I've recently been doing some thinking on what I should do as a Career when i get out of high school. One thing that appealed to me in several aspects was the career of a teacher... Now for those of you who are teachers or have looked into the subject, what kind of education would you have to have? whats the average break down of salary? what would be the difference between someone who teaches a core class compared to someone who teaches something more to deal with the arts such as Band or Choir... anything that would help my understanding of the aspects of having a career of a teacher would help.
A lot of people knock the teaching profession due to their perception of it being a low paying career. But when you really evaluate it, its not that bad. Salary varies depending on location, but where I live in Arizona, starting pay is $30,000-$35,000 per year. Senior teachers make well in the 40's and if you have a masters degree you can make in the $50,000 range. Keep in mind you get summers off with pay, in addition to plenty of school holidays during the year.
My wife has been a substitue teacher for a few years and just passed her state certification exam and hopes to get a full time job next year. It's a great job if you are raising a family since you get the same time off the kids get.
You do need at least a Bachelors degree to teach. As far as the difference between being a core teacher or one who teaches music, I think the pay is the same but not sure.
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You do need at least a Bachelors degree to teach |
The salary issue will be slightly different in each state. Starting in the state of Florida is 20,000 a year. Yes, you get paid all year long, but it's not how a lot of people think. They break down your salary so that you are getting money during the summer. Some people think that you just get paid to do nothing, when that's not true.
Classes. You have to have basic general education. Maths, Sciences, different types of English and Literature, etc. On top of that, you'll take your education courses, and your education methods courses that teach you how to teach. If you are wanting to teach a specific subject, like English. You can always get your A.A. in Education, and then get your B.A. in English. You have to take a General Knowledge exam to become certified. In our state, I don't know about anywhere else, we have to take a CLAST exam as well. This is taken sometime during our Sophomore year.
There are music education degrees. You'll have your basic music core classes, but you'll have music education classes. (Duh) They're pretty much just like methods courses, but they're music method courses. My band director back in high school had an AA in Education and a BA in Instrumental. As far as the pay goes, it's about the same. You would put a lot more work into something of that sort, though. Band and Choir don't just meet the five times a week in a classroom. Especially high school band. During marching season, we would spend around 20-25 hours with each other.
You don't HAVE to have your masters. If you want to teach college, most colleges require a masters degree.
I have often thought that later in my career, if I was financially secure, and wanted a lower stress job that I would consider becoming a teacher. I am not saying there is no stress, but I think I would enjoy being able to share what I know with others in a school environment. I would definitely try to teach in college; maybe a 2-year college. It would bring in some income, while at the same time helping me stay sharp on my skills (whatever those will be )
Honestly I think I am contemplating being a teacher at least as a starting point. Currently I am doing my Bachelor degree and teaching is well paid and very little stress which is important for someone like me who works and study. Lets not even talk about the amount of holidays a teacher gets, approximately 4 months per year what could you want better than that.
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Currently I am doing my Bachelor degree and teaching is well paid and very little stress which is important for someone like me who works and study |
I taught for nearly three years at a university in Texas and enjoyed my time. It was nice to have all the time off, but I wouldn't say that teaching was a stress-free job. I was constantly having to grade assignments, prepare lesson plans, researching teaching materials. The benefit of teaching at the university level is that the maturity level of the students make the job a little stressful than teaching 5-year-olds. I didn't have to deal with parents that were angry when their child failed the class. I taught computer literacy and intro to computer programming. The down size with teaching the computer literacy course was that the sections were large, averaging 70 students per section. It was hard to customize my teaching style for the class because I couldn't accomodate for that many students.
In order to teach at the university level, you must have a minimum number of graduate hours. Most prefer that you have at least the Master's Degree. If teaching high school, junior high or elementary, a bachelor's degree is usually required. If someone know different, please correct me.
I enjoyed my time teaching, but when I moved I had to take a job for a nursing home company because there were no other job openings. Now, I'm enjoying my job in billing, but at times I wish I could go back teaching. I enjoyed seeing the faces of the students who came into the classroom, convinced that the only thing they could do on a computer was send email, come out at the end of the semester productive users of word processors, spreadsheets, and other software packages.