Teaching Middle School Vs. Elementary School | Which is right for you? | Which do I prefer?

[Music] thank you so much for tuning in obviously from the title today I wanted to kind of come to you guys and swap with you about moving from teaching secondary so middle school down to primary elementary school level I teach at third grade now and I previously taught sixth grade I initially plans like it fell out for the videos sit down but like you know my actual camera my I'm lighting like a backdrop having this conversation with you guys but I just really want to be authentic in the video I don't want it to be a done up video I didn't even take notes like I wants to take notes and kind of read for my notes and everything but I don't even want to do that like I really just want to speak my thoughts and just be completely transparent with you guys about how I feel teaching third grade after teaching sixth grade one of the biggest differences in teaching third grade versus teaching sixth grade is of course like student maturity if you're in the field of education if you're a teacher you'll kind of hear people who teach at an elementary school level like they will make a disabled distinguish between K - teacher so that's teachers who teach kindergarten first grade second grade and three five teachers so teachers who teach third grade fourth grade fifth grade upper elementary and so they'll make it like this is great difference teachings lower elementary versus upper elementary I technically teach upper elementary since I teach third grade I might as well be teaching second first graders it feels like to me and I think that's because I did come from the middle school level so coming from the middle school level I mean obviously there's like a drastic difference in development and needs and how you teach them like it's just a huge it's a huge difference I remember like on my first day of school and my lesson plan was like I had built in time for them to use the restroom but they had to use the restroom like eight more times than what I had built and oh gosh it was just it's just like it's just a lot it's a lot I think that the second big difference is parental involvement at the middle school level our parents aren't as involved I think like last year I had one parent who was like a bit of a Bugaboo but it was one parent out of like what out of the course of my couple years teaching I like see wonder students I had taught there was only like one parent who had been like a Bugaboo third grade level the parents are so heavily involved I mean so heavily involved it's almost like it's almost overwhelming are you have parents like parents I know when I think about like my mother when I was in school stuff who are involved in where they should be as a parent like rightfully so but then you have those parents who kind of like can't let go and it's like the whole world stops and revolves around their children or their child I never had problems like that in teaching those like never we've been out for the hurricane and with that I've literally been speaking to parents like email tech the parents will cool go text I'll email all hours of the day and night like with no regard for your personal life so I got had a parent emailing me last night and it's like eight nine o'clock at night and it's a Friday night like you know and so I'm gonna have to like set up better boundaries or like just even if the email comes straight to my phone and I see it I'm not responding to it because it's this time or this day like I'm just not but I'm gonna have to like be more disciplined in that because it's getting ridiculous it's getting to the point where it's so overwhelming I even know this has been like a little break it has not felt like a break like I have been stressing what the stuff that parents are contacting me I hate it I got absolutely hated I cannot deal so your parental involvement is like a big oh my gosh oh my gosh huger different is everything I will say that is different it's like me being able to bring like my full self into the classroom so naturally like I'm a pretty sarcastic person I'm a little sassy I could be a little spicy and so like that was fine with my middle school students honestly like I think that's what helped build the relationships like I was always like my authentic self I never got like into too much detail about like my personal life because they were nosy but like I was my authentic self like personality wise with my elementary school students I cannot be that and I think that like that builds like kind of a barrier in terms of how I build relationships and I still have gotten to know see loss of my students and you know their siblings and things of that nature so it's not like I'm like completely like I don't like these kids I don't know like it's not like that but the best way I can explain it is like it built a barrier in terms of how I build relationships with them like they don't they don't know me like furro furro but my middle school seems like they knew my personality like they could read my facial expressions like they knew what was up and so it was a different type of bond I have my middle school students because they were just at that age where they kind of just understood it a little bit another difference for for difference if I cry workload I will honestly say that as a as an elementary school teacher I have way more work and I do want to be specific in the fact that it is the fact that I teach third grade because Thursday is like the first year where students are actually like taking these statewide tests and such and so that is making a big difference like that in and of itself but the fact that like I teach third grade in a self-contained classroom meaning I have my same group of students all day I teach them all four core subjects that means like the workload is even more intense and insane so that is like another big difference my workload I don't want to say that I feel as though [Music] middle school or like high school teachers have it easy because that's not the case because I think that middle school high school teachers are they're more knowledgeable about their specific subject even now that I teach all four subjects like English language arts it's still the subject I know the most about it is the one that I can help students out with the most so that's not to say that like most core high school teachers are like lazy or they're doing as much work I mean they still do the work but it's within their specific content area typically something not like they enjoy teaching about they know a lot about elementary school it's like I have to spread myself thin across all subjects whereas in middle school I was able to kind of put my all into that one subject so that's another difference building on it's like the workload at the middle school level my planning period was for 90 minutes and of course I wasn't with the same students all day so I saw I saw three different groups of students had a 90 minute planning period so that was like really really great here at the elementary school level my payment period is literally like 35 40 minutes by time I dropped my students off and like try to fill up