A Career in Teaching
Teachers have become an essential part in children’s lives. No matter the type, teachers have turned into a redundant need for schools and education. They have one of the most important occupations, to prepare the individuals that grow up to become leaders and citizens of this world. Requirements for teachers vary, and with different wages and fields, teachers help students learn about life.
Teachers come into children’s lives to help them learn and grow through life and education, teaching a variety of skills; some of these include academic, social, emotional, and motor skills (“Elementary school teachers”). Through these taught skills, students can learn how to become smart, functioning individuals. Many teachers take the the extra time to help struggling students, through additional help, tutoring, or meetings with parents. Teachers take the time to focus on each student and often figure out their strengths and weaknesses. Their occupation revolves around helping children grow and become better. They often teach life lessons, such as what to do after school and how to handle college. Also, life skills like how to read and write, or write a check. Teachers have one of the most helpful occupations and teach the necessary tools for students to succeed in life.
Becoming a teacher requires many different things. One of the most important requirements needed for teaching includes having good people skills. A person that wants to become a teacher has to talk to children and have a high amount of patience. Teachers have to work with both children and adults in an orderly fashion. Also, an easily angered person does not fit the best option of people to become a teacher. Teachers must remain calm in stressful situations and stay grounded to handle the situation. Aspiring teachers need to earn a bachelor’s degree at the very least, which they can obtain through at least four years of college. A teacher can choose from a wide variety of majors that relate to teaching topics. Also, achieving a teaching degree requires that the student take part in student teaching. During student teaching, a college student will go shadow a real teacher and learn how to interact with children and the way that an average teacher’s day goes. One must also have a state license or certificate in order to become a teacher. In achieving this certificate, a person must take a general teaching test called a praxis. Also, to obtain a state teaching license, a person must obtain a background check (“Becoming a Teacher”). Becoming a teacher takes a wide variety of needs.
When becoming a teacher, many different pathways and careers exist for a person to pursue. Three of the biggest occupations of teachers include elementary school teachers, middle school teachers, and high school teachers, or secondary teachers. Special education and postsecondary teachers have also remained widespread, but not as popular as regular schooling teachers. In 2014, all teachers earned an average of $42,440 annually in North Carolina with special education teachers receiving the highest pay (Employment and Annual Wages). Some of the best habits for affective teachers include finding joy in others’ success, to embrace humility, and maintain passionate and playful(Wormeli). The paths to become a teacher often vary.
Elementary school teachers work with children from kindergarten to sixth grade. These teachers design the courses and lesson plans that they teach and prepare students for higher schooling. Elementary teachers usually teach every subject to one group of children. These teachers spend an average of thirty-six hours in the classroom, with extra hours added for the time spent outside of the classroom grading papers or supervising school events (“Elementary School Teachers”). The median pay for elementary school teachers in 2014 exceeded $53,760. Also, in 2014,1,517,400 elementary school teaching positions existed (“Kindergarten and Elementary”). The employment rate for these kind of teacher in North Carolina ranges from 27,340 and 144,200. Elementary schools have an industry employment percentage of 16.16 (“20-2021 Elementary”). Elementary school teachers can make a huge difference in a young child’s life and teach them all of the basics.
Middle school teachers also occupy a large portion of the field of education. These teachers educate children from grade six through grade eight. Middle school teachers prepare children for high school and teach further skills. The median pay for this occupation in 2014 averaged $54,640 (“Middle School Teachers”). Middle school teachers usually work five days a week for nine or ten months out of the year. Usually having summers off, unless working at summer school, middle school teachers use those months to work odd or part time jobs. Middle school teachers design the lessons and usually teach only one certain subject. These teachers often work for more than forty hours with the time spent teaching and the hours they put in outside of school, grading papers and working on lesson plans (“Secondary and Middle School Teachers”). Middle school teachers mainly prepare children for high school and teach skills needed in the everyday world.
High school teachers remain essential in with lives because of their job to prepare students for life after graduation. These teachers get students prepared to go to college or for real jobs. High school teachers teach grades nine to twelve. 961,600 people taught in high school positions in 2014. The median pay in 2014 averaged $56,310. High school teachers design their courses and teach one certain subject. Often teaching a wide variety of students, for instance one class may only contain ninth graders, but a mix of eleventh and twelfth graders in the next class (“High School Teachers”). High school teachers have the important job of preparing students and giving them the skills they need to achieve post graduate life.
Some other professions of teaching include special education and postsecondary. Special education teachers specialize in the instruction of students with certain disabilities, including physical, mental, learning, and emotional disabilities. These teachers create their lesson plans based on the capabilities of the individuals that they teach. Special education teachers will often work with therapists or a teacher’s aid to help them with the impaired students. Also, these teachers must work with student’s parents to discuss the child and how to assess them. These teachers usually average thirty-six hours in the classroom per week. Special education teachers may stay in one school or travel to hospitals, homes, or institutions to help disabled children (“Special Education Teacher”). Special education teachers get paid the most out of any teaching profession, at an average, annual wage of $61,350 (“Employment and Annual wages”). Special education teachers have to have flexibility with their students and must work around their disabilities. Postsecondary teachers work in colleges and universities. These teachers design the courses taught and often only average twelve to sixteen hours in the classroom per week. Postsecondary teachers become apart of a certain department based around their field of teaching. They spend a minimal amount of hours teaching in the classroom and only work about nine months out of the year. With summers free for postsecondary teachers, they often spend the time traveling, or composing books and articles, endorsed by the university that they teach at. Postsecondary teachers prepare college and university students for the jobs that the students strive for.
