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Though memories of fashion faux pas and reckless decisions might elicit moments of remorse, educators would like all young adults to look back at their secondary school years with a gleam in their eye. Ideally, middle and high school is a time when blossoming self-awareness, growing social aptitude and a significant jump in academic competence can catapult students into the early stages of adulthood. Helping them emerge with a firm academic foundation and a healthy curiosity about the wide open world beyond the walls of their high school is the secondary educator's challenge and joy.
What You'll Be Surprised to Learn An idiosyncratic fact about life in secondary school is that students and teachers often have widely different experiences of the same environments and events. It may be surprising to realize, but vastly differing perspectives, home-lives and responsibilities, not to mention age, affect how secondary teachers and their students perceive and react to the same situations, usually quite divergently. So if you're considering the profession, it's important to consider what life as a secondary teacher is really like. It's one thing to sit in a classroom as a student and make assumptions about the job, but it's quite another to enter into the working world of secondary teaching and discover what really works and what doesn't. Read on to see if high school or middle school teaching is for you.
Secrets to Effective Secondary Teaching 1. Hard Work Teachers can't be lazy. Correcting work and grading papers and tests takes a lot of time, not to mention the lesson planning and preparation involved. Successful teachers gauge assignments and tests by how long they will take to grade, and they plan their class work load accordingly to keep on top of this time-consuming task. 2. Paper Work All teachers are administrators—even the ones with papers strewn all over their desks—not just those in leadership roles. Secondary teaching requires organization and documentation beyond what is seen in the classroom. 3. Dedication Resourceful teachers try very hard to integrate their creative ideas with specific mandated curricula. High school and middle school teaching curricula are determined and overseen by high level administrators. It can take patience and creativity to tailor specific required methods and units to the needs of your students.
4. Education Secondary teachers are smarter than students think. With over 50 percent of teachers now holding master's degrees, staying competitive in the field requires sacrifice and dedication.* 5. Perception High school and middle school teachers really do have eyes on the back of their heads. Secondary teachers are trained to be perceptive in noticing and assessing students with physical, mental and learning disabilities, as well as reporting suspicious activities on or around campus. 6. Invention Many teachers today are computer junkies just like their students. High school and even middle school teaching now utilizes computers throughout the curriculum. Competitive teachers need to master common programs and Internet protocol to teach and report grades effectively. If you don't mind the hard work, paper work, dedication, education, perception and invention, you might have what it takes to become an A+ teacher. Who knows? Maybe you'll become that teacher everyone remembers fondly once they escape into the wide open world.
* Source: U.S. Department of Education |
