Industrial Arts Teacher

An Industrial Arts Teacher helps students turn their dreams into reality—literally! Working most often at the high school level, an Industrial Arts Teacher uses their teaching and communication skills to show their students how to take the ideas in their heads and bring them to life in the real world.

The scope of industrial arts covers everything from woodworking to metalworking, simple repairs to fabrication, technical drawing to welding. As an Industrial Arts Teacher, you give your students the basic skills they need to tackle most minor building and repair tasks, and lay the foundation for future training and careers.

You can specialize in one area (such as welding, woodshop, automotive, etc.) or cover a broad range of topics. Your specialization and schedule will vary widely depending on your school. The more areas of expertise you have in the industrial arts, the better your chances of employment will be.

If you’re a jack-of-all-trades who loves to teach others how to work with their hands and their minds, then this could be exactly the job for you. You spend every day in the classroom/shop, with normal time off for holidays, summer, etc. But keep in mind, you also have to make time outside of school for lesson planning, meetings, shop maintenance, assignment evaluations, and continuing education training.

The most important thing you need to teach your students is safety. Industrial Arts Teachers deal with some of the most dangerous equipment in the entire school: saws, drills, welding equipment, etc. Even with the utmost care, expect a few nicks and bruises on yourself and your students, so knowing some basic shop first aid will be helpful.

You also have to have a good eye for keeping the shop clean and orderly, as well as keeping students on task. Duty rosters and other management tools can make this easier, and also prepare students for life in a professional shop.