1. Principles of Education and Training
Chapter 2: Becoming a Teacher

2. Becoming a Teacher Objectives:
Identify the steps to becoming a teacher
Compare ways of gaining experience with children while in high school
Research the requirements for admission to a teacher education program
Develop a personal career goal
Begin developing a personal portfolio for teaching
Write your own philosophy of teaching

3. Becoming a Teacher
What Are the Steps to Becoming a Teacher?
Requirements vary by state and level of teaching but there are general steps across the country
This class will help guide you, explore the profession, gain experience, and begin to build the skills you’ll need
If you change your mind that’s okay too—you’ll gain insight into your interests and abilities and that will help you explore another career field that fits you

4. Becoming a Teacher
Step 1: High school Preparation
Get a jump start by starting the process early
Maximize Your Educational Opportunities
Take advantage of teaching academies-specialized programs within high schools that help students to explore the teaching profession through classes, observations, and hands-on experiences
Choose challenging classes and commit to doing well in them
This will help you not only gain knowledge but also increase your chance of getting into the college or university of your choice and admittance into a teaching program
Tutor others in classes you do well in
“If you really want to know a subject well, try teaching it to someone else.”

5. Becoming a Teacher
Step 1: High school Preparation
Observe Your Teachers
Take advantage of the opportunity to see a variety of teachers and their teaching styles
When observing them ask yourself:
What are their particular teaching styles?
How do they adapt material for different levels or interests?
What are their class rules and procedures?
How do they earn the respect of their students?
Observe their interactions with students and make notes for future reference
Ask your teachers what led them to teaching and their specific career paths.
Ask them advice they’d give to someone interested in the profession.
Ask your teachers questions about teaching
Most will be happy to share their knowledge and experiences

6. Becoming a Teacher
Step 1: High school Preparation
Explore College Programs
Begin now looking at colleges and university that offer teacher training
These programs are called teacher education programs
Research your options
Ask teachers for recommendations
Search online and check out their websites for
Programs offered and their required courses
Entrance requirements
Visit colleges (junior year)
Send applications (fall of senior year)
Talk to your guidance counselor
Grants are for students who show real economic need and do not have to be repaid
Student loans usually have low interest rates and can be repaid over a longer time than normal loans
Ask about financial aid if cost is a concern
Ask about scholarships (what are the criteria)
Are grants available
Student loan information

7. Becoming a Teacher
Step 1: High school Preparation
Gain Experience and Improve Your Skills
Gain as much experience working with children of various ages now
Helps you make the best decision as to who to teach
Colleges look favorably on applicants who show community involvement
Job Shadowing
Visit a classroom and job shadow a teacher
Helps you see what skills you will need
Discuss their experiences and ask questions
Shadow a variety of people in careers that interest you
Helps you gain professional contacts
Job shadowing is when you follow a person on the job for a few hours, a day, or even longer to experience what the person’s career typically involves.
It can give you valuable insight into the person’s daily tasks, activities, and interactions with others.
If a job shadowing opportunity isn’t arranged for you, make arrangements to do so yourself.

8. What other volunteer ideas can you think of?
Becoming a Teacher
Step 1: High school Preparation
Gain Experience and Improve Your Skills
Volunteering
Excellent way to interact with children
Many opportunities
Volunteer ideas
Elementary school—after-school program
Tutor
Cub scouts or Girl Scouts (Brownies)
Help coach a sport
Summer camps
Childcare programs
Special Olympics
Community recreation programs
Volunteer opportunities also exist with short-term projects like helping with an elementary school fundraiser, setting up a school’s art fair, or helping with a middle school car wash.
What other volunteer ideas can you think of?

9. Becoming a Teacher Volunteering (continued)
Step 1: High school Preparation
Gain Experience and Improve Your Skills
Volunteering (continued)
Helps you gain leadership experience
Even if the volunteer opportunities do not involve working with children they will help you gain needed skills for success in college and your career
You may assist with planning, carrying out, and evaluating activities
Often require creativity and problem solving skills
Strengthens your sense of commitment
A good addition to your resume
Adults you work with can serve as references, attesting to
your character, commitment, and work

10. Becoming a Teacher Service-Learning Step 1: High school Preparation
Gain Experience and Improve Your Skills
Service-Learning
Links classroom learning with hands-on experience in order to meet community needs
Requires:
Analyzing needs
Learning related information
Planning a way to help
Following through
Evaluating the experience
Ex: a child development class might investigate the injury and death rates of children in vehicle accidents, find that some causes were improperly installed or recalled car seats, and work with an agency to organize a safety check day for parents.

