MANY STEPS are involved in becoming a teacher. The first one is to get the proper training. You must select a school that will meet the future demands of your profession. This chapter explains the requirements common to most teacher education programs in the United States.
Before you can begin your career as a teacher, you must acquire the necessary education. The good news is that many routes exist for you to get the teaching education you need. Depending on your current educational background, this could mean: obtaining a four-year college degree from an accredited teacher education program; or, if you already hold a college degree but it isn't in the education field, you can enroll in a teacher education graduate program; or you may only need to take a few specific education courses at an institution approved by your state department of education. Another option available to you is distance learning, which enables you to learn in your own home at your own pace.
While you have to complete a certain amount of teacher education in order to become certified as a teacher, you don't always need to obtain your full certification in order to land your first full-time teaching job. This is especially true in urban or rural areas where there is often a high demand for teachers.
No matter what your situation is—a high school student just starting out, a two- or four-year college student who has decided to go into teaching, or a college graduate deciding to change careers—you have to complete a teacher education program in order to be certified as a teacher. If you want to begin teaching immediately after college, without obtaining a graduate degree, you must attend a school that offers a program in your interest area that ensures you have the necessary educational credentials to obtain certification. If you want to study something more esoteric in your undergraduate years and still be able to teach, you can get a graduate degree with a concentration in education. Either way, you must have specialized training in education to obtain certification, get hired, and become a successful teacher.
Changes in Teacher Education
Several major changes in both theory and practice have turned the traditional classroom into a more exciting learning environment. These changes include new instructional materials, technology, and understandings of how children learn. These elements have changed the way teachers instruct students, and the training program you select should provide you with information and opportunities to experience these changes.
Instructional Materials
Just a few years ago, every student had a textbook, and every teacher had a teacher's edition of that book and maybe a workbook for reinforcement. Using a formal lesson plan, teachers would assign a chapter to read on Monday, provide several worksheets to complete and grade in class during the week, and then give a chapter test on Friday.
Today, teachers still use textbooks, but the books come with kits containing multiple resources such as videos, laser discs, and software to use in their classrooms. There is a broad range of instructional material available, which can be classified in seven general groups:
- Printed and display material
- Nonprojected display material
- Still-projected display material
- Audio material
- Cine and video materials
- Computer-mediated materials
When assessing the instructional materials, you should ask yourself what educational objective you want to achieve and what type of sensory experience is required. Teachers are expected to incorporate these materials into their lessons, selecting the most appropriate ones for each specific group of students. Planning lessons to meet the needs of every student is more complicated and time-consuming than ever before.
It is essential that you begin your career with an understanding of the kinds of materials that are available and how they should be used. Your methods courses must expose you to these resources. In fact, your practical classroom experience (known as student teaching, directed teaching, or practicum) should provide opportunities to use a variety of modern resources and materials.
Technology
Technology is changing all aspects of society, including education. Students today can receive and transmit assignments to their teachers using e-mail. The research capabilities of today's students appear limitless, because the knowledge of the world sits at their fingertips in the form of an Internet connection. For educators, technology promotes teacher creativity that lets you broaden your instruction style.
In Arizona, the Vail School District's "Beyond Textbooks" initiative supplies teachers with digital instruction materials, which keep teachers up-to-date on technology and new ways it can be implemented in the classroom. It also supports teacher collaboration as teachers can share resources over the entire district. Vail's Empire High School, which opened in 2005, uses laptops exclusively in the classroom.
Take a close look at how technology is integrated into the teaching programs you consider. You must be prepared to use this medium in your classroom.
The Learning Process
Researchers are finding new information about how students learn and process information. Major theories among educators about how students retain information—learning styles, multiple intelligence, and brain-based learning—help teachers better respond to individual students' needs. This means that preparing to teach is more complicated. A teacher can no longer expect to lecture for 40 or 50 minutes, because research suggests that most students do not learn effectively using that method; many students do not have an auditory strength. Learning is viewed as a more active process that requires the teacher to facilitate learning rather than be a source of all knowledge.
