Teaching MUST be one of the most rewarding careers there is and at the same time it must be one of the most frustrating and heartbreaking. Of course, getting there is just a pain in the gluteus maximus!
I think that my favorite time of the day is at 11:00am. Preschool is over, and don't get me wrong, I think they are cute and a couple of them are making visible progress every day. But I have come to realize, that is not where my heart is. At 11:00am I get to start my first reading group. These small groups are the thing that I really enjoy. Of course, it doesn't hurt that I am doing reading with them which is one of my life's joys.
I start with a group that has a third grader, a fifth grader, a sixth grader and a seventh grader. They are all reading at a third grade level! That is sad for the older ones but truly exciting for the third grader. What an opportunity for this student to interact with the older students in a classroom setting where he can truly understand what they are doing and discussing. The really sad part is that the sixth grader is the lowest in the group! What I like to see at this school is that we will not let them sit in the back of the classroom and vegetate. They are required to participate and to really try. In the small group setting that is much easy to monitor.
My second group has a sixth grader, a seventh grader, an eighth grader and a ninth grader. Unfortunately for all of them, the group is only reading at a fifth grade level. We have just finished reading the Wizard of Oz. Although they did not enjoy taking a Saturday night movie night for the entire school to watch it, I do think the four of them enjoyed reading the original story. What a lot of great discussions happened during those weeks of reading. It was a long enough story to get the students involved and to get their imaginations going.
My third 'group' is a seventh grader. That he is reading at a sixth grade level shows that he is not too far behind. Hopefully, by working with this student so closely now, he will get up to snuff in reading and that will help in all subjects.Our school is getting a third teacher soon that will be taking over the middle school instead of having those students split between the elementary and high school classes. I am not sure what my tasks as a classroom aide will be at that point, but I think that I will get to go back to being a one-on-one tutor in the classrooms. That is the position that I have found that I like the most. It doesn't even matter how low or how high the student’s abilities are, I really like working with them one-on-one.
How do you pick which grade level you want to teach and then how do you find the perfect teaching job? Or is there such a thing?
2 comments:
At its most basic level--even in a class of 28--teaching is a one to one experience. Good teachers have always been able to reach students on an individual basis--to find out what they need, what motivates them, and what they need to do to be successful. My greatest fear in teaching has always been that person that might "slip through the cracks" and not get what they need while they're with you. It's what drives me to prepare, to assess, and to provide appropriate instruction. In my view, that's where technology can really help. It provides multiple ways for students to work independently and show success.
I've taught at every level from preschool to graduate students. For K-12 students, my favorite grades were 4th and 5th since those students are capable of doing just about anything. But as soon as I say that I remember how much fun (and challenging) high school students can be. And if you like large challenges with large rewards, middle school is perfect. I think it's the act of teaching rather than the specific grade that make the job. If you can find success at any level, the fun and rewards will be there.
I is hard to know what grade you want to teach. It is where your passions are. We are teachers because we love to help others learn.
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