11. Becoming a Teacher Part-time work
Step 1: High school Preparation
Gain Experience and Improve Your Skills
Part-time work
Child care centers, recreation programs, or after-school care programs often hire part-time or summer staff
Your interest in teaching, related classes you’ve taken, and volunteer experiences will make you a good candidate
Many opportunities for learning more about the field of education through actual experiences with children
Take advantage of these opportunities to enhance your learning and life

12. What are prerequisite courses and proficiency tests?
Becoming a Teacher
Step 2: College Preparation and Teacher Training
Teaching Kindergarten through high school requires a bachelor’s degree (aka an undergraduate degree)
Generally completed in 4 years
May be a Bachelor of Arts (BA) or Bachelor of Science (BS) depending on your major and course requirements met
Admission to teacher education programs
Some schools require students wait until their junior year to apply when students have completed most general education or core courses for better evaluating applicants
Entrance requirements often include:
Personal interviews
Prerequisite courses
Minimum GPA
Proficiency tests
Prerequisite course—one that must be completed before entering a program or prior to taking higher-level courses.
Proficiency tests—measure skill and knowledge in a subject area (may be required to pass proficiency tests in reading, writing, and math for teacher education candidates)
What are prerequisite courses and proficiency tests?

13. Becoming a Teacher
Step 2: College Preparation and Teacher Training
Elementary and Secondary Education Students must complete course work related to education:
Education as a profession
How schools function
Teaching strategies and classroom management techniques
Most education courses require working with children or teens including:
Observations
Helping teachers
Step 3: Classroom Experiences and Student Teaching
Tutoring students
Teaching lessons
Advantages to these experiences:
Gain experience
Improve skills
See how they like the various aspects of teaching

14. Step 3: Classroom Experiences and
Becoming a Teacher
Step 3: Classroom Experiences and
Student Teaching
Teacher education culminates in a student teaching experience
Can be placed in a public or private school
You’ll have at least one cooperating teacher who will supervise and mentor you
Will be overseen by a college professor
Required by all states
Usually one semester of college
Often starts with observation
Ends with the student teacher:
Planning and teaching material
Assigning work
Evaluating and assessing learning
Interacting with parents and school personnel

15. Becoming a Teacher Certified teachers
Step 4: Gaining Certification
Certified teachers
Have completed state requirements for teacher preparation which usually includes
Bachelor’s degree or higher
Successful completion of an approved teacher education program (including student teaching)
Any additional state requirements
Receive a teaching license or certificate which specifies
Grade levels
Subject areas (sometimes)
Most states require a 4 year degree, but some require an additional 1-2 years of coursework
Not all private schools require teachers to have a teaching license, but most do

16. Becoming a Teacher
Step 4: Gaining Certification
Planning to teach in a different state than where your college or university is located?
Programs are usually keyed to the state’s licensing requirements so find out the requirements of the state you plan on teaching in as soon as possible
Work with your advisor to develop a plan
States usually have reciprocal agreements meaning they agree to honor the licenses and certificates of other states
Teaching licenses are formal documents, issued by the state, verifying the specific grade levels and subjects the teacher is qualified to teach
They are good for a specific period of time
Master’s—many teachers begin working toward it part-time shortly after beginning teaching
Want to teach college? You’ll need at least a master’s to teach at community college and may be required to even have doctoral degree to teach at a four year college or university…….these are usually not in education but rather in a particular subject area or specialized area
They must be renewed and in order to renew the state might require:
Documentation of additional education or training
Eventual completion of a master’s degree (some states)

17. Becoming a Teacher
Getting Started
Set a Career Goal
Dreams rely on chance while goals take concerted effort….
….make your dreams reality by turning them into your life’s goals!
First think about your desires to become a teacher and ask yourself:
What do you want to teach? Do you have a passion for a certain subject?
Who would you like to teach most (age level)?
Use this “what” and “who” as a basis for writing
your career goal
When you know what you want to achieve, you are more likely to achieve it!

