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In the 2019-2020 school year, there were 3.2 million teachers that taught in US public schools. Do you want to join those ranks and help shape children’s minds?
Becoming a teacher can be a really rewarding career path, but the process of getting there requires specific steps.
Are you wondering how to become a teacher? If so, keep reading as we give you step-by-step instructions! If you would prefer to become a teaching assistant first to gain more of an understanding of how the school system works and the pathway you can take, you may want to check out what assistant courses overlap with teaching ones to help with your path. To learn more about the type of teaching assistant jobs, you can look up phrases such as “sen teaching assistant jobs newcastle“, or whichever location you are based in and go from there. However, for today, we will primarily be focused on becoming a teacher, so read on future teachers!
Earn a Bachelor’s Degree
No matter which state you’re in, you’ll need a bachelor’s degree to start becoming a teacher. You have two main options, which include:
- Getting a degree in the subject you want to teach
- Getting a degree specifically in education/teaching
You may want to pick the first option if you’re still not totally sure that you want to be a teacher and it would be nice to have some “backup” options. The second option is for people that are totally sure teaching is the path for them.
Complete Student Teaching
Student teaching is a great way to get hands-on experience with students during your studies. If your program doesn’t require this for any reason, you still should seek it out during college or immediately after to ensure that you’re entering a field you actually enjoy.
A lot of states will require that you have a specific number of hours in student teaching before you can graduate from your program. If you plan to Teach English Online as a foreign language, the process will be different as you will need a TEFL qualification. So it is important to decide if you would like to be classroom-based or are leaning more toward online education.
Take Your State’s Certification Exams
You cannot get hired or teach if you don’t have a state certification because this ensures that you have all of the knowledge and skills needed to get a teacher.
After completing the bachelor’s degree, you’ll need to pass the teacher certification exams for your state. This could be one exam or multiple exams.
Before you can get certified, you’ll need to complete the next step to receive your finalized certification to use in your state.
Get Fingerprinted
Since you’ll be working with children in a school, the state has to ensure they can trust you with this care. For this reason, they will want to take your fingerprints and keep them on file.
Depending on the state you’re in, there may be other precautions taken during this step as well before you get your finalized certification cleared.
Obtain a Professional Certification or Master’s Degree
While this is optional in some states, there are states that require you to have a bachelor’s degree, state certification, professional certification, and master’s degree before you can teach.
Even if your state doesn’t require these things, all of them will help you further your career and make you a more viable candidate in this field. You could even be eligible to get higher pay!
If you just obtained your master’s degree or professional certification, don’t forget to add it to your resume. Things like the best online resume builder or even student offices can help make this process easy so that you can graduate with a good job.
Earn a Doctorate
If you’re interested in teaching college-level students or higher, you must get a doctorate in the field. If you’re interested in working as an administrator, getting a doctorate is also a great way to make sure that you’re paving a path toward that goal as well.
Consider what your career goals are and what sort of subject or major you plan to teach before you decide if getting a doctorate is the right choice for you.
Learning How to Become a Teacher
It’s not entirely difficult to understand the path of becoming a teacher and finding teaching jobs, but it does take a lot of effort and time to get there. Now that you know how to become a teacher, it’s time to decide if it’s the right path for you.
If so, be sure to look into teaching careers and types of teachers to narrow down what you want to do even more.
Did you like this article? If so, take a look at the rest of our blog for other teacher tips and more.