The path to becoming a teacher is paved with hard work and a desire to have a positive impact on students. This starts with your time in school pursuing a degree in education, but that pales in comparison to practical experience. For many, the best way to get such experience is to volunteer in schools.
Volunteering in schools lets you integrate what you’ve learned from professors into hands-on experience. It’s a great way to determine what you want to specialize in and nurture relationships with educators and administrators. Follow along as we explore the importance of volunteering in schools and highlight its effect on your future as a teacher.
Volunteering Lays the Foundation for Future Educators
Just as educators lay the foundation for their students to further pursue education, volunteering lays the foundation for future educators. Volunteering gives future educators the hands-on experience they need to utilize what they learned in school. Sure, what you learn in the classroom goes a long way, but volunteering provides face-to-face experience with students.
This is a great way to develop your role as a teacher and focus on how you communicate with students. Working with children and teenagers is sometimes challenging and you may find it differs from what you imagined during your courses. After all, think back to your time as a young student and how many variables your past teachers dealt with.
Applying Volunteer Experience to Your Career as a Teacher
Integrating your experience is the most important part of working as a school volunteer. This is your chance to pair what you’ve learned academically with what you’ve learned in the field. For example, you won’t know what it’s like to help struggling students grasp a concept until you’ve done it in a classroom.
This hands-on experience lets you refine your social work and educational skills simultaneously. Volunteering also lets you workshop your approach to presenting information in a way that is equally accessible and valuable to students. The last thing you want to do is throw a bunch of information at your students and expect them to grasp it.
Most importantly, your time as a volunteer will inform how you help struggling students. Of course, you can’t expect any two students to digest information the same way. Your time as a school volunteer will inform your rhetoric and ability to teach students of all backgrounds to process valuable information.
Gain Insight From Working Educators
Not only is volunteering at schools your chance to get practical experience, but it’s also your chance to learn. School volunteers often get to shadow working teachers, many of which have years of experience on the job. This is a great chance to absorb how they disperse information and interact with students.
Granted, you don’t need to mold yourself after their teaching style, but it’s worth taking some cues from them. For example, you can observe how teachers elaborate on information and answer unexpected questions. You may even witness unruly student behavior and take note of how the teacher you shadow handles the situation.
Lay the Foundation for Your Career
Your time as a school volunteer may have more to do with your career than you think. Volunteering at schools is a great chance to network and meet people who can help advance your career. It’s not unheard of to get a job at a school that you volunteered at.
Granted, you can’t depend on getting hired at that school, but you can at least get job placement tips. It’s also worth asking for a referral from teachers and administrators at the school you volunteered at. First, however, you must prove your worth in the classroom, demonstrate your value as a teacher, and earn the referral.
Education Careers Beyond the Classroom
Working as a school volunteer provides insight into what education career is the best fit for you. For example, you may shadow a teacher and discover you want to work in a different part of the field. Luckily, there are many rewarding education careers beyond the classroom to explore, such as academic consultation.
Academic consultants and administrators play big roles in student education without directly teaching them. In your time as a school volunteer, you may get to interact with these departments, especially if you request it. You can even request to shadow people in these positions, or at least talk to them and ask questions.
Whether you want to become a teacher or a school administrator, your time as a volunteer is invaluable. Eventually, you will reflect on it as an informative, critical part of your life after years of working in education.
Photo Credit
Photo is from Pixabay
Guest Author Bio
Sarah Daren
With a Bachelor’s in Health Science along with an MBA, Sarah Daren has a wealth of knowledge within both the health and business sectors. Her expertise in scaling and identifying ways tech can improve the lives of others has led Sarah to be a consultant for a number of startup businesses, most prominently in the wellness industry, wearable technology and health education. She implements her health knowledge into every aspect of her life with a focus on making America a healthier and safer place for future generations to come.
Recent Guest Author Articles:
- Wander, Discover, Reflect: My Most Surprising Finds in Las Vegas
- Creating Meaningful Connections: What Ecosystems and Families Teach Us About Belonging
- How Breathwork Creates a Pathway Through Trauma: Beyond Traditional Approaches
- Pilates Machines on Sale: What to Look for Before You Buy
- Calming an Overthinking Mind: How I’m Tackling Stress At 60
Please Share Your Thoughts - Leave A Comment!