The role of any elementary school teacher is to help a child to develop both academically and socially in order that they may achieve their goals. Through you they will learn how to integrate and socialize with others as well as lay the foundation stones to help them succeed later on in life. But just how do I become an elementary school art teacher for example say?

…continue reading more about “How Do I Become an Elementary School Art Teacher?”

Do the global economic woes got you worried? Unless you’ve been living under a rock it should. Destruction of the U.S. and the beat up American economy and thrown countless onto the streets and thousands are searching for some type of work.

Teaching English Oveseas With TEFL Certification

One often overlooked area is the age-old field of teaching - more specifically teaching English as a second language. Thousands have found work teaching English abroad in Japan, China, Korea and a host of other countries. And getting started is a snap. Many start by getting an on-line teaching certificate. They’re pretty cheap and can open doors. Employment doors, adventure doors and career doors. TEFL degrees have different price tags and course lengths. Some are as short as 40 classroom hous while others are 120 hours and come with tutor and video support.

Work at Your Own Pace

The best thing about them is you can work at your own pace so if you need to make some fast changes with your life you can and if you’re strapped for time you can take as long as you like to complete it. On-line TEFL degrees can open empoyment doors in China, Korea, Japan you name it. (One notable exception is the hyper competitive Western European markets. For these you’ll need a bigger gun like a CELTA.) But these are quite expensive and require a lot more time to compete. But seriously folks, you don’t need a gun this big if you’re looking to break into the teaching arena in Asia. All you really need is a TEFL degree, a university education and an adventurous heart.

Escape The Collapse by Teaching Overseas

So if you’re looking to escape the western job market melt-down and would like to try your hand at teaching, grabbing an on-line degree and a plane ticket is a sure-fire solution to securing some employment overseas.

Year after year thousands of native English speakers pack their stuff, say goodbye to their families and friends,  promise to write, cry at the gate and climb on a plane - destination Japan. This Asian economic giant is a bastion for both recent university graduates looking to “kill” a  year after graduation as well as a proven and lucrative employment market  for seasoned ESL professionals.

A Heavily Traveled Road to Teaching in Japan -ALT
Thousands of teachers work abroad and start their teaching careers in Japan as ALTs which stands for Assistant Language Teacher. ALTs assist native Japanese English speakers and are usually native English teachers who are employed in junior high schools in Japan.

Salaries and Such
Just like JETs (The Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme) and  typical “eikaiwa” positions, to find work abroad as an ALT, you need to be a native English speaker and need to be an university graduate. Most ALTs aren’t hired by schools but instead find employment through BOEs or Boards Of Education. These hiring agencies function in a role similar to a temporary hiring agency. Hiring agencies will take a cut from the teacher’s salary in return for placing the instructor.Salaries will be in the 230,000 yen to 250,000 yen range with fixed work hours and curriculums.
Most ALTs are sent to junior high schools. An instructor is generally rotated between 2 or 3 schools. ALT hours are the opposite of English conversation schools which usually start up in the afternoon and run until about 9 sometimes even 10 p.m. Generally, your typical ALT will work between 8 p.m and 5 p.m.m. with weekends and Japanese national holidays off.

One of the biggest things about being an ALT is that just like ALTs placed in the JET Program, every situation really is quite different. While some ALTs are busy and complain of doing extra curricular activities, and office work for the Japanese staff, many others often describe their jobs as “cushy” and spend time surfing the net and studying Japanese or just about anything else you can do at your desk. There are basically 3 roads into finding work in Japan for recent graduates. The most traveled one is regular “eikaiwa” or English conversation. Another one is the Jet Program which is tough to get into and the 2nd most traveled one is that of an ALT.

A teaching salary is one that gains a lot of attention in the media due to the fact that teachers believe that they should be better compensated for the important work they do. This is a fair allegation and one that is constantly being attended to by politicians. Without a doubt teaching is one of the most important positions a person can hold and therefore it is one which everyone holds in high regard.

