Remember your favourite teacher from school and how she inspired you to give your studies your best? For women, becoming a school teacher is a great career option to have because you will be able to inspire so many lives through your natural warmth and compassion. It is an extremely rewarding and fulfilling job, however, it demands a lot of hard work and dedication. If being a school teacher is what you aspire to be, then we, at Glow & Lovely Careers (formerly known as Fair & Lovely Career Foundation), will help you take the initial steps towards realizing this dream..
What does a typical day in a school teacher's life look like?
As a teacher, you will not only have to prepare for your classes and teach your students, but will also have to attend trainings and carry out administrative work that your institute assigns to you. Apart from the short duration that they spend within the classroom, the rest of the time is spent doing paperwork, grading students, etc. A school teacher's is considered one of the best career options in India as they are the only professionals who can avail almost two months of vacation each year.
According to school teachers that we spoke with, they spend around 25% of their time in class preparation, 20% time in grading students and paperwork, 10% time for other administrative work, 5% time for parent interaction and rest of the time for other activities. A School Teacher's day starts very early around 7.30 am and ends around 4.30-5 pm depending on the school's timings and her workload of additional responsibilities. In a typical day, you will see a school teacher getting involved in the following activities:
Preparing for the class : For a school teacher, preparing for the next day's lecture is a daily activity. Although he/she might have taught the concept many times before, there will come situations when the theory has been improved or some update has happened in a particular field of study. To keep up with the latest advancements in the teacher's field of study, it is important that the teacher keeps herself abreast of news in that field. Teaching is one career option that demands constant learning.
Teaching in the classroom : Every class in a school might take around 45-60 minutes. During this time, the teacher is expected to teach the students, check their homework, take tests on certain days, etc. On some days, they also try to do some fun activities or interesting experiments in class so that students continue to maintain interest in the subject. To make your classes more effective, you can enroll in an online course called 'The Science of Learning: What every teacher should know' on Glow & Lovely Careers website.
Grading students' performance : This activity might consume a lot of the school teacher's time. Careful analysis and evaluation of the answer papers and homework assignments is important as it can determine a student's grade and ultimately, his or her future.
Administrative work : This might include preparing documents related to students, taking part in formal meetings with other faculty and the management, discussion on book needs and more. While you are preparing to become a teacher, you will be taught more on the various kinds of administrative work that needs to be done. You can also look up for some free career guidance on GAL related to Education and Training.
Attending trainings: School teachers have to often attend trainings that might be held in the same or a different state. This could be related to their subject, some latest update that happened in their field of study, or a generic training to help them organize their work better . There are a few online courses you can learn on Glow & Lovely Careers website that will help you improve your soft skills required in the teaching profession.
Parent interaction : Interacting with every child's parents is an important activity that takes place at least 2 times in a year in most schools. Young students below class VII need to be closely monitored and given great care and attention. If a student is not able to follow what the teacher is teaching in class, or if he/she lags behind the rest of the students, then it is important for the teacher to reach out to his/her parents and focus on helping the child as much as possible.
Glow & Lovely Careers strives to help young girls pursue their dreams. We have set up a site that provides career guidance and a wide array of free online courses to support you in achieving your career goals.
