If you have sound knowledge of how living organisms work, then you have your biology teacher to thank for that. Although often seen as the "nerdy" teachers at school, biology teachers are definitely some of the most important sources of knowledge in any academic setting.
As you would expect, a biology teacher spends most of their time in the classroom, delivering lectures and assessing students' knowledge in biology through tests, quizzes, and recitation. Usually, they also conduct laboratory sessions and may even hold classes in nature for certain topics. Outside of teaching hours, biology teachers plan lessons, grade papers, and collaborate with other co-teachers.
The role of a biology teacher requires a bachelor's or master's degree in biology or education, as well as a teaching license. More importantly, the job entails patience to interact with children on a daily basis, creativity to engage students effectively, and a great amount of enthusiasm to create an excellent learning environment in the classroom.
Similar to other teaching jobs, a biology teacher makes around $23.92 an hour or $49,752 a year. Teachers with master's degrees may earn a higher salary.
Biology Teacher Overview
Biology Teacher Careers
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a biology teacher. For example, did you know that they make an average of $24.08 an hour? That's $50,080 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 4% and produce 38,200 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Biology Teacher Do
There are certain skills that many biology teachers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed communication skills, patience and physical stamina.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a biology teacher, we found that a lot of resumes listed 15.2% of biology teachers included student learning, while 10.6% of resumes included lesson plans, and 8.4% of resumes included classroom management. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the biology teacher job title. But what industry to start with? Most biology teachers actually find jobs in the education and non profits industries.
How To Become a Biology Teacher
If you're interested in becoming a biology teacher, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 64.3% of biology teachers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 20.5% of biology teachers have master's degrees. Even though most biology teachers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a biology teacher. When we researched the most common majors for a biology teacher, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on biology teacher resumes include doctoral degree degrees or associate degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a biology teacher. In fact, many biology teacher jobs require experience in a role such as science teacher. Meanwhile, many biology teachers also have previous career experience in roles such as teacher or substitute teacher.
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Biology Teacher Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a biology teacher can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as science teacher, progress to a title such as instructor and then eventually end up with the title center director.
Biology Teacher Jobs You Might Like
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Average Salary for a Biology Teacher
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Triad Math and Science Academy Company Biology Teacher Biology Teacher | Triad Math and Science Academy Company Triad Math and Science Academy Company | 03/19/2021 03/19/2021 | $44,00003/19/2021 $44,000 |
San Francisco Unified School District Biology Teacher Biology Teacher | San Francisco Unified School District San Francisco Unified School District | 03/15/2021 03/15/2021 | $66,67803/15/2021 $66,678 |
Paramus Public Schools Anticipated Leave Replacement Teacher of Biology Anticipated Leave Replacement Teacher of Biology | Paramus Public Schools Paramus Public Schools | 01/21/2021 01/21/2021 | $112,69801/21/2021 $112,698 |
South Monterey County Joint Union High School District (Formerly King City Joint Union High School D Science: Biology Teacher School Year-Eligibility Pool Science: Biology Teacher School Year-Eligibility Pool | South Monterey County Joint Union High School District (Formerly King City Joint Union High School D South Monterey County Joint Union High School District (Formerly King City Joint Union High School D | 01/06/2021 01/06/2021 | $52,20601/06/2021 $52,206 |
Tucson Unified School District HS Biology Teacher (Effective School Year) HS Biology Teacher (Effective School Year) | Tucson Unified School District Tucson Unified School District | 11/11/2020 11/11/2020 | $41,20011/11/2020 $41,200 |
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Biology Teacher Resumes
Designing and figuring out what to include on your resume can be tough, not to mention time-consuming. That's why we put together a guide that is designed to help you craft the perfect resume for becoming a Biology Teacher. If you're needing extra inspiration, take a look through our selection of templates that are specific to your job.
Learn How To Write a Biology Teacher Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Biology Teacher resumes and compiled some information about how best to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Detailed InformationTop Colleges for Biology Teachers
1. Harvard University
Cambridge, MA • Private
2. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
3. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
4. Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY • Private
5. Stanford University
Stanford, CA • Private
6. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC • Public
7. University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA • Public
8. New York University
New York, NY • Private
9. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI • Public
10. University of California - Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA • Public
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Top Skills For a Biology Teacher
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 15.2% of biology teachers listed student learning on their resume, but soft skills such as communication skills and patience are important as well.
- Student Learning, 15.2%
- Lesson Plans, 10.6%
- Classroom Management, 8.4%
- Instructional Materials, 5.2%
- Science Curriculum, 5.1%
- Other Skills, 55.5% See All Biology Teacher Skills
Best States For a Biology Teacher
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a biology teacher. The best states for people in this position are Alaska, Hawaii, Maryland, and Rhode Island. Biology teachers make the most in Alaska with an average salary of $77,622. Whereas in Hawaii and Maryland, they would average $71,202 and $69,578, respectively. While biology teachers would only make an average of $65,860 in Rhode Island, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Maryland
$69,578
Avg. Salary
2. New Jersey
$64,131
Avg. Salary
3. New York
$64,542
Avg. Salary
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