According to the respected salary website CBSalary.com, the average salaries in the follow major cities are as follows:

Springfield, IL - $48,015
Chicago, IL - $53,713
Atlanta, GA - $35,903
Savannah, GA - $25,008
Orlando, FL - $31,684
Tampa, FL - $36,630
Miami, FL - $34,501

It is a known fact that the salary of a teacher will vary, sometimes considerably, with their education level and their experience level. If a teacher has a Bachelor’s degree works in the same school as a teacher with a Master’s degree then it is highly likely that the master’s degree qualified teacher is being paid more. This is proven by the fact that teacher wages in Chicago vary from $36,000 right up to $89,000

Connecticut is the state listed as having the highest average teacher salary at $57,760 with California a close second. The lowest teacher average salary is in South Dakota with the average sitting at just $34,039, a difference of more than $20,000 from the wealthiest states.

The school a teacher works at can also have a big role to play when it comes to salary. Private schools often pay much more than public schools, but the entry requirements can be much stricter. The subject and level a teacher specializes in also has an effect on salary. Primary school teachers generally make less money than secondary school teachers. It is also noted that science teachers make considerably more than maths teachers, despite the difficult nature of the subject of mathematics. Salaries can even vary considerably from district to district in the same city.

With all these different factors determining the teacher salary it can be very difficult to predict what your salary will be once you are a qualified teacher. By researching the average salary in your area as well as comparing various schools, you will be able to form a good estimate of how much money you can expect to earn in your new career as a teacher.

Do you want to pursue a teaching career? Checkout the free resources and articles at http://www.careertoolkits.com and learn the reasons to become a teacher and much more.

(Updated: 5/13/2008 8:30 AM)

Based on the feedback we received this weekend while working on the site, it’s great to see that GreatSchoolJobs.com is a valuable job-finding resource. We really appreciated all of the feedback and share with you our pain that it has been unavailable for several days.

THE GOOD NEWS…all of the problems that we saw last week have been addressed and we are re-enabling the site now. It should be available as soon as 10:00 AM (Eastern Time) on Tuesday, 5/13/2008.

We have some more scheduled maintenance to perform, but we will be reserving that for late evenings when it shouldn’t impact so many people so much.

Thanks for all your patience! Looking forward to seeing you back here very, very soon.

Sincerely,

Tony Goggin
Solutionwhere, Inc.
www.GreatSchoolJobs.com

=========

(Updated: 5/9/2008 6:19 PM)

While testing on the integrity of the database and code on Great School Jobs has gone well, we have identified a security vulnerabily with the Great School Jobs website that may allow a malicious attacker to erase data from the site. Due to these security threats, Solutionwhere has decided to temporarily take GreatSchoolJobs.com offline for detailed evaluation and enhancement.

This is a preemptive measure on our part. All user information in the database is secure and the site will be back up early next week at the latest. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience.

We will be working on the site throughout the weekend in an effort to get it ready in the most timely fashion possible. We promise to have the site back up so that you may quickly resume your teaching job search, administrative job search, or other school job related search with our site.

We hope to see you back next week. Until then, have a good weekend!

Sincerely,

Tony Goggin
Solutionwhere, Inc.
www.GreatSchoolJobs.com

=========

The Great School Jobs website is currently undergoing website maintenance. We’re very sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Normally we reserve this kind of maintenance for off-peak hours, however problems in the database that drive the website have arisen in the past couple of days, causing us to perform these tasks now. We are working very hard to correct these problems and we will bring back the website just as soon as we are able to.

Great School Jobs is the top site on the internet for finding teaching jobs, school administrator jobs, librarian jobs, and other school faculty jobs.

Thanks for your patience! Hope to see you back here very soon.

