I am studying to become a high school history teacher...need advice!?

Question

Okay, I am going into my senior year of college this fall. I am studying to become a high school history teacher and I am afraid I will not know enough information about history. Any advice? Also, could you let me know certain things that you would expect a high school history teacher to know? Please any feedback would help. Thanks so much!

Any particular topics that I should know inside and out? Like certain wars or certain events that happened? I would like to teach 10th or 12th grade.

Answer 1

As a former high school principal who hired social studies teachers, I would first of all expect you to love kids and to love teaching them. In an interview, I would expect to see you exhibit a passion for your subject, tell me the most rewarding experience you ever had teaching and the worst experience you ever had as well. As far as preparation in your subject, I would expect to see courses in world history, American history, and government on your transcript. The more courses in history, of course, the better.

As important would be your ability to use English correctly in both speech and in writing. Above all, I would expect you to be a caring, compassionate individual who was teaching because you wanted to help young people.

Good luck!!

Answer 2

I majored in political science although if I knew that I would be a history teacher it would have been history. I believe that if you are going to teach history on a secondary level that you should be well grounded in your subject . So get a BA in History. I had not taken any education courses since I decided to go into teaching during the last half of my senior year. I took 14 credits in summer school and began teaching in September. I had a fellowship and was supposed to have half a program of teaching sharing the other half with another fellow. My college could not get me a job so i found a full time job myself. I finished my Masers degree that May and continued and earned my doctorate two years after that while continuing my full time high school teaching.

Answer 3

Pick up some history text books. Decide what is most important to teach. The most important thing is to keep the class interesting. I loved my high school history teacher because he always taught history like it was a story , we got to know all the characters (historical figures) and the plot ( What happened) He made it easy to learn. If we were late for class, we had to run around the parking lot , no one was ever late.

Answer 4

You will be given a curriculum where you are teaching.

You aren't expected to know everything about history!

Be familiar with the textbooks your students will be using.
Read 3 times through for thorough understanding and commitment to memory. All texts are written differently. What you learned in college will enhance your knowledge, but you will be teaching from specific text books chosen by your school, state or province.

If you don't know the answer to the question say, "I don't know, but I will find out." Then talk about it next class. It's not about your pride or how you look in front of your students... it's about the kids. Fudging an answer can be detrimental to your students, and they will respect you more when you are honest.

Also, don't be afraid to reflect questions back to your students, engaging their minds in discussions and encouraging them to participate in their learning. An active classroom makes for an active mind. It's so easy to lose a few brilliant kids to laziness if you don't keep them on their toes!

You're not the source of all knowledge, you their "guide"...

Answer 5

Your state should have a set of standards and you should follow them to best of your abilities; however, you should note that some standards are more important than others.
Although, you should admit to yourself that most students don't care about history and you should focus on methods like reading comprehension and writing. Methods can be taken to any other subject, so their tools for the box.
I used to teach junior high history and never covered knowledge because most of the students couldn't read or write at grade level, which means you have to spend a lot of time catching them up or at least higher than when they started.

Answer 6

You actually learn while you are teaching and it is quite frightening at times. You must keep in your head that you know more than they do because you do. Be confident in your answers and use notes. If you don't know something, you can always look it up. Education classes are so far from real teaching and you will know if you want to continue after the first year of teaching. You need to make history fun so go on field trips, use powerpoints, make them do student centered projects...this will also give you time to prepare!

Answer 7

It depends on what grade level range it'll be for. If it's high school history, you'll need to know more than if it's 5th grade history or something.

Read the entire textbook that the kids have to use. Then you know where everything is.

Answer 8

#1 Be prepared for the unexpected question.
#2 Be willing to admit that it's not possible to know everything - "But I'll look it up and get back to you ".
#3 Don't 'waffle' your way through a topic - you either know it, in which case be authoritative, or you don't, in which case research it.
#4 LISTEN to what you are asked, and answer it simply.
#5 Don't try to con the conners !

Answer 9

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.


Seriously, there's a great juvenile non-fiction literature series titled, "Don't know much about History" by Kenneth Davis, check it out.

Answer 10

To me anything is possible, because if you know everything that you need to know then you will do fine. Do your best study hard and you will be the best teacher ever.