Contrary to popular belief teachers can be useful outside of the classroom by assisting you with everything from career advice, to acting as a source of reference for the next step in your education.

Teachers are  one of the biggest influences during your education. They spark interest and provide knowledge on subjects that will help you narrow future academic and career paths; pay attention to them!

Like guidance councilors, teachers can be used as a resource source when planning for your future.

It is important to keep in contact with past teachers during your first year of post-secondary education. Don’t be afraid to go back to high school to discuss questions and concerns you have about your new academic institution. They will be more than happy to help.

Teachers have been through a lot of work to complete their education and secure themselves jobs. Don’t think twice about asking them about the steps they took when entering post-secondary education and what decisions they had to make in their career to get where they are now. It is okay to be curious. They may have encountered similar issues that they can help you with and can also assist in avoiding the problems that they have seen during their own educational experience.

Teachers can not only give you good advice about their past educational endeavors, they are also a useful resource during your undertaking of post-secondary education and beyond. To apply to the majority of colleges, universities require you to have a letter of recommendation, or other referential documents in order to be accepted into their facilities.

Teachers can be one of the most reliable and reputable references to acquire during such applications. So if you are short on references, don’t stress, you’ve had one all along.

A reference from a teacher may also help you land a part or full-time job as well! Once again, don’t be afraid to ask them for their assistance.

If your career path is geared towards becoming an educator your first stop should be a discussion with your past teachers.

Many teacher colleges highly recommend their applicants to have a certain amount of teaching or “observation” hours in order for you to be accepted. In fact, up to 200 hours (which is split into 100 hours in two different teachable subjects) of teaching experience is a standard requirement for teacher college applicants.

A past teacher may be able to give you these observation hours so you can get a better understanding of the job. Doing these hours not only allows you to profit from gaining valuable knowledge required for the educational field, but also provides an eye- opening encounter to what teaching is like on the educator’s side of the desk. Completing these hours could possibly let you discover if the career is right for you, so doing them as early as possible should be considered.

Remember, your teachers are people too, and have most likely went through a similar path into college/university that you are about to partake in. It just goes to show, even when you finish high school, you are not finished learning from your teachers just yet.