Breaking into the Working World of Teaching

In every college in the country there are ambitious and starry-eyed youngsters who are preparing for a career in teaching. At some point that army of graduates will hit the streets to find jobs in the field of teaching. What is not often taught in colleges are the real world skills of how to actually find a good teaching job right out of school. While there is always a need for good teachers the new graduate should develop some skills in finding the kind of teaching job they have always dreamed of. Even from that first job their career in teaching gets off on the right foot.

There is a lot you can do even before graduation to get your job search moving and to make yourself desirable as a teacher. When school administrators get flooded with applications from newly graduated teachers you will stand out as the one they want to call for an interview. One thing you can do at any time during you academic career is to intern as a teaching assistant and volunteer to teach in underprivileged schools.

You can teach just a few hours a day and work it around your academic work. By taking on the working world of teaching even before you have your degree, you will be able to present yourself to employers post graduation as someone who has real world experience in the classroom and “knows the ropes” of getting through an academic year with real students. That is tremendously valuable to a school administrator with a spot to fill because it reduces the concern that a new graduate who has never faced a classroom full of restless children might wash out when the reality of what teaching is really like.