Education should reflect the needs of the business world, where individuals are required to work together as a team. Therefore, teachers use team-building strategies such as cooperative learning, which allows students to work together in the learning process while being held responsible for their individual achievement. The theory and methods courses you complete should teach you these methods and allow you to put some of this theory into practice.
Several major changes in both theory and practice have turned the traditional classroom into a more exciting learning environment. These changes include new instructional materials, technology, and understandings of how children learn. These elements have changed the way teachers instruct students, and the training program you select should provide you with information and opportunities to experience these changes.
Instructional Materials
Just a few years ago, every student had a textbook, and every teacher had a teacher's edition of that book and maybe a workbook for reinforcement. Using a formal lesson plan, teachers would assign a chapter to read on Monday, provide several worksheets to complete and grade in class during the week, and then give a chapter test on Friday.
Today, teachers still use textbooks, but the books come with kits containing multiple resources such as videos, laser discs, and software to use in their classrooms. There is a broad range of instructional material available, which can be classified in seven general groups:
- Printed and display material
- Nonprojected display material
- Still-projected display material
- Audio material
- Cine and video materials
- Computer-mediated materials
When assessing the instructional materials, you should ask yourself what educational objective you want to achieve and what type of sensory experience is required. Teachers are expected to incorporate these materials into their lessons, selecting the most appropriate ones for each specific group of students. Planning lessons to meet the needs of every student is more complicated and time-consuming than ever before.
It is essential that you begin your career with an understanding of the kinds of materials that are available and how they should be used. Your methods courses must expose you to these resources. In fact, your practical classroom experience (known as student teaching, directed teaching, or practicum) should provide opportunities to use a variety of modern resources and materials.
Technology
Technology is changing all aspects of society, including education. Students today can receive and transmit assignments to their teachers using e-mail. The research capabilities of today's students appear limitless, because the knowledge of the world sits at their fingertips in the form of an Internet connection. For educators, technology promotes teacher creativity that lets you broaden your instruction style.
In Arizona, the Vail School District's "Beyond Textbooks" initiative supplies teachers with digital instruction materials, which keep teachers up-to-date on technology and new ways it can be implemented in the classroom. It also supports teacher collaboration as teachers can share resources over the entire district. Vail's Empire High School, which opened in 2005, uses laptops exclusively in the classroom.
Take a close look at how technology is integrated into the teaching programs you consider. You must be prepared to use this medium in your classroom.
The Learning Process
Researchers are finding new information about how students learn and process information. Major theories among educators about how students retain information—learning styles, multiple intelligence, and brain-based learning—help teachers better respond to individual students' needs. This means that preparing to teach is more complicated. A teacher can no longer expect to lecture for 40 or 50 minutes, because research suggests that most students do not learn effectively using that method; many students do not have an auditory strength. Learning is viewed as a more active process that requires the teacher to facilitate learning rather than be a source of all knowledge.
How These Changes Affect Teacher Education
Education should reflect the needs of the business world, where individuals are required to work together as a team. Therefore, teachers use team-building strategies such as cooperative learning, which allows students to work together in the learning process while being held responsible for their individual achievement. The theory and methods courses you complete should teach you these methods and allow you to put some of this theory into practice.
Alternative Teacher Education Programs
In the early 1980s, the alternative route to teacher certification began as a way to ward off projected shortages of teachers and replace emergency certification. It has now evolved into a model for recruiting, training, and certifying people who have at least a bachelor's degree and want to become teachers. In 2007, all 50 states and Washington, DC, implemented an alternative route to teacher certification. The term alternative route refers to alternatives to the traditional state-approved college-based teacher education program routes for certification. Since its inception, the number of teachers that have earned certification through an alternative route program has risen drastically.
If you already have a bachelor's degree, you may be eligible for alternative teacher certification if the degree is in the subject area to be taught. Generally, state certification boards require individuals to pass approved teacher examinations such as Praxis I and II, complete the professional education courses, and, if appropriate, complete a student teaching requirement. However, states vary in their requirements for alternative teacher education programs; some will allow you to begin teaching right away as long as you enroll in teacher education courses and complete a certain number of courses within a specified time frame.
If you are contemplating changing careers to become a teacher, find out the specific requirements of the state department of education and school district where you want to teach.
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