Difficulties Teaching K-12
“A good teacher is someone who cares about others and loves to explain things,” writes one teacher. “High school teachers aren’t afraid to stand in front of a classroom full of disinterested teens, trying to get them interested in the topic of the day. Elementary school teachers don’t mind wiping their noses.”
There are many things to consider when deciding what level (elementary, middle, or high school) of K-12 you would like to teach. People may think, for example, that high school or elementary school would be the easiest grades to teach. However, high school teachers need to know how to help reduce dropout rates, late absences, drug use, and pregnancy, and elementary school teachers need to have a lot of energy to keep up with the kids. The truth is that there is no easy degree to teach and no easy teaching job. Here is a small breakdown of the difficulties encountered when teaching the K-12 years:
primary school – Elementary teachers have to have a lot of energy. Attention span is at an all time low. Lessons can’t last too long before continuing to keep kids focused and productive. One teacher told me to keep in mind that kids know they are cute and will use that against them. She says that being strict has helped her a lot, so the children know that she means what she says when she says it. Another primary school teacher told CTI interviewers: “The military is wrong… This is the hardest job you’ll ever love. Don’t go into it if you’re not strong, caring, and have lots of love and compassion to spare!” ” she advised.
Middle School – Middle school kids are starting to really test the limits. They do have a bit more attention span but, as at all levels, they need to be engaged and pushed to their full potential. High school students often have fully developed attitudes as well, and may challenge the teacher with words like “uncool” and “unfair.” Another difficulty with these tweens is not overestimating or underestimating them. Underestimating them would allow them to be lazy and not reach their full potential; some suggest that overestimating (rather than underchallenging) them is the lesser of two evils, because they might end up rising to the challenge and even impressing you with their capabilities, if put to the test.
High school teachers also need to know how to spread rude comments and hormones. In a teaching story reported by the New York Times, for example, teacher Corinne Kaufman demonstrates that surviving high school teaching requires a unique set of skills, including the ability to de-escalate situations like this: Her student called her “Fat woman”. “one day and she shot back with ‘voluptuous,’ turning the moment into a vocabulary lesson. “Teaching high school students is like working with a herd of wild fillies,” wrote high school teacher Heather Wolpert-Gawron on her blog. “You have to slow them down and give them slack, slow them down and give them slack.” Another teacher writes, “Rule #1…in high school, there are no rules.”
high school – High school boys have often started to think that they know everything, even better than you. In high school, as a teacher, you have the opportunity to push them to expand and open up to the world around them, as well as their own potential. If you don’t make this progress with them, they may feel and remain isolated, believing that they belong where they are categorized.
Plus, administrators aren’t the only ones dealing with late payments, absences, and behavior problems. Teachers, in fact, are much more involved with students on a day-to-day basis and therefore have a responsibility to try to encourage their students in the right direction. This can sometimes make a difference and sometimes not, especially if the outside influences are too destructive. However, the teacher only has the duty to give the student his best effort and never give up.
An Ohio history teacher shared his thoughts on what he believes are the hardest parts of teaching in high school:
• They are still children, although you may feel inclined to talk to them like adults at times, don’t.
• Missing school, skipping class and dropping out have a higher rate.
• They question everything and sometimes not very well.
• Pregnancy rates.
• Premature deaths due to new drivers or alcohol.
• Attitude, attitude, attitude (not like high school, but it’s there).
• There isn’t as much parental involvement, sometimes that’s a good thing, sometimes that’s a bad thing.
• Many of them are indifferent to their future, most of the adolescents cannot see further than the tip of their noses and sometimes they are not aware of their actions.
• Funny, witty, they make you laugh and at the same time make you want to point fingers at them for being good.
“Teaching is hard work, if you do it well. And if you’re not willing to do it well, the children suffer,” an elementary school teacher told CTI interviewers.
“It takes energy,” a young primary school teacher told me. She loves and loves teaching elementary school students, but she’s learned not to let them get away with it just because they’re adorable.
“It’s not a job to do for the money,” urged another teacher. Teaching is a job to love, he explained.
