Hands-on Learning with Teaching Degrees
by Amanda Fornecker
"I'm a 35-year-old high school dropout with a GED and I want to be a teacher. Is there anything I can do?"
That's what Dr. Cindy Lovell Oliver, an education professor at Stetson University (DeLand, FL), said to one of the local teaching colleges in 1991 when she didn't know where else to go. She wasn't prepared for the answer she received, but it turned out that this married mother of two teens could fulfill her lifelong dream of molding the minds of the young and enroll in the education program. She would go on to earn her teaching degrees, a B.A. in Elementary Education and an M.A. in Education, at Stetson and her Ph.D. at the University of Iowa (Iowa City, IA).
Teaching degrees are important for any individual who wants to become a teacher. It is in teaching colleges where you will learn to specialize in your craft through classroom guidance and intern and student-teaching experience. From lesson planning to classroom management to implementation, you'll get a good sense of what you'll be doing once you earn teaching degrees. "You self-evaluate and learn to keep on going or change approaches," says Oliver. "An internship demystifies teaching."
Sharde Niehoff is currently a junior childhood education major at New York University (New York, NY) and is completing the four-semester student-teaching part of her curriculum. She believes that, although the program can be pretty demanding with lesson plans and the time commitment, it has been a great learning experience, vital to her success, earning one of the teaching degrees to become a teacher. "[Student teaching] has helped me gain more confidence in the classroom," says Niehoff. "I've learned different teaching techniques that I can't really get in the college classroom."
For Niehoff, a typical student-teaching day is much like that of individuals with teaching degrees. She must be ready with her lesson plans and able to execute them successfully. On the post-secondary level, Oliver observes her students in this role and goes on to do her own educating. Both have a sense of patience and a real passion to make learning fun.
The job outlook for students with teaching degrees looks good, especially with the large amount of baby boomer teachers looking to retire. Kindergarten to secondary school teachers will grow about as fast as the average, while post secondary professors will grow faster than the average by the year 2014, according to the Bureau Labor of Statistics (BLS). And the median earnings for kindergarten to secondary school teachers was between $41,400 and $45,920 in May 2004, while post-secondary teachers in teaching colleges earned about $51,800, according to the BLS.
Getting through the curriculum to become a teacher and earning teaching degrees can be difficult sometimes, as Niehoff says. "Some teachers just don't respect you at first. I've heard stories of student teachers who become a gopher for their teachers." So what can you do when these certain challenges come up? "Attitude is critical," says Oliver. "Teaching is not a job, but a lifestyle. Everything I do is for the kids."
That's what Dr. Cindy Lovell Oliver, an education professor at Stetson University (DeLand, FL), said to one of the local teaching colleges in 1991 when she didn't know where else to go. She wasn't prepared for the answer she received, but it turned out that this married mother of two teens could fulfill her lifelong dream of molding the minds of the young and enroll in the education program. She would go on to earn her teaching degrees, a B.A. in Elementary Education and an M.A. in Education, at Stetson and her Ph.D. at the University of Iowa (Iowa City, IA).
Teaching degrees are important for any individual who wants to become a teacher. It is in teaching colleges where you will learn to specialize in your craft through classroom guidance and intern and student-teaching experience. From lesson planning to classroom management to implementation, you'll get a good sense of what you'll be doing once you earn teaching degrees. "You self-evaluate and learn to keep on going or change approaches," says Oliver. "An internship demystifies teaching."
Sharde Niehoff is currently a junior childhood education major at New York University (New York, NY) and is completing the four-semester student-teaching part of her curriculum. She believes that, although the program can be pretty demanding with lesson plans and the time commitment, it has been a great learning experience, vital to her success, earning one of the teaching degrees to become a teacher. "[Student teaching] has helped me gain more confidence in the classroom," says Niehoff. "I've learned different teaching techniques that I can't really get in the college classroom."
For Niehoff, a typical student-teaching day is much like that of individuals with teaching degrees. She must be ready with her lesson plans and able to execute them successfully. On the post-secondary level, Oliver observes her students in this role and goes on to do her own educating. Both have a sense of patience and a real passion to make learning fun.
The job outlook for students with teaching degrees looks good, especially with the large amount of baby boomer teachers looking to retire. Kindergarten to secondary school teachers will grow about as fast as the average, while post secondary professors will grow faster than the average by the year 2014, according to the Bureau Labor of Statistics (BLS). And the median earnings for kindergarten to secondary school teachers was between $41,400 and $45,920 in May 2004, while post-secondary teachers in teaching colleges earned about $51,800, according to the BLS.
Getting through the curriculum to become a teacher and earning teaching degrees can be difficult sometimes, as Niehoff says. "Some teachers just don't respect you at first. I've heard stories of student teachers who become a gopher for their teachers." So what can you do when these certain challenges come up? "Attitude is critical," says Oliver. "Teaching is not a job, but a lifestyle. Everything I do is for the kids."
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