The ups and downs of teaching adolescents?

April 13, 2008 6:13 PM

High school teachers - what do you like most/least about teaching teenagers? (I found this previous thread, but it applies to teaching elementary school).

I'm currently an IP law paralegal, but am contemplating a switch to becoming a high school social studies teacher. Big thanks to everyone in advance.

posted by invisible ink to work & money (15 comments total)

What I like least: Taking attendance; grading papers; dealing with parents; behavior problems; giving the same lecture three times a day, every day.

What I like most: Watching the students grow up before my eyes; paying off the investment my teachers made in me.
posted by baho at 6:23 PM on April 13, 2008

My favorite thing about high school students specifically (compared to other grades/ages) is that high schoolers are becoming unique people of their own, with interests and opinions that aren't necessarily just simplified versions of what their parents say. I say this having taught high school for 3 years and subbed middle school for 1. High schoolers are full on people to me, which sounds bad but middle schoolers kind of aren't.
posted by krakedhalo at 6:43 PM on April 13, 2008

Mrs. Doohickie likes teenagers because they aren't "needy"; you don't have to do everything for them. Also, they get sarcasm. It drives her nuts when they whine when she actually expects them to work.

If you're really going to do this, understand that the kids will spend the first half of the year trying to "break you". Know that if you get past that initiation they will, eventually, respect you. If you want to teach social studies, understand that jobs will be few and far between unless you can coach some sport.
posted by Doohickie at 6:48 PM on April 13, 2008

(P.S. She teaches 10th World History.)
posted by Doohickie at 6:49 PM on April 13, 2008

You can ignore me because no one is making my students be in class the way high school students are forced and so my experience might not help you make your decision. I work with 17 and 18 year olds, but it's a different setting. Is your question about teenagers, or about schools? Because if it's about teenagers...

I love the energy and enthusiasm they can have, I love how everything is just so exciting and new, I love how they can find life so interesting. There's still that element of watching them turn in to who they are that baho mentions, too.

I get frustrated when they act cliquey or they're mean to each other. I get frustrated when they've decided that there's nothing interesting in life, or that only drugs and drinking are worth showing excitement for, or that they already know everything and everything isn't worth knowing, and so they just give up.

Not all teenagers are great, and you have to meet them halfway, but by and large, I absolutely love working with people this age.

When I very briefly worked in a high school, I found the administrative politics to be far more annoying than anything the teenagers ever did.
posted by arabelladragon at 6:54 PM on April 13, 2008

Seconding krakedhalo. Teens are people, and not enough people give them credit for it.
posted by arabelladragon at 6:55 PM on April 13, 2008

I started out as a high school teacher, went to teaching college for a while, and now teach adolescents (wide age range--10-23) in schools, after school groups, churches, etc. I also run a peer education program for teens.

By far I like working with the kids who are interested in and like the subject. But I also enjoy making a subject interesting and fun despite their initial disinterest. I love observing how they interact with each other and me. Gaining trust and breaking through the facade of indifference or even outright scorn is also just wonderful. I've found that consistent classroom management lessens behavioral problems (you'll never get rid of them), and that showing respect gets you respect back.

HELL: grading papers, making exams. This is the reason I switched teaching to a non-traditional (i.e. not in schools and thus not grade-based) education job.

Something else that has really made a difference in the quality of my work life has been a change in the actual content I teach. Whereas before I was teaching an "academic" subject, now my teaching focuses on life-skills. Stuff like how to get out of tough situations, how to mitigate risky behavior, how to know when your friends are right for you, how to navigate media, how to recognize depression, how to use a condom, how to quit smoking, how to set and achieve goals, how to advocate for causes you believe in...that kind of thing.

The academic subject didn't have quite the immediate application as these other things do, and so there was much less interest compared to what I have now.

And on preview, HELL yes, teens are people. Treat them with respect, and they'll respect you. I think too many people write teens off as being somehow inherently and unchangeably hellions, when they're really just navigating a time of transition.
posted by Stewriffic at 7:00 PM on April 13, 2008

Disclaimer: While high school teaching is what I want to do, it's not something I'm doing full-time yet. I taught at an Atlanta metro high school for 15 hours a week while in grad school, and right now I'm subbing at both the middle school and high school level. One of these subbing jobs was for a month, full-time, in my field of study (technically I was a supply teacher, which, if you have an appropriate background, is something you might look into - you need to have a degree in the field, but you don't need to have a teacher certification).

What I like the least: You don't get as much time in class as you'd think. Required tests for No Child Left Behind, assemblies that disrupt classes, meetings, attendance, announcements, etc. There's always something. On the plus side, if you want to develop your flexibility, teaching is great practice. Oh, this may be too specific for you, but I hate the four by four block schedule. Administrators love it because you can put eight classes in a semester instead of six or seven. But the fact is you just can't teach as much in one 90-minute class as you can in two separate 45-minute classes.

