A while back, I received the following message from a reader friend on Facebook:
Hi! I’m 20 years old and I currently attend community college. I am torn between teaching early childhood education and secondary. I’ve been reading your blog for a few months now, hoping it would give me some insight to the high school English teacher life and help me to make my decision. I was wondering if you’d be able to tell me (or make a post even!) about how you knew this was for you, or if you juggled between any age groups like I am…
And here’s how I responded:
So, there you go. I’d love to hear from others about how you made this decision – especially those of you that have made a different decision from mine. Do you agree with what I said about the difference between teaching secondary and primary grade levels? How did you choose?!?
Tina says
Totally agree with you that high school teachers love the subject matter and the students equally. I would go as far to say that high school teachers discovered their love for the subject matter first and then were led or led themselves to teaching. Elementary school teachers are usually the ones who “always knew” they wanted to be teachers and then figured it grade level later.
Megan says
I feel exactly the same! I was torn for a while, because I love all ages, but it was ultimately my love of the content and my desire, like you said, to have “real” conversations with my students, that led me to high school. Wouldn’t change a thing!
Kim says
I have taught every grade from K-7, and my certification is K-8. I would go along with the statement that I always knew I wanted to be a teacher and ended up in primary (1st right now) but I wouldn’t say that doesn’t mean I don’t love academics. I do love the enthusiasm the kids bring to their learning, no matter the topic. I like the variety of teaching all the subjects but I will say that it is vastly more work to prepare for a day’s lessons in elementary than it is in middle (and I’m assuming high) school. No repeating lesson/unit plan for the day. That is something to consider. On the other hand, grading first grade papers is much easier than a stack of essays. There’s pros and cons to both younger and older students, in my opinion. You just have to go with your gut in terms of how you feel about the age groups.
Kristin says
Middle school may be a great alternative—grades 7 and 8 (because of Common Core) works with sophisticated texts and it’s a fun group to work with because they still (for the most part) care about pleasing their teachers and will take risks in ways my 10th graders won’t anymore. Having taught both HS and MS for a number of years, I miss MS more than I thought I would when I moved up to HS. Best of luck in your program!
Jessica says
I agree that as a high school teacher you have to love teenagers, as well as the attitudes that can come with that, and a passion for the subject is also important. If you aren’t into it, the kids will see right through you. I also think that investing in the students as people and building those relationships happens on a deeper level with high school kids. You can have real conversations with them and you are helping them making life changing decisions about careers, college, etc. You also have to have a thick skin becuase there are days and times when kids are downright mean and whether it is mean to be hurtful or not, it is. Teenagers have so much going on in their lives that it’s impossible to totally separate that and at school it is going to come out. You have to be able to turn the page and start over each day, regardless of what happened previously.
Lauren says
Hi! I’m the one who sent you this message–I’m happy to report that I have chosen to teach secondary education. Reading your posts about lesson plans and classroom organization makes me so excited for my future! Thank you, E!!