Career Research Project Presentation Speech

*PRESENT*
*NEXT*
INTRODUCTION:
Since I was very young I have always wanted to be an elementary school teacher. So,
this is the career I have decided to research and present to you guys today.

*NEXT*
SPECIFIC CAREER:
An elementary school teacher’s job includes a variety of different things. These tasks
include things such as…
*NEXT*
 Arriving earlier and leaving later than the typical school day
*NEXT*
 Managing a classroom
*NEXT*
 Planning things such as lessons
*NEXT*
 Implementing procedures
*NEXT*
 Grading and evaluating students’ work
*NEXT*
 Teaching students
*NEXT*
 Responding to emails
*NEXT*
 Meeting and working one-on-one with students, parents/guardians, etc.
 Working with administrators (principals)
*NEXT* There are also a multitude of different skills and characteristics required. These
include…
  Good public speaking skills (relaxed)
 Directive (good leadership skills)
 Good clerical ability (proof-reading, detail-orientated)
*NEXT*
 Understanding of children (patience)
 Confident talking with students
 Good attitude and willingness to help and get to know students
*NEXT* The working conditions of a teacher vary depending on where, what, and who
you teach. However, in general, often the…
 Majority of work is done in the classroom at school
 Lots of work gets done on computers/technologically
 Spending a lot of time standing and walking around
*NEXT* This leads us into the typical hours of work for a teacher…

 Those of a typical school day, but extra work is done after and before school,
during evenings, during weekends, and even during the summer
 i.e. 8:00am – arrive at school
8:30am-2:30pm – school day
4:00pm – leave school
+ Some hours over the weekend

*NEXT*
*NEXT*
CAREER GOAL:
*NEXT* The reason I want to be an elementary school teacher is because…
 My aunt is an elementary school teacher as well as my cousin (her daughter) and
I’ve always admired them
*NEXT*
 I had an amazing experience in elementary school and often looked up to my
teachers a lot, so I would love to be a part of that experience for other children
*NEXT* I think I would make a good teacher because…
  I am detail-orientated
 I have a good attitude with kids
*NEXT*
 I enjoy being around and working with children
 I am passionate about helping kids have a positive experience in elementary
school
*NEXT* So, obviously my career goal is to become an elementary school teacher, but
things don’t always work out the way we want them to. Say, I get all of the education I
need but then I decide that teaching elementary school isn’t for me. There are related
jobs in similar fields that I could get into with a bit more training and/or education.
Some jobs in the same realm of teaching would include…
*NEXT*
 Kindergarten Teacher (requires an extra course)
*NEXT*
 Vice Principal/Principal (though this obviously requires experience, ideally as a
teacher first, and possibly a master’s degree)
*NEXT*
 Secondary school teacher (would require the most extra schooling because it
requires a different Bachelor since I chose to do a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology,
and Psychology is not considered a teachable subject in high schools. But I will
get into that in a couple minutes)
*NEXT*
Now, with a Psychology: Bachelor of Arts Degree, there are lots of other careers
you can do. Many employers love the research skills and critical thinking that a
psychology major has. With this degree, you could go on to become a…
 Marriage and family counsellor (most requires graduate school i.e. a master’s
degree, some a Ph.D.)
*NEXT*
 Or even other careers such as probation officers, customer relations
representatives, and office managers (though these would obviously still require
further study)

