Working in Education on Many Levels Personal Statement

Working in Education on Many Levels - Personal Statement Example Education majors are essentially divided into two categories, Secondary Education and Elementary Education. Secondary Education programs are intended to equip teachers for educating young adolescent students up through graduation from high school. In most states, this involves instruction from sixth or seventh grade up through twelfth grade. Teachers are usually certified in an individual subject at the secondary level. So, a typical student will graduate with a B.S Ed. in Secondary Education with a certification to teach Chemistry, Geography, English, Foreign Language, etc. Elementary Education programs usually certify a teacher to teach from Kindergarten through sixth grade. In some states, this certification is broken into Primary (K-2) and Elementary (3-6) Education certifications. Most states avoid this, however, allowing teachers certified in Elementary Education to teach from Kindergarten through sixth grade. The coursework for Elementary and Secondary teachers is quite differ ent. Both will receive instruction in Educational Psychology and Methods of Instruction. They will also complete classes on Assessment and Evaluation that are similar, but his is where most of the similarities end. Elementary Education programs are more intensive in instructing teachers in strategies for building basic literacy in math and reading (Cooper, 1993). They will receive coursework in reading strategies, phonics and computational instruction that Secondary Education students do not receive. Secondary students will focus more on learning directly related to their area of certification. For example, a student studying to be a Chemistry teacher will have a core of chemistry classes that will include classes such as Chemicals Engineering and Organic Chemistry. The capstone for most teaching programs, both Elementary and Secondary, is a semester of student teaching, where the student is assigned to a mentor and teaches, with guidance, in a live classroom with his or her mentor. This experience is vital, because it is the first time students really get to experience what a real teacher does day after day (Ryan, 1992). It is not uncommon for students to leave Education programs after student teaching because they find they do not enjoy the duties teachers are expected to do or they have trouble learning how to manage students. The field of education has bee viewed by some as a safe place to work in many ways. Traditionally, teachers do not need to worry about fluctuations in the economy because they rarely are retrenched, even when tax revenue declines. Teaching has been viewed as an easy job with lots of perks, such as summers off and a short workday. The one downside to teaching, in the traditional point of view, is the relatively low pay when compared to other professions that require a college degree (Students, 2012). This view of teaching and working in Education is still intact, but has become dated over the past several years. The first way this myth about working in Education has been shattered is a result of the recent economic depression. Education, as a sector of the economy, has lost a record number of jobs (Teachers, 2012). School districts all across America have been dismissing teacher as they try to make their precious tax dollars stretch farther.