An online secondary education degree gives you the professional grounding and expert skills to educate and encourage teenage students as they pass through the decisive phase of their education.
The degree will give you access to a promising career as an educator at the middle and high school level, teaching students grades 6-12. The objective of this degree is to improve your teaching skills and help you perform the role of a secondary school teacher with practiced ease and optimum efficiency.
Apart from gaining expertise in the particular subject you will be teaching, you will also study the latest theories, techniques and specialized education methods for secondary education that will make you a better teacher. A good secondary education degree online program will also help build your organizational and presentation skills that will improve the learning experience of your students.
Your knowledge and skill will develop and nurture a student's abilities in the particular subject you are teaching and improve their logical reasoning and critical thinking skills. Your role is not just limited to teaching but also ensuring they make the right career choices. You will also motivate the students, instill discipline, and help them to overcome difficult situations in academia.
If you've always wanted to be a secondary school teacher, but your busy schedule hasn't allowed you to get the necessary qualification, an online secondary education degree is what you need. Moreover, online programs are cost effective, time saving and less stressful than traditional classroom programs.
Apart from covering a specific subject that you've chosen to teach, such as mathematics, biology, physics, chemistry, history, English, or business education, the coursework includes specific subjects like adolescent development, secondary student assessment and evaluation, teaching methodologies for secondary education, language and culture, secondary teaching in inclusive environments, and others.
This degree also focuses on classroom management, teaching sheltered English and utilizing special teaching methodologies for educating students from diverse cultural backgrounds. It also provides you with the necessary soft skills training that will convey your ideas, opinions and suggestions in the best manner possible to your students.
After completing the degree, students will have the required knowledge to take up the responsibility of a secondary school teacher. They can assess and evaluate tests, design and implement specific curricula, adopt different teaching strategies to maximize learning, and provide solutions to various challenges faced by students that prevent them from optimizing their learning experience.
Some online secondary education programs also offer internship opportunities allowing you to gain vital, hands-on experience in a variety of teaching environments under supervision of a mentor teacher.
With a secondary education degree, you may begin to teach at public, private or charter schools at the middle or high school levels and over time you can even become the school principal or move onto some other management position. If you're not interested in moving on to a managerial role, you can even become the head of department, a cross cultural activity coordinator or a professional mentor for trainee teachers; the options for career progression are varied and numerous. The key here is how you see your own career as a secondary school teacher progressing and taking the necessary steps for achieving your goals.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the employment of middle and secondary school teachers is set to grow by 16.9% and 6.5% respectively between 2010 and 2020. An increase in student enrollment and a focus on declining student to teacher ratio, will fuel the need for secondary school teachers.
If you always dreamt about being a secondary school teacher, salary won't be the deciding factor when you choose this career path, but it is important. In May 2012, the median annual salary of secondary school teachers was $57,770 (source: Bureau of Labor Statistics). The salary earned by the top 10 percent was more than $85,690 and the salary at the lowest end of the scale was $36,930. Salaries differed based on experience, location and the type of school (public or private).
You need be licensed to teach in your state, especially if you want a teaching position in a public school. If your focus is on joining a private school, then you might not need a license as these schools can hire teachers without a license to fill a teaching position. Get more information at National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) or Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC) about teaching licensure.
Technology is making its presence felt in education. As a secondary school teacher, you need to make use of technology to improve the learning experience of your students. Your classroom learning sessions need to be interactive and engaging and this can be done by integrating the use of latest interactive technology.
New teaching methodologies like flip teaching are also becoming quite popular and could be a commonly accepted practice in the near future. You'll need to keep learning and reinventing yourself as a teacher if you want keep up with the latest trends and adopt them for student benefit.
If teaching and inspiring students is your passion, an online secondary education degree is a flexible and fitting way to earn the necessary qualification to become a secondary school teacher. At eDegreeSteps, you get access to the very best online secondary education programs available.