you best. If you get a job tutoring, keep record of what you did, and especially keep copies of any cool projects that you may have done...these things may come in handy later.

You seem to be interested in high school teaching...if your choice of age stays unchanged, then think about the area you want to teach. Math and science teachers are in high demand all over the U.S., while English and Social Studies teachers may need longer to find a job.

Towards the end of your college degree, you will have to complete student teaching (this is done for college credit; you "borrow" a classroom and students from a permanent teacher to show that you've learned how to be a good teacher; the permanent teacher is there to guide you and help you become even better). For some, this is a problem financially--you have to dedicate a lot of time to it...you work full time (no pay) and you have to do a lot of preparation outside of that work time as well. Plan ahead for supporting yourself financially during that time (in my state, student teaching was generally one semester long).

It's a good idea to study your state's requirements for teachers because every state is different. Also, these requirements change over time. The state's requirements are listed on your state's certification authority's website (the name of the certification authority also varies by state... try "state board of education" or "superintendent of public instruction" as a search or ask a teacher at your high school)

Once you start looking at these requirements, there's a chance it will be confusing... you can have a teacher help you navigate through all of that information.

If you're not an organized person, teach yourself to be organized--it takes practice and discipline. Being organized is a HUGE asset in teaching..it can save you a lot of time, which means you'll decrease the amount of stress you experience.

One last thing... teachers usually choose to teach the subject that they're good at, but it's one thing to be good at something and completely a different thing to be able to explain it. Think about something that you're good at...let's say math. Think about a lesson that you understood with ease. How would you explain this concept to someone who is REALLY struggling? It's good practice for your future classroom--you'll always have students who simply "get it" and those who are struggling and need a lot of your patience and help." I hope this helps. It did help me.