How to become a kindergarten teacher continued...
Teaching skills to develop: 1 2 3 4 5 6 next...
Learn to write
Every teaching job involves a lot of writing.
Use spell check and a dictionary with all that you publish.
Being able to write notices to parents, signs in the classroom, and report cards with correct spelling, grammar and punctuation is a vital skill to learn when becoming a kindergarten teacher.
If your English skills are weak, get extra help to improve them.
During a parent night in my first year of teaching, I wrote a large sign on the board with the word congratulations spelled incorrectly. A parent kindly fixed my error before everyone arrived.
Mistakes will happen! I found spelling mistakes on this page two times before I got it right (hopefully)!
I recommend William Strunk's The Elements of Style as a must read to help improve your writing skills. Purchase a dictionary if you do not have one and keep it on your desk.
Learn to communicate
- Take courses or workshops on communication. Teachers need excellent listening and communication skills to work with parents, children, and other staff members.
- Learning how to talk to others in a manner that builds bridges rather than walls is a valuable quality to acquire.
- Read books such as Talking on the Go: Everyday Activities to Enhance Speech and Language Developmentif you need to learn more about communicating with children.
