Primary Teaching (1 Viewer)

[Tarshy]

Does anyone want to do Primary Education, or is very one basically doing secondary???

 

[SUSYKINS]

i want to do primary

 

[melissaLOL]

isnt pirmary more of a task in babysitting rather than actual teaching?

 

[cem]

isnt pirmary more of a task in babysitting rather than actual teaching?

Having actually done both (taught Primary for 11 years before changing to teach High School) I would categorically say NO.

The younger they are the more you actually 'teach'.

Think about it - Kindergarten kids, generally, can't read and therefore if the teacher is having a 'off' day there is no such lesson as - read these pages and complete the activities. They simply can't do it. The younger kids also have shorter concentration spans so you have to plan activities to change far more often then in High School and you have to be really on your toes the entire time. Even 6th grade is full on. In addition there is the incredible range of subjects that a Primary teacher has to be able to teach e.g. English (Reading, Writing, Listening, Handwriting), Maths, Science, HSIE, Art, Music, PE and then all the extras. My programme from my last year of teaching Primary was 4 to 5 lever arch files full whereas my entire High School programme for this year fits quite comfortably into a normal folder.

The older kids can do far more on their own.

Far more 'babysitting' happens in High Schools. How often have you had a teacher say 'do the activities on p. xx for the next ten minutes or so, or summarise the next two pages, or something like that. In primary school that really doesn't happen as the students don't have the text books, skills etc to do that.

I find High School teaching a lot easier than Primary but I wouldn't go back to Primary as I personally enjoy teaching one subject far more than trying to master a huge range of subjects.

 

[i.am.amanda]

Thats a good insight into teaching both Primary and Secondary, cem.

I can't make my mind up between the two. I like the idea of teaching English and History in Secondary School...but I like the idea of teaching a wide reange of subjects to a class that I will get to know.
So...I don't know...

 

[Iruka]

You can always move between the two areas later if you want to.