The teaching of social study deals with instructing the students subjects like history, geography and politics or political science at the junior and the secondary levels. The responsibility of a social study teacher is beyond the classroom teaching. He prepares assignments and projects to be allotted to the students, hold meetings and discussions with the guardians and other educationists of the same field.
The path of becoming a teacher is reachable only if you have a degree with you in the subject. The degree programs designed for students who wish to teach the subject in the future includes the common topics of literature, computer science, science and mathematics. The candidates who want to grab a teaching job at secondary level must complete their major in specific area of social studies.
The minimum requirement for becoming a teacher is a bachelor’s degree. However, it is not the end of road as there are master’s and doctoral courses available for the candidates of this stream. The candidates aspiring to become teachers also need to have a license issued by the state with them. Those who are graduated from other disciplines need to have additional training certification obtained after the completion of a special training courseware to obtain the license.
One of the most lucrative options for building your career in this field is becoming a teacher in this discipline because the number of students pursuing courses related to this field is huge. What you need is to have a graduation in education along with a teaching license.
The subjects that come under the circumspect of social studies are taught from most basic level i.e. kindergarten to the higher secondary level. The different courses designed for the students belonging to different age groups and levels help them become citizens having a sound background with the right kind of knowledge and skills imparted to them. The National Council of Social Studies defines a social study teacher as one who teaches lessons to the students in subjects like geography, government, current events and civic deals. The onus of assigning grades and homework to the students along with the maintenance of a healthy classroom environment also rests on the teacher’s shoulders.
All the states necessitate the presence of proper teaching certificate and a graduation certificate for the applicants to the post of teachers. In general, the students completing their graduation in education opt for teaching in this stream. Nevertheless, there are various institutes that offer courses, which help students from other disciplines to become teachers in this stream. The social study course curriculum includes the psychology related to learning, educational philosophy and the methods of teaching. The teaching demonstrations i.e. teaching students under supervision form a core part of the certification program.
A social study teacher must have excellent communication skills. He should act as a motivator, a friend whom the students trust, and a counselor who can pin point the needs of each student. The new generation teachers must be handy at using computers too. The maintenance of a healthy relation with the other teaching staff and the parents of the students is a duty every good teacher needs to execute.