Are you interested in:

• Majoring in mathematics, biology or chemistry, English, or history or political science, and then teaching students in middle school or high school

Becoming a teacher at Meredith College is a win-win process: you choose and study in a major and you take courses in a teacher licensure program. So consider your interests first:

• Do you want to teach mathematics?
• Science?
• Social studies?
• English?

Declare a major in the subject you want to teach. Next, think about the students:

• Do you want to teach middle school?
• High school students?

Once you decide, you can also declare your interest in that teacher education program – licensure in your major subject area for either grades 6-9 or grades 9-12 or both. Specifically, you could declare interest in:

• Mathematics 6-9 or 9-12 or both
• Science 6-9 or 9-12 or both
• Social Studies 6-9 or 9-12 or both
• English 6-9 or 9-12 or both

Your professional education courses will prepare you to teach – including planning and assessing learning activities. You will learn to understand your students and to design instruction for all students. You can begin taking required licensure courses as a sophomore. After taking one education course, you can apply to the teacher education program.

Types of jobs:

• Math (6-9), science (6-9), social studies (6-9), or English (6-9) teacher for middle schools students in public, private, or charter schools
• Math (9-12), science (9-12), social studies (9-12), or English (9-12) teacher for high school students in public, private, and charter schools

Attend graduate school for:

• Mathematics or mathematics education
• History or history education
• Science or science education
• English or English education
• Reading specialist
• Special education
• Academically and intellectually gifted education
• English as a second language
• Curriculum and instruction specialist
• School administration (with teaching experience)
• Research and evaluation

Options for the major:

• Earn a B.A. or B.S. majoring in the subject you want to teach – choose your passion and develop a deep understanding of that discipline
• Join Meredith Educators, a group that organizes speakers and sponsors special activities for students interested in teaching
• Take the first-year critical thinking seminar called “Education Under Fire!” as an elective for an opportunity to debate important issues in education and to visit schools
• Attend the information session for first-year students who are interested in teaching (March)
• Attend the Orientation to Teacher Education in the fall of your sophomore year
• Participate in child center and school-based field placements
• Teaching during your semester-long student teaching internship
• Kappa Delta Pi, the education honor society

Professional associations:

• National Association of Teachers of Mathematics www.nctm.org/
• National Council of Teachers of English www.ncte.org/
• National Science Teachers Association www.nsta.org/
• National Council for the Social Studies www.socialstudies.org/
• Council for Exceptional Children www.cec.sped.org/
• National Association for Gifted Children www.nagc.org/
• Teachers of Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) www.tesol.org/
• National Association of Secondary School Principals www.principals.org/
• North Carolina Association of Educators www.ncae.org/
• Professional Educators of North Carolina www.pencweb.org/
• Kappa Delta Pi www.kdp.org/

Career outlook:

Middle school teacher
High school teacher

Additional information:

Meredith’s teacher education program »

The faculty and staff in the Department of Education work closely with public school teachers and administrators. This helps us design programs to prepare you for real classrooms. We see you as a future teacher-leader!