my water bottle and like go to the restroom it seems like it's time to pick them right back up so that is something that's also wearing down on me like I thought about my students all day not to mention my dates have got a long time so I my old job of student starts coming in at 8:25 a.m. the official class started at 8:50 a.m. and student dismissal began at 3:45 p.m. my G my commute was like almost 30 minutes away even with that 30-minute commute i by the time I'm at the by the time I am at work at my new job I would not have even been awake for my old job yet so I get to work around like 6:30 cuz students start coming in at 7:15 in the morning and I don't leave my students until around 3:10 3:15 afternoon so some days I still don't get home until around the same time I would get home at my old job but I'm there way earlier and I'm not a morning person you guys and I know like people say oh the most successful people are most productive in the mornings and blah blah blah is bullcrap I can literally see for 48 hours and I would still not be ready to wake up in the morning like I just do not like waking up I'm a night owl I just do not like the mornings I don't feel above anyone by being up so super early at the crack of dawn getting my day started I don't feel like I get more done but I'm just not a morning person so this is like really weighing down but one of the perks of teaching elementary school students is they are so eager to learn they're pretty engaged with the content I think having reached a point where they've been like pushed through the system so much and encountered so many you know teachers were ill intent and stuff that they like have this view about school so that's like one perk of teaching elementary school with middle school it's completely different I mean by that point they have been labeled by the system they've encountered teachers who once again you know I mean I have had the best intent for them they feel a certain type of way about school and it takes a lot to break them out of that and then another pair Core teaching elementary school is that the students like they just kind of like love you they're not malicious or anything like that I guess they made misbehave but it's just because they're kids at the middle school level they can sometimes be kind of like little jerks you know okay and they know it and I think about this right when I think of elementary school students they might say something that could be a little rude but they have like no malicious intent they're not trying to hurt your feelings just just they're just kind of saying something so for instance there are one of my girls she does cheerleading and I'm a staff member was like oh I used to be a cheerleader too and a little girl was like Oh back when you were skinny and so then another student pipes in and she's like that's so rude don't call her fat and a sacrament was like oh she didn't call me fat and you know a girl should do me anything by it but you know what she said I think at a high school level they might think you're fat they might know your fat name I feel a certain type of way but they're not gonna go too much other weights like sadie's things you know at this point they think they growing they're minding their business they're living their best lives middle school they're at that age where it's like they're old enough to know what's wrong but young enough to not care to say it's so like middle schoolers were like like purposely try to hurt your feelings so I feel purposely try to like get you where it hurts and so I think that's like another like big different speaker here teaching elementary school middle school but that's like a big difference and I think that like if you're not if you know if you don't have a tough skin there middle school is probably not for you so I can see why some people are very apprehensive about teaching middle school I mean there are a lot of attitudes at that age they're finding themselves and you know they're dealing with their little drama so I can definitely see why some people wouldn't you know be a little worried about teaching at grade level and I do think like you have to have like a certain type of personality to in endure some of like some of the obstacles it takes to teach at that age however my personality was better suited for that I think at the elementary school level it still takes a certain type of person as well you need someone who was like very sympathetic and empathetic and able to kind of deal with the neediness and someone who's like super nurturing and I just don't feel that I'm that um like they cry all the time they want all the hugs you know they complain they're a little whiny and I ride dealt with some of that that middle school level it's like I was able to break it down like oh this is what you're going through at home like I knew which of my students need a lot of love and honestly the ones who needed a lot of love weren't the ones who are always running to be a fun of you and whining and crying all the time it was the ones who would kind of try to push you away and you had to break that down in them so that's like a huge difference a few years open and honest you guys and I possibly could be in this video so sorry if you didn't like this type of video it just seems a little better student than like actually prepping a video and thinking of like my points I want to talk about it writing them out and setting up the the filming area that just is a bit more scripted I felt good just to come in front of the camera and kind of look I'm in spoken my house once my best friend about it the other night and of course I've been talking for three and my mother about it and they know how I feel but I just felt like being authentic about like especially in this heat your community like if you watch like teacher 2 videos and you're on like Instagram with the teachers and stuff you know that everyone just seems to love their frickin job and they were made for this and they're so happy to wake up every morning and the reality is teaching is hard and it's even harder if you're in a less than ideal predicament like if you're under circumstances that are not ideal for your situation and I just want to bring that to the line I'm like I'm gonna be completely transparent about it it's not always all peaches and cream and I mean I hate to be that guy and I hope no one feel some type of way about it but it's the truth like we are humans too and yes we're shaping young minds and stars but like our peace of mind is equally important and we cannot shape young minds if we do not have peace of mind ourselves and I just want to be completely transparent in my experience like I literally miss teaching middle school if I'm going to stay a teacher and then it would have to be at a higher grade level

Channel: Beauty and the Brief

Views: 21,803

Rating: 4.9632182 out of 5

Keywords: Teacher, 3rd Grade, Third Grade, Elementary School, Elementary School Teacher, Middle School, Middle School Teacher, Secondary, Primary, Teacher Vlogs, Teach For America, Charter School, Public School

Id: MO7Njyl-Aaw

Length: 13min 40sec (820 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 15 2018