Just another way of shifting blame

"What did they teach them in middle school?" "Shouldn't they have learned this in elementary school?"  "At least they get some parent involvement." "Must be nice to have an assistant." "How am I supposed to teach them to think critically and be responsible learners if they've had their hands held all the way through middle school?"  These are just some of the comments made by various colleagues when I taught in high school, but please don't think that high school teachers hold the market on level bashing, as middle school teachers get their licks in too. "If they wouldn't let them play so much in elementary school, I could get them to sit still and learn something." "I'm ready to move up and teach high school because I can't deal with these hormones the kids have." "How am I supposed to get these babies ready for high school when they didn't come to me prepared for middle school?"  Oh yeah, complaints, insults, and the grass-is-greener mentality is common place at the middle and high school levels, so I'm not sure why it surprised me the first time I heard the comment "at least you all (in high school) get plenty of during-the-school-day planning time" at the elementary level.  I guess I expected things to be different, or at least more of the focus to be on the students rather than on the perceived benefits of working at other levels.

On Friday, one of my teachers stopped by my office to borrow something, and as she was walking out, she stopped to ask how I felt about the jump I had made from high school to elementary school.  I guess she thought I was going to give her a 2-second response, but that's just not how I roll.  I realized that my response could either compound the belief that everyone else has it easier than the 4-content-area-teaching, no-real-planning-time-having K-5 teachers OR my response could begin to shift the focus back where it belongs.  So, I said, "I like my position much better this year than I did in middle school, but I don't think I would want to teach at this level," which immediately solicited the response I expected, "because of all the things we have to do, right?"  The look on her face, and her comment of "that's a very interesting perspective I hadn't thought of before" assured me she wasn't prepared for what I had to say next.

Truthfully, my reluctance to teach elementary has nothing to do with the work load or added duties or perceived add-ons that take up time but rather lack of comfort in my own conceptual knowledge of math.  I explained to her that as teachers, regardless of level, we always have a lot of things we're expected to do.  I was a Spanish teacher, who sometimes taught English, and I often had 5 preps each semester.  I let her know that while I did, technically, get more "planning" time, I also had duties, tutoring, conferences, and IEP meetings that would take up much of that time.  I felt little need to complain about them because they were part of what I signed up for when I became a teacher.  I didn't leave the conversation there, however, because her (and many others') beliefs aren't simply confined to the perception about other teachers.  I've often heard "Admins are so removed from the classroom, they don't realize how hard they're making this on us," or "Coaches just talk in generalizations because that's what they're told to do, but they don't understand how hard it is to teach our kids."

Every position at every level has its challenges that are inherent parts of the job.  Teaching high school is challenging because there is less parental support and very little collegial support when you're the only one teaching a subject.  Being an administrator at this level is challenging not simply because of discipline (which seems to be the ruling belief) but because of the extreme curricular shifts for each classroom you enter.  How do you get your mind ready to observe and provide feedback consistently and effectively when there are systematically such clear differences to be expected in each classroom?  Teaching at the middle school level is difficult because of the physical and emotional changes you are helping the students work through and, in many schools, you're expected to work with a team of teachers who don't teach the same things as you, so conversations boil down to behavior and field trips.  I found my job, as a Learning Team Facilitator, to be very challenging and frustrating at middle school because I often had teams of 1 or 2, which put me in more of a coaching position than facilitator position.  How can I effectively help teachers learn from and share with each other when there is no one else teaching what they are in the building?  Likewise, there are challenges at the elementary level for all personnel.

The grass is not always greener, and while we all get frustrated and feel overworked, trying to imagine that someone else's job in education might be easier than our own doesn't help us overcome the natural challenges of our position or our level.  Acknowledging that we have challenges and are frustrated when we have difficulty overcoming those challenges is the first step to finding a way to feel empowered.  No other group of educators is to blame for the challenges we face, but we can't ever find solutions unless we focus on what we can and are doing in our position at our level.  It is only through focused reflection on our own strengths and areas for growth that we can learn to ask for and accept help that will help us grow as educators.  It's time to stop shifting the blame and become the solution.