Middle School Teacher Qualifications

Video Transcript

"To become a middle school teacher also varies from state to state. And the one I'm working in now you can major in secondary education and pick a major or a minor that you would like to teach. Or if you would like to pursue special education you can also pick that as your minor or your major. In some states like California where I started, I was required to have a degree in another area. I think mine was in anthropology. And then I went back and I did a fifth year of education for my certificate in middle school and also for special education. Education, the field is really unique because they give you an opportunity to student teach, to develop some of the skills that you might need as a teacher. And really though, I kind of laugh on this, because you really don't find out how it is until your first year and you are alone in the middle school. As far as, maybe skills you might need, maybe a good computer base background, being able to have a good sense of humor, to have a lot of patience. These are all skills that you will need to start in and be successful as a middle school or a special ed teacher. If you really enjoy your middle school, you can stay as a teacher, which is something that I've done, but there are many other opportunities out there. You can become like department chairs, like team leaders, like working for the district and maybe supervising other teachers that are beginning teachers. You also have the opportunity to go back to school and maybe become administrative and go that route to use your expertise. Some people that I know have gone on to teach middle school or educational at the college level. Again, it depends on how you enjoy and what you would like to do with your teaching background, all the avenues that can be opened as far as starting out teaching middle school or teaching special ed in the middle school--where you can go from there."