Exploring Secondary Teaching As A Career

Although many students plan to become secondary teachers from the moment they enter college, some of us begin to consider a career in teaching much later. In fact, people with many years or decades of work experience in other fields are now considering returning to a teaching career. We hope the following information will help you decide whether a teaching career is for you. We will also provide sources of information about teaching majors and minors that are offered through USU.

So, if you think you might like to teach in secondary schools (usually grades 6-12), what subject areas do you have a passion for learning as well as teaching? Remember that almost all teachers will complete Master's Degrees and even Doctoral Degrees in their chosen subject fields, so the subjects you choose must be ones that you are willing to continue to study over a lifetime. And it certainly helps to have such a passion for teaching and learning in your field that your enthusiasm is a constant inspiration to your students.

Remember that you are considering making a lifelong commitment to teaching. This is a much more intensive process than trying to find a major to declare. Preparation for a teaching career includes intensive study of the subjects you will teach, the students you will teach, and the methods by which you help them to learn.

The following resources will help you explore your commitment to the teaching profession, and give you more information about specific subject areas. Please take the time to carefully consider your commitment to teaching and your choice of teaching major, using these resources.

The USU Career Services Center. The Career Services Center offers several interest inventories and other counseling services that can help you decide whether your interests are a good match for a teaching career. The Center now offers the SIGI+, an interactive career and life planning tool. No one does it better than our award-winning Career Services Center.

USU Advising and Transition Services. This center provides all the documents related to teaching composites, majors, minors and graduation requirements. Here you can find:

Requirement sheets for all of the teaching composites, majors and minors available at USU, articulation agreements with all institutions that articulate with USU, and a complete list of transfer courses by institution are available.