Re: Which would you choose, and why? Thanks!
Posted by teachnotchie on 7/03/08
On 7/01/08, K wrote:
> Hi! If you had the choice between teaching middle grades
> MATH or middle grades LIFE SCIENCE, which would you choose
> and why? Please share as much as you can, I need to make a
> choice... I've taught H.S. biology, became a bit burned out
> to be honest. I love math and now I am trying to decide
> between math or life science at the middle grades level. I
> am looking forward to teaching middle grades so much!
Thank
> you for any input!
I currently teach 5th and 6th grade math in a middle school
environment and have previously taught 8th grade science.
There are benefits to both. What I miss about science
includes
Being creative in my teaching. Math there is a right and
wrong answer for everything. In science, this is not always
the case.
I miss guiding students through labs watching them discover
with excellent hands on activities. Middle school kids still
love to get their hands dirty. I felt like there was much
less pressure placed on my because the state standardized
test did not test science.
Why I enjoy teaching math and chose math differs from many
others. I was always a bad math student in school and was in
the low group every year. When I went to college, I flunked
calculus and one other math class and had to retake them.
Math was a real struggle for me until my last year of
college I met a professor that put it all together for me.
Because I remember how hard math was for me and why I didn't
get certain things, it makes it easy for me to teach math to
kids who struggle with math or have a lower IQ. EVERYONE can
learn math and I get excited to teach it everyday.
Some nice benefits in being a mth teacher include less prep
and less grading but a huge responsibility in the eyes of
administrators counting on your for good test scores.
****Middle school students are at the beginning stage of
questioning "Why do I have to learn this stuff I am never
going to use?" It is easy to justify math but a little less
easy in science.
I could go on and on but alas..
If you do decide to teach math, pickup the book Every Minute
Counts: Making Your Math Class Work by David Johnson
Posts on this thread, including this one
- Which would you choose, and why? Thanks!, 7/01/08, by K.
- Re: Which would you choose, and why? Thanks!, 7/01/08, by Pragmatic.
- Re: Which would you choose, and why? Thanks!, 7/01/08, by "I love math" again.
- Re: Which would you choose, and why? Thanks!, 7/02/08, by "out-of-the-box"thought.
- Re: Which would you choose, and why? Thanks!, 7/03/08, by teachnotchie.
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