Understanding Teaching

The Day to Day Life and Career of a Teacher

No two teaching careers are the same. The way you teach and pursue your career is unique to you. By choosing a teaching career, you bring your full self to the school community: your personality, your experience, and your ambitions.

Teaching Enables You To

elevate your life, transform others’ lives

give back to your community

expand your career and work path

experience a diverse community of future Minnesotans, be a part of the solution for education in this state

"Be all that you can be. Find your future--as a teacher."

Madeline Fuchs Holzer

"Whoever first coined the phrase 'you're the wind beneath my wings' most assuredly was reflecting on the sublime influence of a very special teacher."

Frank Trujillo

"The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires."

William Arthur Ward

“Our greatest contribution is to be sure there is a teacher in every classroom who cares that every student, every day, learns and grows and feels like a real human being.”

Donald O Clifton

A teacher is a compass that activates the magnets of curiosity, knowledge, and wisdom in the pupils.

Terri Guillemets

"Anyone who does anything to help a child in his life is a hero to me.”

Fred Rogers (Mister Rogers)

“A mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.”

Oliver Wendell Holmes

Teaching is One of the Happiest Professions

Myth 1

Anyone Can Teach

Wrong! The idea is nonsense - try organizing a child's birthday party or chaperoning a high school dance!

Myth 2

Teacher Preparation is Not Much Use

Wrong! Studies over the last 30 years show that fully prepared teachers are more highly rated and more effective students.

Myth 3

Teachers Don't Work Hard Enough

Wrong! Teachers have little time during the day for planning, locating materials, talking with parents, meeting individually with students, or grading papers, they do all of these things after school hours, typically well into the evenings or on weekends.

Why Choose Teaching