First-Grade Teacher Career

RESPONSIBILITIES

What Does a First-Grade Teacher Do?

Depending on the time of the year, the responsibilities of a first-grade teacher may vary widely, from curriculum creation to parent-teacher conferences. The exact duties of a first-grade teacher can include:

• Lesson planning to outline concepts they will teach to students during future classes.
• Materials management to ensure that all worksheets, textbooks, personal whiteboards, technology, and school-provided writing utensils are functional and ready for the day’s lessons.
  
• Enforcing classroom rules to foster a safe, productive learning environment for all students and staff.
  
• Implementing technology at appropriate intervals, to introduce first-grade students to devices and online resources that can assist in the learning process.
  
• Activity organization that encourages out-of-the-box thinking in a comfortable, accepting environment that students can embrace.
  
• Student counseling to help all students overcome life’s challenges.
  
• Record-keeping to accurately track all student attendance records, grades, behavioral notes, and class schedules.

These and other responsibilities make the daily schedule of a first-grade teacher a busy one. A majority of the responsibilities that a first-grade teacher maintains will directly contribute to the short- and long-term education of current students.

What Is Taught in First Grade?

• Math concepts such as measurements, currency, identifying different distances, and telling time.
  
• Science concepts such as life and organisms, different habitats, the water cycle, climatic changes around the world, and basic health.
  
• History concepts such as worldwide holidays, popular American figures, and time zones.
  
• Art concepts such as shapes, patterns, watercolors, and other art forms that are easy to produce.
  
• Social studies concepts such as fundamental geography, basic rights, and identifying locations on a map.

Where Do First-Grade Teachers Work?

The location where a first-grade teacher works is largely dependent on the nature of the school itself. These settings include:

• Public or private schools, where first-grade teachers work onsite at the school itself, in individual classrooms.
• Religious schools, where first-grade teachers are typically responsible for teaching both an academic and a theological curriculum.
  
• Charter academies, where first-grade teachers can work extended hours, and even live, on or near the school’s campus.
  
• Special-education schools, where first-grade teachers will often personalize lesson plans according to the materials students can comprehend.
  
• Private tutorships, where teachers will often travel to a student’s home or a third-party location, and provide education from a tailored curriculum.

During months when school is in session, first-grade teachers will spend a majority of their work-time at the school itself. When summer months arrive and students are not in school, teachers turn their attention to building or optimizing curriculums, refreshing classroom settings, and restocking any educational resources. If a teacher prefers to work remotely during the summer months, they are often free to do so.