I recently had the option to teach at either the high school, junior high or elementary school level within my school district, and I chose junior high school. It was not anything that I had against high school or elementary school students, it has just been my experience that junior high school students need the most help.
I started out as an elementary school teacher when I began my teaching career, and it was great. The kids were eager to learn, and watching them start to understand the subjects they were studying and begin to socialize with others was great for me to see.
As time went on, I moved around a bit and taught at different levels, including high school. I enjoyed teaching at the high school level, as well, because the students were more grown up and were preparing for their lives after school. It was exciting to see my students get excited about the colleges they planned to attend or what they wanted to do in life, and it was very fulfilling.
I ultimately decided to teach at a junior high school, however, because I started to realize that these were the students that needed the most help. This is the level where students are expected to start maturing and taking more responsibility for their actions, and many of them struggle in that regard.
Junior high school is also the time when students start to become seriously attracted to the opposite sex and their bodies are changing the most, and there is a lot of confusion. A lot of students have a hard time at the junior high level, and I wanted to see if I could help.
It is hard sometimes to deal with junior high school students and some of their problems. It is especially difficult for me to see students being picked on or excluded, and I always make it a point in my class to get everybody involved and comfortable in the environment.
What I have found at the junior high school level is that I have to find a good balance between allowing my students the space they need to experience the personal growth that goes along with becoming a teenager and getting ready for high school, while still keeping them under control and understanding that there are consequences for bad behavior.
While I have found my time as a junior high school teacher to be among the most challenging years of my life, I have also found them to be the most rewarding by far. When the opportunity presented itself to move up to high school or down to elementary school this past year, I opted to stay put. It may not always be easy, but I really feel that this is where I need to be.