职责

　　•教师作为辅导员或教练，使用互动式的讨论和实践性的学习，帮助学生学习并应用各种学科中的概念，如自然科学、数学或英语等。

　　•幼儿园和小学老师在儿童的成长过程中扮演着重要的角色。儿童早期所学习和经历的事物可以塑造他们的世界观和人生观，并影响其在学校、工作和个人生活中的成功或失败。

　　•中学老师帮助学生更深入地钻研在小学中介绍的各个学科，并为他们提供关于这个世界更多的信息。

　　技能

　　•在幼儿园、小学和中学教学需要各种技巧和才能，包括与儿童相处的能力和创造一个高效的课堂学习环境的能力。

　　•教师还必须拥有组织、管理、解决问题、解决冲突和保存记录的能力。

　　•研究和交流的技巧也非常重要，它们是影响、激发和训练他人的动力。

　　•教学同时还需要极大的耐心和创造力。

　　教育背景

　　•所有50个州和哥伦比亚辖区均要求公立学校教师具有教师许可，不过私立学校并不需要这种教师许可。

　　•对普通教师证的要求各个州不太一样。不过，所有州均需要学士学位，并需要完成认证培训课程，该课程规定了一定数量的科目和教育学分，以及监督实习教学。

　　前景

　　•一直到2008年，幼儿园、小学和中学教师的就业率预期将与所有职业的平均速度一样增长。

　　•教师的就业市场对于不同的地理位置和专业专长来说差别很大。很多内陆城市和农村地区很难吸引到足够多的老师，因此，求职者在这些地区会比城市郊区更有市场。

　　•随着少数民族和非英语国家学生的增长，以及少数民族教师的缺乏，对少数民族或双语教师的招收力度将逐渐增强。

THE JOB

•Teachers act as facilitators or coaches, using interactive discussions and hands-on learning to help students learn and apply concepts in subjects such as science, math or English.

•Kindergarten and elementary school teachers play a vital role in the development of children. What children learn and experience during their early years can shape their views of themselves and the world, and affect later success or failure in school, work and their personal lives.

•Secondary school teachers help students delve more deeply into subjects introduced in elementary school and expose them to more information about the world.

SKILLS

•Kindergarten, elementary, and secondary school teaching requires a variety of skills and aptitudes, including a talent for working with children and the ability to create an effective classroom learning environment.

•Teachers must also possess excellent organizational, administrative, problem-solving, conflict-resolving, and record-keeping abilities.

•Research and communication skills are essential as is the power to influence, motivate, and train others.

•Teaching also requires a high level of patience and creativity.

EDUCATION

•All 50 states and the District of Columbia require public school teachers to be licensed, but it is not required for teachers in private schools.

•Requirements for regular licenses vary by state. However, all states require a bachelor degree and completion of an approved training program with a prescribed number of subject and education credits as well as supervised practice teaching.

OUTLOOK

•Overall employment of kindergarten, elementary and secondary school teachers is expected to increase about as fast as the average for all occupations through the year 2008.

•The job market for teachers varies widely by geographic area and subject specialty. Many inner cities and rural areas have difficulty attracting enough teachers, so job prospects should continue to be better in these areas than suburban districts.

•With enrollments of minorities and non-English speaking students increasing, coupled with a shortage of minority teachers, efforts to recruit minority or bilingual teachers should intensify.