Teacher careers can be very rewarding, but at the same time they can be very stressful. You, as the teacher, will be in charge of their education, and something you need to remember is that young minds are very impressionable. If you tell them something, they will more than likely accept it as the truth. Is this something you truly want to be responsible for?
There are two basic types of careers for teachers, substitute teachers and permanent teachers. In the category of substitute teachers you have two sub-types. These are long-term substitutes and day-substitutes. These are two teacher careers that many people will explore, but it some cases they are not quite as well paying or rewarding.
The advantage of being a substitute teacher is that you get to experience many different classrooms and many different students. You will have the distinct advantage of seeing how one school works versus another. This may very well prepare you to enter the world of permanent teaching, and it is in fact the reason many people choose to be substitute teachers.
Others however may choose the substitute teacher careers because their credentials do not permit anything higher. In order to become a full teacher you will need to hold at the very least a bachelor's degree. In order to become a substitute teacher you will need to hold an associate's degree, though some schools permit their substitute to teach on a high school diploma.
Regardless of education, a substitute will need to complete a training course so that they know what to do and how to act. The most important thing a substitute can remember in a teaching environment is to be firm with the students without being cruel or too demanding. Teaching does require a firm hand at times, and anyone in the education industry will tell you that students can get out of hand sometime.
For this reason you will need to be someone who possesses a great deal of patience, as with anyone else in teacher careers. There are plenty of careers for teachers out there, so long as you are the right person for the job. Being the right person for the job will require more than good credentials however. You will need to be able to pass a background check from both the local police as well as the FBI.
Teachers do not get paid well, and to that end, they are truly in this business for its rewards and for the ability to bring up young minds. One monetary benefit to being a teacher is the retirement package offered by the state you reside in however. So long as you reach the mandatory thirty years or are able to apply for early retirement, you will be taken care of for the rest of your life. This is definitely a great incentive!
Different teachers will be certified for different grade levels. For elementary teachers it would be very difficult to move to middle or high school simply because it would be outside of their skill set. Why? Because they might not know anything above basic math or reading. That's not to say they are stupid, it is to say that after a certain time of teaching these courses it can become very difficult for a teacher to conform to anything else.
Similarly a high school teacher might find it very difficult to transfer to the elementary level because they may not have the patience. As you can see, teachers are very specialized, and while there are many careers for teachers available, the teacher needs to choose something that he or she is good at. Luckily, there are many opportunities available.
The choice is yours. There are many choices, many options. Where will you go? What will you do? To be perfectly honest, that choice is yours, and if you feel you have made the wrong one at some point in time, you can always go back and try again. That's the beauty of teaching jobs.