18. Becoming a Teacher
Getting Started
Set a Career Goal
A career goal is a clear, concise statement of what you want to accomplish in specific terms.
Helps you move toward your goal
Forms the base for identifying interrelated goals that will help you achieve it
Think of the process like a tree
Trunk = main career goal
Main branches = related goals
Smaller branches = steps to achieve the related goals
Outline the steps you need to complete your goals
Determine the specific things you need to do to achieve each of these steps
Consider possible roadblocks and how you’ll get by them

19. Becoming a Teacher
Getting Started
Create a Portfolio
Professional portfolios are used to showcase abilities and work
Used by artists, photographers, architects, designers, and writers but can be used in all professions
Becoming increasingly common in education
Used in addition to written résumés
Visual résumés expand on and give visual evidence to back up the written résumé
Now is the time to start developing a personal portfolio for teaching
A personal portfolio is an organized collection of materials and information that shows how personal knowledge, skills, and attitudes that have developed over time.

20. Becoming a Teacher
Getting Started
Create a Portfolio
Should include materials and reflections that illustrate your learning, accomplishments, strengths, and best work
Pieces included in a portfolio are sometimes called artifacts
Artifacts might include:
Projects or papers prepared for class
Examples from volunteer work
Academic awards
Shows how your knowledge, thinking, and skills are
growing
Source of personal reflection, such as a visual journal

21. Becoming a Teacher Characteristics of Effective Portfolios
Have a clear purpose
Record and highlight your experiences and abilities
NOT a scrapbook about your life
Reflect your uniqueness
Should not be the same as anyone in your class
Include different artifacts
Show your progress
Identify and date items
Include a statement about each item and why it’s meaningful and what it demonstrates
Make sure your portfolio is current
Characteristics of Effective Portfolios
Reflect professionalism—written items should be accurate, clear to the reader, and grammatically correct
Reflect professionalism
Well-organized, neat, and easy to understand
Should be error free (have it proofread)

22. Look for the Add to Your Portfolio section at the end of each chapter
Becoming a Teacher
What Should You Include in Your Portfolio?
Portfolios vary but should include:
Basic information about yourself (name and year in school)
Essay focusing on your career goals and personal interests
Projects, assignments, or examples that display your skills
Journal entries about your experiences related to teaching
List of high school courses taken
List of community activities and community service
Information about jobs you’ve had
Academic recognition (letters, certificates, or honors)
Leadership positions you have held or demonstrated
Documentation on special skills (ex: foreign language or
exceptional computer skills)
Look for the Add to Your Portfolio section at the end of each chapter

23. Becoming a Teacher
Using Your Portfolio?
It’s easy to lose track of what you’ve done and the importance of individual activities
Portfolios help you record these important components and show how you’ve changed, grown, and what you’ve learned from the experiences
Can be used to gain part-time employment
Colleges and universities often use them to assess students’ levels of knowledge and experience when applying to teacher preparation programs
Starting a portfolio now will assist you in building a solid foundation that can move with you through your college career

24. Becoming a Teacher An alternative to an actual physical portfolio
Electronic Portfolios
An alternative to an actual physical portfolio
Benefits include:
Information can be easily stored, transported, and accessed
Can be shared electronically
Demonstrate creator’s computer skills
A philosophy of teaching is a personal statement about your thoughts, views, and values as they relate to teaching
Helps you think seriously about your current ideas and beliefs
Develop Your Philosophy of Teaching
Gives others insight into what is important to you
Can be updated or rewritten to reflect changes in thinking

25. Becoming a Teacher
Develop Your Philosophy of Teaching
Can be used when applying to a college teacher preparation program
May be used when applying for your first teaching position
Most difficult part of writing your philosophy of teaching is to articulate your thoughts, or put them into words
Made easier by starting with questions
Use language that everyone will understand
Use a first-person or “I” perspective
Keep it short (2-3 paragraphs for students)

26. Becoming a Teacher
Develop Your Philosophy of Education
Questions to guide you in writing your philosophy statement
Develop Your Philosophy of Teaching
The following questions can help you in developing your personal philosophy of teaching. Think about each of them, and jot down your thoughts. Your philosophy statement may include some, but not necessarily, all of these points.
Why do you want to teach?
What characteristics make a teacher effective?
How do students learn?
What is an ideal classroom?
What should the relationship between teacher and student be?
What motivates students to learn?
What should be the primary goal of a teacher?
Who is the best teacher you have ever known? What made him or her so special?
What is the most important role of a teacher?

27. End of Chapter Two Review Date: _____________
TEST Date: ______________