Elementary education teacher skills for your resume and career

Elementary teachers need to have the skills (communication, advocacy, interpersonal, collaboration) to build healthy relationships with their students and create communities conducive to learning (organization, creativity, patience, and problem-solving).

Teachers must be knowledgeable about child development to understand their students' experiences, feelings, and perspectives. Being skilled in research-based best practices in teaching and learning and utilizing them in designing and implementing instruction is also key! Staying current and continuing to attend professional development opportunities is very important to their career as an educator. We must be lifelong learners!

I think that learning is on a continuum. By advancing their degrees and graduate credit, teachers can move up the district’s salary schedule while continuing to perfect their craft.

New faculty will have to demonstrate an increased ability to differentiate instruction and work with the general education faculty to meet students where they are and implement techniques to accelerate the learning of all students who may have experienced COVID-related gaps in knowledge. Specifically, these skills would be related to explicit instruction and Direct Instruction, as well as other evidence-based techniques. Applications of instructional technologies mediated through computers and tablets, peers, and teachers will need to be used. An example would be related to questioning, having students respond to teacher questions in various ways. The most basic of these responses would be a binary response, such as right false questions next to a provided set of choices for students to select. Then, the most difficult of reactions - a production response, would show students' in-depth understanding. All of the above would be driven by the new faculty's experience with assessment and assessment practices. The outcomes of assessment, both formal and informal, will drive instruction.

Another skill or activity to be undertaken will be an intimate knowledge of the standards students must meet and resource materials available in their respective schools to help meet those standards. The textbook is not the curriculum or the standards but a vehicle to achieve those standards. By familiarizing the curriculum, educators will better handle those prerequisite skills needed to perform at the highest levels.

The technical skills that I believe will serve incoming teachers will be the ability to engage students in multiple formats for communication and delivery of instruction. There are many platforms for delivering instruction and being able to adapt to new platforms will be helpful. I believe getting comfortable making quick video tutorials for students and parents will also be necessary.