Last Updated: 5/9/2008, 08:30 AM Eastern time by Tony Goggin

In today’s competitive market, getting the share of your pie is not easy. Even then you can find your dream teaching job using the right resume as your weapon. A sample teacher resume can help when you do not know how to create an optimized resume to attract the best employers around. A sample teacher resume is a good starting point to gain ideas for the layout of a successful job application; but you need to customize them according to your unique job requirements. Knowing what to focus on with a sample teacher resume is the key.

Adding the personal touch Mae sure you have the right resume before you hit the market in search of the teaching job that is right for you. To make an impeccable resume, you must be clever enough to draw the employer’s attention to your career high points and your aptitude as a teacher. A good sample resume will give you the right direction in preparing your curriculum vitae. But you have to work on it to focus on your skill-set properly and you can do that most efficiently when you keep the following points in mind: Prior to making change, make sure you have set your goals correctly. How successful you are in drawing the potential employer’s attention depends on your resumes ability to sell your expertise. In doing so, don’t take a very aggressive approach; but highlight with conviction, the strong points about your skill-set.

Before you customize the resume to suit your needs, make sure they match the employer’s needs as well. Your own area of focus should receive maximum attention when you edit your resume. Be clear about what your career goals are providing the right figures about your experience level and highlighting on the core area of expertise.

Make sure your sample teacher resume has all these following points

what your career objective is

Summary of your profile

The years of experience

Skills that may benefit the organization

Other information which you think would add value to your resume.

An outline of your personal life

If a killer resume is the starting point of finding a rewarding job, equally important is to locate the sources where you can find a truly helpful sample teacher resume. Take help from the career center of your university and also check out the lists in the local libraries for career books. These are the places to look for the books with helpful sample resumes.

Click the links for more information on a sample teacher resume and Making A Resume

There are a ton of career resources available online that allow for a comprehensive job search. Use these five job searching tips to get the most out of your online job hunt and land your dream job faster.

Job Searching Tip 1: Use Job Notification Agents

Many online job boards like Monster, Careerbuilder and Jobing give you the option to conduct a job search on a regular basis and have the results of those agents emailed to you. These emails provide an easy way to stay abreast of jobs currently available, whether you are an active job seeker or just want to know what job options are available.

Job Searching Tip 2: Apply With Care

Apply only to jobs that you are truly qualified or interested in. It is easy to just start submitting to every job possibility without considering how well the job would fit you.  Resist the temptation. Human resource professionals are very busy people, and who knows - the same HR person may have another job posted that is actually right for you - the next day!  Applying to jobs indiscriminately sends a poor message about the focus of your job search and the quality of your candidacy.

Job Searching Tip 3: Tailor Your Resume

Research the companies that you apply to and tailor your cover letters and resumes to fit the jobs and the positions you are applying for. A great way to impress a hiring manager is to help them easily understand how you will fit into their company culture and excel at the job your are applying for. Thoroughly review the job posting, pay the company website a visit, read the company profile and view their employment video. Doing your company research really pays off.

Job Searching Tip 4: Find What Works

Use a variety of different job boards and career resources at first and find out what works best for you.  After a while you will be able to tell which is the best resource for you in your location and career field of interest. The big job boards like Monster and Career Builder are good for searching a wide variety of jobs. If you are unwilling to relocate then you may want to keep your job search local with job boards like Jobing and Simply Hired. Job sites like Jobs In the Money and Marketing Crossing cater to professionals based on their career field of interest. Once you find what works best for your job search you can begin to budget your time accordingly.

Job Searching Tip 5: Keep Your Resume Fresh

Keep updating your resume. When job hunting, notice the last date the position was posted. You might even consider filtering your job search results to only view the freshest jobs around. Similarly, recruiters often search through resume databases perusing for job candidates that have recently updated their info. Keeping your information current tells employers:

a.  You are actively looking for new employment – now.
b.  Your contact and employment information is current.
c.  You are ready to interview, and even start your new job on a reasonable timetable. 

Whatever career resources you use or advice you receive, remember there is no magic bullet to finding a job you’ll love.Your job search is a process that demands patience, persistance, discipline and flexibility to constantly improve your approach.