Kindergarten and elementary school teachers play an important role in the development and growth of young children. The things they learn, discover, and encounter during this period are sure to have a great effect on their potential future achievements in both education and their day-to-day lifestyle. If you consider yourself someone who enjoys young children and loves education and teaching, a career as a kindergarten teacher might be perfect for you. In the following paragraphs we will look at the requirements and steps you can take if you want to have your own Kindergarten classroom one day.
Generally speaking, most of today’s kindergarten teachers follow the conventional path to a career in education. First, you need to research local or online schools and find an educational program that fits your needs. There are many schools that offer excellent degree programs in education. The key is to collect information from a variety of schools, do some research, and choose the degree program that best fits your current schedule and lifestyle. These education and teaching degree programs prepare you for your first teaching job. In addition to core college classes like math, science, literature, and economics, you’ll also take classes like teaching methodologies, philosophy of education, psychology of learning, and other courses related to education and teaching. In addition, you will also need to spend one semester teaching as a student or supervised and pass a series of teacher certification exams such as Praxis I, Praxis II, and Praxis III.
All US states require public school teachers to have a bachelor’s degree and be certified or licensed by the state in which they will teach.
The education degree program you choose will prepare you to receive a license or certification to teach in your current state of residence. If you currently hold a bachelor’s degree, some states offer alternative procedures to help you become licensed, and in many cases, private schools do not require teachers to be certified or licensed at all. If you have a bachelor’s degree but still need to acquire college-level education courses, states may make available an alternative route to certification that allows you to be hired for a fee while you obtain a valid license. In cases like this, the teacher will typically be hired on a temporary or provisional license and must earn the required education-related credits in an agreed-upon period of time. During this interim period, the new teacher is supervised by an experienced administrator or educator.
Kindergarten teachers wear many different hats. You will be required to not only coordinate games and hands-on activities, but also introduce and teach subjects like math, language arts, science, social studies, art, and more as you prepare your children for first grade and beyond. You will be responsible for planning and implementing appropriate curriculum, learning environment management, classroom and behavior management issues, developmental assessment, and kindergarten teacher legal and professional issues.