*NEXT*
*NEXT*
EDUCATION AND TRAINING NEEDED:
Now, this is where it gets a bit more complicated. From the base perspective of looking
at things, to be an elementary school teacher, one would basically need…
*NEXT*
 Bachelor’s degree (minimum 90 unit degree)
*NEXT*
 Complete the PDP (Personal Development Program)
 Recommended to have demonstrable experience working with children or
youth or helping others learn (ex. Volunteering in elementary schools)
*NEXT*
 BC Teaching Certificate
To get this education you can go to a multitude of different universities in BC and
outside of it, but just a couple would include…
*NEXT*
 Kwantlen Polytechnic University (for the Bachelor’s degree)
*NEXT*
 Simon Fraser University (for Bachelor’s and/or PDP)
*NEXT*
 University of British Columbia (for Bachelor’s and/or the Teacher Education
Program)
*NEXT*
You can go pretty much anywhere to get your Bachelor’s degree, but a smaller
amount of schools offer the Teacher Education Program/PDP. SFU and UBC are
two popular ones with great programs. For my specific project today I am only
going to go through Kwantlen’s Bachelor Degree program that I’ve chosen and
SFU’s PDP program which I have chosen because these are the most likely schools
that I will go to because Kwantlen is a good school and one of the least
expensive, and SFU offers a great PDP program that teachers I know have
attended.
*NEXT* The full cost of this education and training in Canada is roughly $34,585. To
breakdown this cost, the…
 Bachelor’s Degree (of psychology at Kwantlen): $22,340
 Tuition Levels (approx.): $4375/year
 $4375 x 4 years = $17500
  Books & Supplies (estimate): $1200/year
 $1200 x 4 years = $4800
 Application: $40
 PDP (at SFU): $12000 (approx.)
 BC Teaching Certificate: $245
*NEXT* So, now I will go into what everything is in depth, and what I would choose if I
were to go to and apply for post-secondary right now. I chose the Psychology: Bachelor
of Arts Degree because this interests me and I think it would be beneficial for an
elementary school teacher to be educated in this subject. However, this is open to
change. You can get your Bachelor’s degree in almost any subject, so even though I
chose Psychology to research, I might later on change my mind to do, say, a Bachelor of
General Studies or History, for example. Psychology isn’t a teachable subject for high
school teachers (like History or Biology), but it’s a totally fine Bachelor’s degree for
elementary school teachers. And either way, you don’t have to declare your Major till
around after your second year, so I could still change my major after my first year of
university if I decide Psychology is not for me.
Anyways, for this degree, the high school courses that I would be required to have are
fairly simple, they’re only…
*NEXT*
 High school graduation
*NEXT*
 English 12 (minimum C+)
*NEXT*
 Language 11 (passing grade)
These courses include what I would to just apply and get into Kwantlen as well as
what I would need to Major in this particular subject.
*NEXT* The University courses required to get a Psychology: Bachelor of Arts Degree at
Kwantlen are more complicated. First, sometime around after your second year you
need to declare you Major. To make this declaration for a BA in Psychology, you must
have…
 A minimum of 18 credits of undergraduate coursework including:
*NEXT*
 3 credits of ENGL at the 1100 level or higher
*NEXT*
  6 credits at the 1100 level or higher in the Major area
*NEXT* After declaration, you just need to complete your Degree. The curricular
requirements for this include that you…
 Must complete 120 credits. These credits must include:
 A minimum of 65 total credits in Arts courses
 A minimum of 45 of the total credits with courses numbered 3000 or
higher (3rd year-level courses or higher)
*NEXT*
You must also have…
 A minimum GPA of 2.00 with a minimum grade of "C" in the following
required courses:
*NEXT*
 6-credit English writing requirement (2 courses)
o Includes ENGL 1100 (intro to university writing - essays) and one
of either ENGL 1202 or 1204 (these are more about reading and
writing literature)
*NEXT*
 9-credit quantitative requirement
o A minimum of 3 approved quantitative courses (courses
surrounding maths, sciences, and research)(one must be from
the Faculty of Science and Horticulture)(for example I would
take Applied Statistics, Experimental Psychology, and
Introductory Biology I)
*NEXT*
 24-credit Arts breadth requirement (~8 courses) (you can think of these
as electives)
o A minimum of at least 4 separate courses in different Arts
disciplines outside of the major program area (not Psychology)
(one must be at the 3000-level/third-year level or higher,
meaning you must take one of these courses until your third
year) (for example I would take courses in the sociology,
anthropology, geography, and history fields, and then would
take history courses until my third year)
*NEXT* And then you must also get a 2.00 GPA and a “C” or higher in…
 Required courses for the major program
Since I chose Psychology for my Bachelor of Arts, I’d therefore be majoring in
Psychology. The courses required vary. Some courses you have to take, and some are
choices that I made between my options of different courses. If I had a choice, I chose
the courses that most interested me and the courses I thought would be most useful for
an elementary school teacher. So, this is an example of what I would take as my
required courses for the major of Psychology program…
*NEXT*
These first courses are at the 1000 and 2000 levels, meaning I would do them
during my first and second year…
 PSYC 1100 Introduction to Psychology: Basic Processes
 PSYC 1200 Introduction to Psychology: Areas and Applications
 PSYC 2300 Applied Statistics
 PSYC 2315 Brain and Behaviour
 PSYC 2330 Social Psychology
 PSYC 2385 Cognition
 PSYC 2400 Experimental Psychology: Research Methodology
 PSYC 2350 Psychopathology
 PSYC 2320 Developmental Psychology: Childhood
 PSYC 2370 Psychology of Personality

