Ask your counselor if there's a tutoring or after-school program at your school that you can volunteer with. Helping your peers will help you discover if you like to work with students.

Volunteer as a tutor.

Learn how to create and implement learning experiences for students by taking a class in instructional design online or at your school.

Learn more about instructional design.

There are many paths to becoming a teacher. Learn more about helpful tips and steps you can start taking today to start your career in teaching! 

Find out how to become a teacher.

Find a mentor at your school and ask if you can talk to them about their path to education. Be ready with 4 or 5 things you want to ask, from what the job is like, to how they overcame any obstacles.

Interview an educator at your school.

Watch this video to learn more about the five themes of geography, including relevant examples of each. Which theme interests you most? Why?

Learn about the five themes of geography.

The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.

The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.

The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.

The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.

The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.

The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.

The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).

The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.

The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.

The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).

Geography Teachers, Postsecondary

Teach courses in geography. Includes both teachers primarily engaged in teaching and those who do a combination of teaching and research.

Work involves helping, teaching, advising, assisting, or providing service to others. Social occupations are often associated with social, health care, personal service, teaching/education, or religious activities.

Social

Work involves studying and researching non-living objects, living organisms, disease or other forms of impairment, or human behavior. Investigative occupations are often associated with physical, life, medical, or social sciences, and can be found in the fields of humanities, mathematics/statistics, information technology, or health care service.

Investigative

Work involves following procedures and regulations to organize information or data, typically in a business setting. Conventional occupations are often associated with office work, accounting, mathematics/statistics, information technology, finance, or human resources.

Conventional

Work involves creating original visual artwork, performances, written works, food, or music for a variety of media, or applying artistic principles to the design of various objects and materials. Artistic occupations are often associated with visual arts, applied arts and design, performing arts, music, creative writing, media, or culinary art.

Artistic

Work involves designing, building, or repairing of equipment, materials, or structures, engaging in physical activity, or working outdoors. Realistic occupations are often associated with engineering, mechanics and electronics, construction, woodworking, transportation, machine operation, agriculture, animal services, physical or manual labor, athletics, or protective services.

Realistic

Work involves managing, negotiating, marketing, or selling, typically in a business setting, or leading or advising people in political and legal situations. Enterprising occupations are often associated with business initiatives, sales, marketing/advertising, finance, management/administration, professional advising, public speaking, politics, or law.

Enterprising

Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed

Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.

Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.

Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.

Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.

Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.

Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.

Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.

Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.

Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.

Talking to others to convey information effectively.

Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.

Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.

Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.

Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.

Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.

Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.

Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.

Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.

Social Sciences Teachers, Postsecondary

Education, Training, and Library Occupations

Postsecondary Teachers

Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, and handouts.

Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as urbanization, environmental systems, and cultural geography.

Conduct research in a particular field of knowledge and publish findings in professional journals, books, or electronic media.

Evaluate and grade students' class work, assignments, and papers.

Compile, administer, and grade examinations, or assign this work to others.

Keep abreast of developments in the field by reading current literature, talking with colleagues, and participating in professional conferences.

Initiate, facilitate, and moderate classroom discussions.

Maintain student attendance records, grades, and other required records.

Supervise undergraduate or graduate teaching, internship, and research work.

Plan, evaluate, and revise curricula, course content, course materials, and methods of instruction.

ESRI ArcGIS Geostatistical Analyst

ESRI ArcGIS software

Geographic information system GIS software

Geographic information system GIS systems

Collaborative editing software

Google Docs

Microsoft Word

IBM SPSS Statistics

Insightful S-PLUS

ITT Exelis Visual Information Solutions ENVI

The MathWorks MATLAB

Blackboard Learn

Course management system software

Learning management system LMS

Sakai CLE

Clark Labs CartaLinx

Clark Labs IDRISI

Geographic resources analysis support system GRASS

Leica Geosystems ERDAS IMAGINE

Microsoft Internet Explorer

Mozilla Firefox

Web browser software

Email software

Microsoft Outlook

DOC Cop

iParadigms Turnitin

Microsoft Excel

Image scanning software

Data loggers

Interactive whiteboard controllers

Student response systems

Handheld microphones

Wireless microphones

Computer data input scanners

Digitizers

Liquid crystal display LCD televisions

Television monitors

Computer projectors

Multimedia projection equipment

Portable meteorological stations

Universal serial bus USB flash drives

Webcams

Photocopying equipment

Microphone podiums

Using computers and computer systems (including hardware and software) to program, write software, set up functions, enter data, or process information.

Translating or explaining what information means and how it can be used.

Keeping up-to-date technically and applying new knowledge to your job.

Identifying the underlying principles, reasons, or facts of information by breaking down information or data into separate parts.

Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.

Compiling, coding, categorizing, calculating, tabulating, auditing, or verifying information or data.

Identifying the educational needs of others, developing formal educational or training programs or classes, and teaching or instructing others.

Developing, designing, or creating new applications, ideas, relationships, systems, or products, including artistic contributions.

Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.

Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time.

How frequently does your job require you to use E-mail?

Every day

How much decision making freedom, without supervision, does the job offer?

A lot of freedom

How frequently does your job require face-to-face discussions with individuals and within teams?

Face-to-Face Discussions with Individuals and Within Teams

Once a week or more but not every day

How much freedom does the worker have in determining the tasks, priorities, or goals of the job?

Some freedom

How often does this job require working indoors in an environmentally controlled environment (like a warehouse with air conditioning)?

How much does this job require the worker to be in contact with others (face-to-face, by telephone, or otherwise) in order to perform it?

Constant contact with others

Contact with others most of the time

How frequently does your job require public speaking (one speaker with an audience)?

Geography Teachers, Postsecondary

Overview

Career

What Geography Teachers, Postsecondary Do

Other Job Titles Geography Teachers, Postsecondary May Have

Tasks & Responsibilities May Include

Geography Teachers, Postsecondary

Overview

Career

What Geography Teachers, Postsecondary Do

Other Job Titles Geography Teachers, Postsecondary May Have

Tasks & Responsibilities May Include

Education

Level of Education Attained by Geography Teachers, Postsecondary

Majors Related to Career

Related Leaders