What I like the most: Tying the material to something they're interested in. Working with people who are only just figuring out what direction they want their lives to take and being a part of that process. Blowing stuff up (this is why I'm a chemist). Building students' learning skills - it's really rewarding to see your students thinking critically and not just parroting back what they've been told.

I've taught college classes, and that's fun too, but it's a much more self-selected crowd. High school teaching is a chance to reach out to your community in a way that college teaching isn't. In the other direction, I don't like teaching middle school because, well...there's a reason Lord of the Flies was written about twelve-year olds.
posted by solotoro at 7:14 PM on April 13, 2008

I agree with pretty much everything that has been said. One (unsolicited) piece of advice: if you love kids, you will love teaching. Everything else comes second. It also helps if you enjoyed high school the first time around!
posted by ms.v. at 7:50 PM on April 13, 2008

The best part: seeing the light bulb go on when a student 'gets it'. Watching a sullen, uncommunicative person with a chip on his shoulder change into an open, engaged person who can & does explain technical info to his classmates. Helping the student who has been on the wrong side of the justice system find a productive direction for their life. Meeting your former student 3, 5, or 10 years later, the one who just coasted along in the back of the room, and learning that she now has a good career AND remembers your class as a helpful one.

The least-best part: Not reaching the student with obvious potential. Bright students who are burdened by a difficult home life. Parents who are not engaged in or supportive of their children's education. Run-down facilities and materials. And paperwork, paperwork, paperwork.

I suggest you read Teacher Man, by Frank McCourt for a wonderful memoir on High School teaching.

yup, IAAHST.
posted by TDIpod at 10:56 PM on April 13, 2008

Most: Light bulbs going on. When they come to you with a serious life question, because they think you're wise, or at least will give them a straight, considered answer. Knowing that you've helped them be better human beings, live better lives.

Least: Sheer workload. 18 hour days. Weekends. Kids that you can't reach. Kids that go over to the dark side.

Least2: The basic factory production model of school. It's utterly inorganic. Realizing that school, as an institution, is fundamentally flawed, serves most students poorly, imprisons them, suppresses their talents, fails to bring out their best. Seeing the destruction of human potential. Knowing that in an ideal world, there would be no school.

(I don't teach high school any more.)
posted by coffeefilter at 3:47 AM on April 14, 2008

I teach college, but most of my students are 17-18-19. What I really LOVE is early on the semester, when they suddenly realize they can argue with me and I will listen and respect their opinions. It happens every class. One kid will tentatively offer up something that either contradicts me, or is somewhat controversial, and they all look at me like "Oooh!! What is she going to do to him?" I just love that moment when they realize that I'm not going to dismiss their opinions, but encourage them.

Another great moment is when the kid who has been suspiciously squinting at you from the back of the room all semester suddenly starts nodding and telling the other kids to shut up so he can hear what I'm saying.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 5:54 AM on April 14, 2008

I love the moment when they start relating to you as a peer with authority, rather than as the parental stand-in. I love their sarcasm. I love watching them learn independence. I'm not a classroom teacher, but rather a figure skating instructor, so this often takes the form of refusing to skate, and then you get to watch them figure out that this only hurts themselves. It's a great trajectory of revelation in how consequences work. I love that you have to prove yourself to a teenager. Unlike little kids, they will not accept you at face value. You have to demonstrate intrinsic value.
posted by nax at 10:25 AM on April 14, 2008

(Disclaimer: I'm a teacher of young adults (mostly 17 - 22) in a polytechnic, so my experience may be slightly outside your range. )

Pros: the lightbulb effect, already mentioned. The fact that you can see them growing, changing, trying on new ideas. The passion some of them bring to their work. The occassional surprise of someone doing really well when you didn't expect them to.

Cons: Many of them are sheltered, and think that they automatically deserve special treatment. Dealing with expectations of grade inflation. Talking to their parents when things go wrong. Laziness, when they are capable of much more - which includes cheating. Grading (which I'm meant to be doing now) can be very tiring if you don't have a TA.
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul at 11:10 AM on April 14, 2008

I love the passion that teens can ignite at the drop of a hat. I love how caring they are of their peers. I love how the kids I work with for the most part, love and respect their parents, brothers and sisters and grandparents.

I hate how cruel teens can be to one another. I hate how inward-turned they can be sometimes, to the detriment of mostly themselves but also of what's going on around them. I mourn the loss of confidence I see in teen girls in the early years and I rejoice when they find themselves again, more towards the end of their time in high school. I love it when teen boys who start out freshmen year as obnoxious pests become more grounded, usually around junior year.

I enjoy the influx of freshmen in the fall and how quickly they find their way around our school and become part of us. I always become verklempt around this time of year when the flurry of graduation activities really gets going and I all of a sudden realize the seniors are really leaving us.
posted by Lynsey at 6:55 PM on April 14, 2008