What You Need to Know Before Starting A Career In Teaching

The day to day demands of a career in teaching have evolved along with the rest of the world, in ways that can make the teacher’s life both more satisfying and more challenging. Many of the old-time learning methods of rote memorization and drills have given way to classroom and multimedia tools designed to help students think in abstract terms and develop critical through processes.

But for every teacher, career skills that have been used to centuries also remain important. It’s as important as ever that a teacher have a good knowledge of the subject or subjects being covered in class, an understanding of how children at different ages think and learn, strong communication skills both for dealing with students and their parents, and an ability to plan out a variety of engaging lesson plans.

Starting Out
Although many teachers change their specialties as they grow and advance, it can be helpful to start your journey in teaching by thinking about what level you want to teach at. The four key areas today are:

• Pre-school & kindergarten, where teachers use storytelling, games, arts and other somewhat less structured approaches to give young children their first exposure to basic concepts of vocabulary and mathematics, and a very important early understanding of getting along socially.
• Elementary school, where one teacher generally covers a variety of subjects (sometimes acting as a team mate with another teacher), and increases student’s ability to work and learn more rapidly as they move from one grade to another.

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"I touch the future. I teach." - Christa McAuliffe

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• Middle school and high school, where the teacher will generally specialize in a single topic that he or she has an in-depth knowledge of. Teachers at this level begin to teach subjects that are career-oriented, or which will help students get into a college program. Middle school, in particular, is an area where a teacher who can effectively deal with teenagers is extremely valuable.
• Special education. Recent “No Child Left Behind” and other rules have put much more responsibility on schools to educate children effectively, regardless of whether they come with special challenges or special skills. As a result, special ed teachers are in demand to teach children with learning disabilities of many different types, and, at the other end of the spectrum, to provide advanced teaching for high-peforming students.

Master's in Education
A masters degree can be helpful in terms of distinguishing you from other teaching job applicants. It isn’t necessarily required for employment in many schools, but the school district may require you to be in the process of getting your masters degree to continue teaching there long term.

There are well over 4 million teachers in the U.S. today, and opportunities are expected to grow in the field as the population continues to grow. For the aspiring teacher, career opportunities should only get better in the coming decades.