What Do Education Majors Need Most to Excel as Teachers?

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Many people dream of being a teacher, working with children and helping them to become successful individuals. While majoring in education, there are some key characteristics and tangible things that you will need. Each of these four items and qualities will help you to excel in your career as a teacher.

Communication Skills
As a teacher, you will interact with a wide variety of people. From the school security officer or police officer, to the principal and lunch personnel, knowing the staff in your school is crucial to being a successful teacher. In addition to communicating with your fellow teachers and the school principal, guidance counselor, and other staff members, you will also regularly communicate with the parents and caregivers of school kids. Excellent communication skills will be critical to success.

Required Education
Earning an online master’s degree in education prepares you to be a successful teacher. In many school districts, an online master’s degree in education is required in order to become a tenured teacher. By earning your degree online, you can fit it into your work schedule and still enjoy personal and family time. An online master’s degree in education can also help to boost your salary and job prospects.

Patience and Persistence
Some kids will not learn as quickly as others. A few of the lessons that you prepare may not be as effective as you had hoped. You will face these and other challenging situations in your daily life as a teacher. Patience will be key to working your way through them. You will also need to persist through the difficulties and keep on trying new things until you find what works.

A Passion for Learning
Great teachers have a passion for learning. They delight in watching others learn and seeing someone’s face change as a lesson “clicks”. You should have a lifelong passion for learning and discovering new things. Think outside of the textbook and consider some real-world ways to help kids learn. Your enthusiasm for the learning process will be evident to every child who walks through your classroom’s doors.

A degree in education will help to prepare you for what will happen in your classroom. Outside of your bachelor’s and master’s degrees, you will also need to develop or enhance some of your own personality traits. Enthusiasm, passion for your career, patience, persistence and excellent communications skills will take you a long way in your career as a teacher.

This article was contributed by guest author Rachelle Wilber.

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