Home - Careers in IT

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	Chapter 10

Chapter 8: Teaching Careers

WITHIN THIS SECTION:

In Search of Excellence - My sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Engle, was one of those remarkable individuals who had an innate talent for teaching. She provided the class with opportunities to go beyond the information in our textbooks...

Why Do You Want to Teach? - You need to examine why you want to teach. Positive reasons for wanting to teach are:...

Attractive Aspects of Teaching - Satisfaction from helping others - Knowing that you are making a difference in the lives of other human beings is a very satisfying feeling...

Negative Aspects of Teaching - It's a lot of work - Doing a good job teaching requires a great deal of time outside of the classroom. Research must be done, lessons must be learned, and homework needs grading...

Entry Level Job Profile - Teacher, K-12 - Per the National Education Association (NEA) web site (www.nea.org/publiced/edstats/00rankings/c-11.html), average salaries for public school teachers in 1999-2000 ranged from a high of $52,174 in New Jersey to a low of $29,072 in South Dakota...

Entry Level Job Profile - Teacher, Collegiate Level - Compensation - Again, this varies widely from region to region and to a certain extent depends on the size of the school. Median annual earnings for full-time college and university faculty in 1998 were $46,630...

Entry Level Job Profile - Corporate Trainer - This profession can be different from teaching in K-12 or college. First of all, you might not actually be working for the organization whose employees you are training...

Teaching Career Resources - National Education Association (www.nea.org) - The oldest and largest organization in the US committed to advancing the cause of public education. They now boast 2.6 million members...

Considering the vast need for IT professionals, it follows that there must be a considerable demand for professionally certified and trained teachers to train the IT employees of the future. The Bureau of Labor Statistics states that employment of college and university faculty is expected to increase faster than average through 2008 as enrollments increase 10 percent.ⁱ

As a director of computer science for a large, suburban community college, my most time-consuming task each semester is finding qualified instructors to staff the courses that my students are demanding. The shortage of IT professionals in the business world is creating a demand for courses covering IT skills. However, high salaries are drawing qualified professionals into business and away from teaching. So if you ever dreamed about becoming a teacher, you should certainly be able to obtain employment as an IT instructor.

But, not everyone is cut out to be a teacher. So let's examine some of the skill sets and traits that make individuals effective instructors.