The Diversity of Teaching Careers: It’s Not Just About the Classroom

Dixon Gerber

McKay Student Ambassador

Elementary Education

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When I said I was studying Elementary Education, I came with the intention to be a classroom teacher. However, I have since come to understand that there are many other opportunities available to teaching majors. Let's explore a few different opportunities of teaching careers:

School Level Careers:

At the school level, there are a few different careers you can consider if you realize that teaching isn't something you want to do. Among these are school counselors, principals, and assistant principals. Here's an overview of each of these. After learning about these different opportunities, I decided that I want to end up getting a master's degree in administration. My current plans are to teach and coach for 5-10 years, and should the opportunity arise, fill the role of an assistant principal or principal.

School Counselors

A school counselor's main objective is to help students develop social, academic, and career skills. They work directly with students to help them plan a course future academia, resolve issues, and help them see different opportunities in students' fields of interest. If you want to still be in the school, but help guide students and help them set goals and plans for their future, this might be the career for you! To become a school counselor, you would a master's degree in school counseling, education, or psychology as well as pass a state or national certification.

Principals

Principals are like the school's Superman or Superwoman. Students see the principal from time to time, especially if they are extremely disruptive in class, but I personally never really knew what they did. Principals are in charge of coordinating curriculum, bell schedules, school budget, counseling students, working with the community to address concerns and needs of the school, managing staff, meeting with parents and teachers to monitor progress, work with legislature to justify funding, hiring teachers and staff, and so much more. They are a public figure that very few people really know what they do, just like Superman and Superwoman. To become a principal, you will need a master's degree in education administration or school leadership. You'll need to get a principal license or certification from the state you choose to work in. Most states do require several years of teaching experience.

District Level Careers:

Superintendent

Superintendents are essentially principals of the district. While they don't interact with the students themselves, they are in charge of the school district, which means they are in charge of hiring principals and managing district wide curriculum by working with the board of education, provide professional development and ensure that it is used by teachers and staff, and managing the district budget. They also represent the district to the community, media, and government. To become a superintendent, you have to have a master's degree in education administration or school leadership and a valid superintendent certification. You typically do have to have several years of experience as a principal.

Curriculum Design

A curriculum designer does what you'd think, designs curriculum for the district. However, the designing process entails aligning the educational programs and courses with national academic standards, creating learning objectives, creating instructional materials like textbooks, and having all of this be researched based practices. After designing the curriculum, you will have to share the curriculum with teachers. An example of current curriculum in the elementary schools is a researched based program called 95%.

To become a curriculum designer, you typically need a bachelor's degree in education. However, your odds of getting hired are greatly increased if you have a master's degree in curriculum and instruction. Having teaching experience doesn't hurt either.

Educational Technology

There are many different careers in educational technology including but not limited to instructional technologist, development specialist, director of instructional technology and data analyst. These careers are good for people who like to like learning and adapting new technologies. You'd have to be familiar with a wide range of software, hardware, and applications. To enter the educational technology field, you'll need to get a bachelor's degree in education or information technology. You may also want to get a master's degree in educational technology.

Non-School Related Careers:

Children's Media Reviewer

Think about your favorite children's TV show. Growing up, mine was Little Einsteins. I would watch that with my little brother and we learned a lot. For children now, it might be Bluey. Now, think of your favorite children's books. A popular choice would be almost anything from Dr. Seuss. Children's media reviewers focus on evaluating content for age appropriateness, educational value, positive messages, and diversity. This helps parents and teachers know what is suitable to give their children. As a children's media reviewer, you'll be writing a lot of reviews as well as spending a lot of time watching movies, TV shows, reading books, and actively engaging in children's media. To be children's media reviewer, you don't actually have to have a degree in education. However, most companies prefer someone who has at least a bachelor's degree in journalism, communications, child development, or education. Having a master's degree further helps your chances to get a job in this field.

Conclusion:

There are many opportunities outside of teaching for education majors. After researching all of these, I am personally considering being a principal, educational technologist, or a children's media reviewer.

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