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Job Title: Biology Teacher
Type of Company: I work for a school district in inner city Fayetteville, North Carolina.
Education: BS, Biology, University of North Carolina at Pembroke •• MSA, Secondary Education, Fayetteville State University (Fayetteville, NC)
Previous Experience: I worked as a daycare teacher tutoring and mentoring school-age children during the summer.
Job Tasks: I monitor and mentor high school students by teaching biology at the secondary level. During a normal day, I teach three ninety minute classes. I also have a ninety minute planning period during which I collaborate with colleagues, plan upcoming lessons, prepare materials and grade student work from previous lessons. Sometimes I have non-instructional duties during my planning period, monitoring students as they get off the bus and enter the school, for example. Between classes, I have to monitor the students as they move from class to class in the hallways.
I usually greet my students as they enter my class and give them an assignment as a bell-ringer. During class, I lecture for about twenty to thirty minutes, then allow for cooperative or independent practice among the students. While the students are working, I circulate through the classroom to monitor and assess their progress. I end class with a quiz that helps me evaluate whether they have understood and mastered the concepts we've covered. After school, I offer tutoring for students who need more one-on-one work or additional practice. Sometimes, I have a departmental meeting, a faculty meeting, or a committee meeting in the evenings.
Best and Worst Parts of the Job: The best part of my job is the relationships I develop with my students. I enjoy learning about them and their lives and hopefully helping them to make the best decisions for the future.
The worst part of my job is the pressure I am under to ensure that the students perform well on standardized tests that I don't feel accurately measure student learning.
Job Tips: If you decide to pursue a career in teaching, make sure that you complete student teaching. This prepares you for teaching with the assistance of an experienced teacher. Also, you need to observe the students at the level that you are interested in teaching to decide if that is the path you should follow.
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