How do you figure out what grade level you should teach?
Hello, I am a sophomore in high school and plan to go into a teaching career. I keep flipping back and forth between wanting to be an elementary school teacher and a high school teacher. I love working with young children and helping them learn. However, I love history and high schools have classes taught specifically for that, whereas elementary schools do not go into much depth with those kinds of things. I am torn between what I should do and was wondering if there are any indicators that could help me decide for sure. #teaching #elementary-education #secondary-education
5 answers
Katelyn Garrison
Katelyn’s Answer
Rachel,
If you decide to pursue a major in education, most programs provide you the opportunity to intern at a school. You could then try out a setting, and even look into working with an after-school program to gain some additional experience. In most cases when you are looking for job positions open in a county, you look for the vacancies in the subject or school setting you want. If you are lucky, you might find the grade you are most interested in, if not, be flexible. Positions open up every year and even during the year too!
Nan’s Answer
Simeon’s Answer
Rachel Resnick
Rachel’s Answer
Many colleges provide incredible teaching programs. A few of the best in the nation are Johns Hopkins University, NYU, and UConn
Teaching involves a number of different skills and qualities. I would say the most important are:
- People skills - being friendly and working well with others. You will need to be personable, caring, kind, friendly, compassionate, and understanding. These qualities make a great teacher. But you also need to be stern and firm in your directions, rules, and discipline
- Public speaking - every day in your class you will need to be able to speak and present information to your students, practice speech, and practice fluency of language and talking in front of others
- The subject you plan to teach - become a master of the subject you plan to teach, make sure you know as much as possible and learn as much as you can about the subject you plan to teach. Take as many classes as possible in this subject and learn everything you can about it.
- Psychology & Human Development - start reading books and research articles on human development and psych. It will be helpful for you to know how people learn at different stages and the best ways to teach them at these stages (depending on stage of development and schema).