Those college and university students who want to pursue careers as teachers will be required to concentrate on teaching courses. While the specific teaching courses they take may differ from college to college, all of the teaching courses will fit into a few broader categories.
Elementary and Secondary Teaching Courses
If you are interested in becoming an elementary school teacher you will have to either major or minor in education with a preponderance of teaching courses to get your bachelor’s Degree. If you get a bachelor’s Degree in some other field, you can still qualify for a teaching career by getting taking several post-graduate level teaching courses and getting your a Master’s Degree in Education.
If you intend to teach on the secondary level, you will have to narrow your focus and get a Bachelor’s Degree in the area on which you wish to concentrate–math, history, English, political science, art–any field for which you have a passion and which you would be happy devoting your life to teaching. You’ll supplement the coursework you do in that specific field with teaching courses and student teaching to prepare you for getting your teaching credential when you graduate.
You can also major in something unrelated to education, and then go for a year of teaching courses in a post-graduate program. You will then have the choice of looking for a career in your chosen field, and if it does not pan out, have a teaching certificate to fall back on.
Alternative Route Teaching Courses
While all public schools in the US, under the “No Child Left Behind” act, require their teachers to have Bachelor’s Degrees, some states offer “alternative route” teaching certificates for those who begin one career and decide to switch to teaching.
These certificate programs will accept professional experience and college degree in areas other than education towards qualification for a teaching certificate, but most will also require you to take some teaching courses [http://www.teachingjobshelp.com/Teaching_Degrees/].
Once you have completed the teaching courses, you will take the state exams and participate in any mandatory student teaching or supervised teaching to get classroom experience. You can find out what teaching curses are necessary in your state by visiting its Department of Education website.
You may even be able to get academic credit for your work and life experiences in an education degree program which includes teaching courses and move from that to a teaching career. Check with the admissions programs at each college or university in which you are interested to find their policies on accepting work and life experience for credit.