Teaching careers will likely increase in demand within the next couple of years. The job outlook from 2014 to 2024 for all teaching careers predicted to rise at 6%, the average outlook for most jobs. The large numbers of incoming students enrolling in school has made the predicted job outlook rise (“Elementary School Teachers”, “Middle School Teachers”, “High School Teachers”). For elementary school teachers the predicted employment change from 2014-2024 landed around 87,800 (“Elementary School”). Middle school teaching employment change from 2012-2024 supposedly should level around 36,800 (“Middle School”). While high school employment change became predicted to land around 55,900 (“High School”). The elementary field has the highest predicted amount of incoming teachers.
For Lori Broome, a third grade teacher’s aide, an average day can stay very busy. She begins her day with morning duty rotations, which may consist of outdoor car duty or indoor monitoring of students, but on non-duty weeks, teacher’s assistants may grade papers or do other needed tasks. For two weekdays, Mrs. Broome, alternates helping two other teachers. She stays with one all morning, then switches to the other teacher in the afternoon. During times when she does not stay with another teacher, Mrs. Broome assists children who may risk falling behind, through reading, math, or homework help. Whilst working with the morning teacher, she mainly works with small groups, doing math or reading. After lunch, Mrs. Broome takes her students to recess, then to afternoon enhancements, such as physical education, art, or music. Then, she goes to help her afternoon teacher with sorting, filing, grading or passing out papers, while the students take their afternoon enhancements. To finish off the day, she puts homework, important documents, or other needed papers in the student’s folders. Then, she helps children with activities or with work they may lack in, while they wait to go home. Some of these activities include working with small groups, reading out loud, and do science projects. Mrs. Broome’s day often stays very busy and remains packed full with things to do (Broome). Most teacher’s days stay busy and work stays a number one priority.
Ensuing a teacher’s aide career, Mrs. Broome’s job only required a two-year or associate’s degree. She took general education classes to fulfill her elective requirements. Not completely knowing what she wanted to do as an adult, Mrs. Broome only finished with an associate’s degree, which happened to exceed the minimum of what she needed for a teacher’s aide position. As a teacher’s assistant, Mrs. Broome’s job does not require work or hours outside of school. Occasionally, she takes papers home, but often has no work outside of school (Broome).
Mrs. Broome faces many satisfying moments and other not so satisfying moments as a teacher’s aide. She says that one of the absolutely most satisfying moments of her job happens when she can “fill the gap”. “The gap between teacher and student, the gap between the student and peers, the gap between student and home life” (Broome). Mrs. Broome loves choosing to help children. Another satisfying part of her job happens when she can build up children’s self confidence and give them the attention that they seek, in which they often do not get at home. She has learned that often times when the students misbehave, it usually occurs due to them seeking individual attention. She enjoy spending one on one time with each student and teaching them social skills that may help them to get along better with their peers and function better in the classroom. One of the more dissatisfying parts of Mrs. Broome’s job deal with the state standards and having to oblige by them. Not having the availability and time to help children who fall behind before tests occurs too often and remains a very disappointing part of teaching for Mrs. Broome. Students do not have enough time to adequately prepare for standardized tests, because some students require more attention in studies than others. She says that if she could change something about teaching that it would revolve around the tests and the state standards (Broome). As a teacher, difficulties arise that a person often cannot make different or change.
One of the most challenging parts of Mrs. Broome’s job deals with the fact that time never stays sufficient enough. Knowing that students need help and with a little extra encouragement they could succeed, but unable to provide them with the time to help remains devastating for Mrs. Broome. Also, knowing that without help the child may eventually just give up and start to hate school, learning, and often themselves. She says that not having the ability to “save” all of the students enlists as extremely challenging.“ ‘No Child Left Behind’…great motto, but there are some that should be left behind so that they can stand a chance to catch up” (Broome). It can devastate and challenge an individual at the same time, not having the ability to help.
Mrs. Broome got to teaching in what she calls a very unconventional way, but that she definitely had the needed skills. She says that to become an educator a person must love children and make that their number one priority. If you love a child, you accept them, no matter their quirks and annoyances. Mrs. Broome believes that many teachers have never had the love for or have forgotten how to love the “whole” child. Some of the important and needed skills that she discussed include grace, acceptance, love, kindness, lots of patience, and a great sense of humor (Broome). Many teachers believe that different requirements and skills remain needed, some more than others.
Teaching, a constant commitment that never stops. “You eat it, you sleep it, you love it, you hate it, you worry about it, you brag about it, you praise it, you praise yourself for what you do, you amaze yourself, you disappoint yourself, others astound you, others disappoint you, you make a difference. You have the power to change a life. You have the power to make another human being better, but you also have the power to tear another human being down” (Broome). Mrs. Broome views teaching very highly and takes her job very seriously as most people should. She believes that teachers change the world. A teacher’s world may change by a student, just as much as a student’s life can change by a teacher (Broome). Teachers make differences every single day in student’s lives.
Teaching, often called a hard and strenuous job, but if done in the right way it can will remain enjoyable. Many different types of teachers have varying wages and requirements. Teachers change children’s lives, hopefully for the better. They help children learn, figure out themselves, and possibly become something great. Behind every great man, woman, or leader, a great teacher stands. Without teachers, the earth would fill with senseless people who lack intelligence. The world would have no new technologies, leaders, innovators, or developments. Teacher’s have created incredible human beings needed for this world to strive. They educate students and make the earth better.