*NEXT*
These next courses are at the 3000 and 4000 levels, meaning I would take them
during my third and fourth year…
 PSYC 4315 Neuroscience
 PSYC 3303 Psychology of Learning
 PSYC 3316 Infancy
 PSYC 3370 Advanced Personality Theory
 PSYC 4350 Developmental Psychopathology
 PSYC 3910 Neuropsychology
 PSYC 3215 Psychology of Memory
 PSYC 3920 Aging
 PSYC 3210 Attitudes and Persuasion
 PSYC 3600 Health Psychology
*NEXT* Finally, after completing my Bachelor degree I next need to complete the PDP.
The university courses required for the PDP at SFU…
 *NEXT*
 2 English courses (minimum 6 units with 3 units of literature)
*NEXT*
 1 Canadian History course
*NEXT*
 1 Canadian Geography course
*NEXT*
 1 Laboratory Science course
*NEXT*
 1 Mathematics for teachers course (like the MATH 1190 - Mathematics for
Elementary School Teachers course at Kwantlen)
I would take these courses at Kwantlen along with the required courses I need to
major in the program, to get the other credits I need to complete the Bachelor’s
degree. Most of these course credits overlap, meaning I already needed them to
complete other parts of my education. So, I don’t need to worry about them.
*NEXT* Lastly, the requirements for getting the BC Teaching Certificate aren’t ones that
I need to worry about anymore, either. You need your BC grade 12 diploma (which I
already had), proficiency in English, a fitness to teach (do you have a good and moral
character and the suitability to teach), and the proper post-secondary studies. This
means 120 credits of post-secondary studies and a degree, 6 credits of English, and 30
credits of general coursework in areas related to the BC elementary curriculum
(including 1 course of Canadian studies, 1 course of math, and 1 course of science). But,
like the requirements for the PDP, I already took all of these courses and got these
credits I needed when completing my Bachelor.

*NEXT*
*NEXT*
FUTURE TRENDS OR OUTLOOK:
*NEXT* So, the salary for an elementary school teacher can range from $49,000 -
$90,000. This all fluctuates depending on experience, extra education (such as a
master’s degree), etc. But, the median annual salary is roughly $65,175 (this is found
from the 2016 Job bank wage data).
*NEXT* There are many people employed in this occupation…
  Roughly about 34,000 in BC
 756,900 in Canada (but that was as of June 2014)
*NEXT* But as you may have heard on the news lately, there is a recent shortage of
teachers. *NEXT* Therefore, there is a recent demand for new teachers and the
employment prospect are fairly good right now.
*NEXT* As of future trends of this occupation, they remain positive since education is
always a growing market with our growing population, so teachers are always going to
be needed to some degree.

*NEXT*
*NEXT*
FUN FACTS:
*NEXT* First off, even though I have been talking up the teaching career for some
minutes, there are obviously disadvantages, like all jobs. For some not-so-fun facts, it
is…
*NEXT*
 Not the most glamourous (people often assume someone wants to be a teacher
because they cannot do anything else)
*NEXT*
 Teachers are often under-paid for the amount and importance of the work that
they do
*NEXT*
 Can be frustrating and stressful (when working with young children) Researchers
even note that a teacher should be compared to those of other high stress jobs,
such as air-traffic controllers, firefighters, or pilots.
*NEXT*
 Requires more work than people assume (like working at home after school
hours, grading work and planning lessons)
*NEXT* But anyways, we want to end on a positive note. So it’s important to remember
that teaching…
*NEXT*
  Enables you to make a difference (because you are working with young children
while they’re still developing and figuring out who they are, you can really make a
difference in their life)
*NEXT*
 Offers a great schedule (even though you do have to work during some weekends
and evenings, you get summer, winter, and spring break off)
*NEXT*
 Different every day (it’s never boring with different kids, classes, and scenarios)
*NEXT*
 Provides awesome benefits (such as health insurance and a retirement plan)
*NEXT*
 Lastly, it allows you to create amazing bonds with the children you teach as well
as with your own children, if you have them (because you’re with your students
almost every day for a year, you really get to know and care for them, which is
very special. Then also, teachers work the same hours that their children are in
school. So, if you have kids you can spend time with them and still see them a lot
– you’re not still at work late at night, like a doctor or some other careers)

*NEXT*
*NEXT*
REFERENCES:
Here are my references.

*NEXT*
CONCLUSION:
So, in conclusion, teaching at an elementary school is awesome. It is an ever-growing
occupation and can be extremely rewarding. I highly suggest looking into becoming an
elementary school teacher. Thank you for watching and listening to my Career Research
Project Presentation.