So, to begin. I want to first talk about the differences between teaching Elementary, Middle and High School, because the differences are incredible. Well DUH, right? Of course kids and teens will be different, right?! Well, anyone can say that, but once you experience it first hand, you finally GET IT. Kinda like "OHHHHH....". Each have their pros and cons and I think each take a different kind of person to teach, even if that means having to create a persona or character while teaching for each group. With the younger ones, they seem interested by ANYTHING. They are curious and they sincerely want to know and show that they do know. They love to be the one to give an answer. There is no stage fright, but rather, there is a fight for center stage. This ends around 5th grade. From experience so far, 5th and 6th grade seem to be the rebel and attitude stage. You think it starts in high school, but ooooo how terribly mistaken you are. 5th and 6th graders give so much trouble where I work, that we are contemplating in permanently removing some from our program. We're just getting tired of dealing with them and their attitudes, their lack of respect, the back-talking, and the refusal to try anything. We have given them weeks and months, but it has to end somewhere. At this point, it's about the kids who care now. Rebels can be rebels somewhere else. 7th and 8th grade, they get a little better. They lack knowledge of basic things and they tend to think they know EVERYTHING, but all in all, you can tell they are starting to mature and starting to get ready for hard learning that high school asks for. One trouble I have with them is telling them that they are wrong about one thing, but they just can NOT believe you. High schoolers are cool. They really are. Probably my favorite group so far, but unfortunately, the group I have the least experience with, considering high schoolers are not kids anymore and they always feel like there is something better to do with their time. Most of all, high schoolers want to socialize. They want to be in a group (not too big, like 3-5 people at a time) and they have this special ability to FOCUS, unlike elementary kids. Elementary kids can NOT focus on one thing at one time and basically they become difficult to handle because of this. The can literally be bouncing off walls at times!! High schoolers want to sit. They want to sit and talk. Actually, they don't care if they are sitting, walking, or standing... they just want to talk! I don't mean mindless banter and girl talk. I mean, they want to socialize. They want to know about YOU. It's not so much about learning the material as much as it is about being around good hearted people (considering they are good hearted to begin with!). My only gripe with them though, is what I mentioned earlier. Sometimes, they just feel like their is something more important and serious to do with their time... like sleeping, watching TV, playing games, reading a book, etc etc. None of those are BAD or HORRIBLE things, but because of this, it can be hard to get them to devote a long period of time (such as months) on one project before they procrastinate and move on being lazy and forgetting about it :P Sound familiar? Yeah, does to me too.
All in all, I have LOVED teaching all these grade levels EXCEPT 5th - 6th grade... haha xD Not gonna say there aren't good 5th and 6th graders out there, I am sure there are! But I lack the patience to deal with this stage of life :/ They'll get over it, but I don't want to wait for it to happen >_< Because of my experience teaching all these grade levels, I have been stuck between wondering if I want to teach Elementary or High School. I think I am leaning towards High School still though, like I always have been. Honestly, I would love to be certified to teach k-12. Who knows where I will land, ya know?
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