Re: To Teach Fifth Grade or Younger?

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I absolutely adore working with my tweens every day.
They are old enough to accomplish so many standards,
but young enough to enjoy the idea of being at school.
Prior to teaching fifth grade, I taught at the primary
level for ten years. Although their are great joys to
be found at that level, such as seeing students light
up when they finally catch on to reading or a new math
concept, I found I was spending a lot of my teaching
day "mothering", which was emotionally exhausting to
me. I'm glad I have that in my background, however,
because I believe knowing where your students have
been, both academically and emotionally, is just as
important as understanding where they're headed. (I
also taught at the junior high/middle school for two
years...never again!)
Best wishes; keep your options open to whatever life
has in store to teach you!

On 2/08/11, Heather Wilson wrote:
> Thank your for your insight. That excitement to learn is what I
> am looking forward to. I know that students at even younger
> levels are excited, but it is a different interaction than with
> 9 and 10 year olds. Although 4th and 5th graders are not
> adults, they are on a higher maturity level than say a 2nd
> grader and you can hold a more intellectual discussion with
> them. I love science and know that the standards for our state
> for 5th graders would be a lot of fun to teach. Thank you again
> for your advice. Take care.
>
> On 2/04/11, ny/5 wrote:
>> I taught 6th grade for 6 years and have been in 5th for the
>> past 6 years. I enjoyed 6th grade because the curriculum is
>> interesting, the literature is great and the students are
>> independent. What I didn't like about it was the pre-teen
>> attitude, the first year of dating and all the problems that
>> come along with that. That being said... I LOVE 5th grade, and
>> wouldn't go any lower than 4th. It's a great grade to teach
>> for all the reasons listed above, except they're still young
>> (for the most part), still get excited when you read to them,
>> love doing science labs, will sing a silly song to remember
>> concepts and still listen to their teacher.
 

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