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The Complete Guide to Becoming A Geography Teacher, Postsecondary
What you'll really do, earn, and need to break in as a college-level geography instructor - with honest numbers, no hype.
by Alumigogo Books
Chapter 1: What Does a Geography Teacher, Postsecondary Actually Do?
Let's start by clearing away the fog. When most people imagine a "Geography Teacher, Postsecondary," they picture a tweed-jacketed professor standing in front of a lecture hall, pointing at a glowing globe or a massive paper map, spinning tales of far-off places. That scene exists, but it is a sliver of the job. The overwhelming majority of your hours as a postsecondary geography teacher will be spent in less cinematic but arguably more important work. Let's walk through what the job actually is, hour by hour and task by task.
Your Core Responsibility Is the Classroom - But Not Only That
Your primary job is to teach college-level geography courses. That might mean introductory Physical Geography (rocks, climate, landforms) or Human Geography (populations, migration, cultural patterns), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), cartography, urban geography, economic geography, or any number of specialized electives depending on your department's needs. A typical full-time teaching load at a community college is a 4-4 - four courses per semester, each meeting two or three times a week. At a four-year university, the load is usually lighter, often a 2-2 or 3-2, because you are also expected to conduct research and publish.
Each course you teach requires preparation. You can't walk in and wing it, not if you want students to actually learn. For a new course, expect to spend 2-3 hours of prep for every hour you spend in the classroom. That prep involves reading the