First grade teacher vs student teacher

The differences between first grade teachers and student teachers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a student teacher has an average salary of $59,035, which is higher than the $49,757 average annual salary of a first grade teacher.

The top three skills for a first grade teacher include classroom management, math and social studies. The most important skills for a student teacher are classroom management, math, and language arts.

First grade teacher vs student teacher overview

	First Grade Teacher	Student Teacher
Yearly salary	$49,757	$59,035
Hourly rate	$23.92	$28.38
Growth rate	4%	4%
Number of jobs	70,517	79,071
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 74%	Bachelor's Degree, 75%
Average age	42	42
Years of experience	-	-

What does a first grade teacher do?

First-grade teachers are the first instructors of children after they finished the kindergarten level. They play an essential role as children aged six to seven move to more structured learning. Generally, they set an exciting tone of learning for the fundamental skills in writing, reading, and math. These teachers create and give effective learning activities to the children to enhance their physical, emotional, intellectual, and social development. They have to effectively manage the classroom and ensure that all students are safe. Also, they give regular assessments to children to evaluate if their teaching method is effective and to determine the learning style of each child. Additionally, they need to communicate with parents, guardians, and principals on the progress of the children.

What does a student teacher do?

A student-teacher is responsible for assisting their supervising instructors in maintaining the class orderliness during lectures and class activities. Student teachers' duties include helping with lesson plans, organizing learning activities, managing student behaviors, observing classroom procedures, preparing visual materials and other educational equipment, providing feedback for students, and keeping students' records for evaluation. A student-teacher must maintain excellent communication and decision-making skills to set goals and make consistent progress to the class while keeping students engaged.

First grade teacher vs student teacher salary

First grade teachers and student teachers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	First Grade Teacher	Student Teacher
Average salary	$49,757	$59,035
Salary range	Between $37,000 And $65,000	Between $46,000 And $74,000
Highest paying City	New York, NY	Boston, MA
Highest paying state	New York	Maryland
Best paying company	Shady Side Academy	Great Hearts Academies
Best paying industry	Education	Education

Differences between first grade teacher and student teacher education

There are a few differences between a first grade teacher and a student teacher in terms of educational background:

	First Grade Teacher	Student Teacher
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 74%	Bachelor's Degree, 75%
Most common major	Elementary Education	Elementary Education
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	Northwestern University

First grade teacher vs student teacher demographics

Here are the differences between first grade teachers' and student teachers' demographics:

	First Grade Teacher	Student Teacher
Average age	42	42
Gender ratio	Male, 7.5% Female, 92.5%	Male, 26.4% Female, 73.6%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 10.0% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 12.8% Asian, 3.7% White, 69.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%	Black or African American, 9.7% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 12.5% Asian, 3.7% White, 69.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage	9%	9%

Differences between first grade teacher and student teacher duties and responsibilities

First grade teacher example responsibilities.

Used technology such as scanning documents, creating hyperlinks and PowerPoint to document student progress for student lead conferences.
Prepare and plan literacy and math centers daily to encourage student achievement and socialization skills.
Develop standards-based curricula including a balance literacy program, math and writers' workshops and after school intervention program.
Implement the PBIS social emotional development program.
Employ PBIS to reenforce positive behavior among students.
Focuse on ESL students using methodical scaffolding, with an emphasis on citizenship and literacy.

Student teacher example responsibilities.

Manage RTI reading groups using both basal materials and literature-base novel units.
Lead debates with advance students on topics including globalization, economics, and political history.
Develop lessons that integrate technology into mathematics and language arts for various grade-levels.
Enhance student engagement for learning math and science through maintaining collaborative learning classroom environment.
Used responsive classroom strategies for Pre-K and first grade.
Attend workshops on how to access and create IEPS and bill for services.

First grade teacher vs student teacher skills

Common first grade teacher skills

Classroom Management, 29%
Math, 13%
Social Studies, 5%
Professional Development, 4%
Classroom Environment, 4%
Language Arts, 3%

Common student teacher skills

Classroom Management, 20%
Math, 13%
Language Arts, 8%
Social Studies, 6%
Kindergarten, 5%
IEP, 4%

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First Grade Teacher
First Grade Teacher vs Student Teacher

Updated January 8, 2025

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