It’s been a push to get through the last couple of weeks with my wits intact. I walked into the school this morning after dropping my 8th grader off at before-school volleyball practice…by the time I arrived there was a crowd of little kids in the hallway waiting for breakfast. Some of them laying down across the hall in a pile of snow gear. Others playing tag, or something that looked like what tag would look like if you didn’t let go when you do the tagging. I dodge and weave. They’re little. I try not to bulldoze anyone.
It’s warm and bright in the building. Nice colors. Beautiful artwork hanging from the high ceiling. A contrast from the bleak minus 20 degree weather that won’t let up. And I think, Be happy. As I enter the office I say, It’s great to have a job! Huh? One of the secretaries says, Where did that come from? It’s just the little pep talk I give myself in the morning before I attempt the impossible, I say. Smiles around the room. I’m grim way too often, I think.
I suppose that anyone, no matter what they do, gets tired after 24 years. I don’t know. The principal asked me a couple of weeks ago if I was interested in a grade level change for next year. I told him that sixth would be good. There’s an opening there, and I’ve done it a few times. My wife said that anything that helps me keep my head in the game at this point is worth doing. Her advice, Go for it.
People say, So…you’re going to sixth. It’s not exactly a question. I know what they mean, though. Sixth grade, like kindergarten and first grade, is what I call a “specialty grade.” It has it’s own set of conditions that don’t apply to the other grades, and it may only appeal to a small subset of the teaching workforce. But, it has it’s good and bad points, like most other things.
Good things about sixth graders:
- They rarely cry;
- They can find page 243 in their textbooks right away;
- There aren’t so many crumbs on the floor after they eat;
- Their mommies don’t walk them into the building;
- They’re subversive and don’t tell you about every damn thing that happens all day long;
- They understand most of my sarcastic humor.
Bad things about sixth graders:
- They are completely full of themselves, and do not appear to care about anything you say unless it’s about them;
- They are loud at lunch time;
- They forget everything they’ve ever learned;
- They’re subversive, and sometimes you have to investigate to find out what the hell happened that nobody wanted you to know about.
The best part of this grade level move is that I’ll be able to work with many of the kids I had in my fourth grade class last year. Those kids will get to pick up where we left off with the classroom website. It may be interesting to see how a year’s growth will translate in their writing. Maybe we can do more work with multimedia than I’ve been able to do with this year’s group.
Other things I’m thinking about: We can read young adult literature, and do more group work. The other sixth grade teacher is interested in getting her class going on the website, too. In Helen Barrett’s paper about portfolios and learner engagement, she found that, in school sites that had 2 or more teachers implementing them, a small community of practice developed which supported portfolio uses that were conducive to formative assessment and student reflection.
I’m curious to see what might happen if I am able to work closely with another teacher on the student blogging project. My sixth grade counterpart went through the Alaska State Reading Endorsement program at the same time I did, so we share a common theoretical reference point. May be good chemistry for some changes.
This afternoon was the beginning of Spring Break. It was also the end of the 3rd Quarter. It’s all downhill from here. If only it would warm up a little.
5 Comments
I’ve taught 6th grade 3 times. Nothing was the same except that it was exhausting and you are so right. It’s like 1st. Different every time and unique. And it takes a hard core person. I’m sure you’ll love it, lucky kids.Here is my list
Why i loved 6th graders:
1. I could do all the Buckminster Fuller projects.They made awesome models, such fantastic dexterity and design capabilities.
2. I could make notes on the overhead for an hour …why this pleases me I don’t know.
3. They wrote poetry.
4. They liked to read literature.
5. They can be very loyal. When you turn around a 6th grader they appreciate and recall it. They judge you by these things.
6. In the moment.
7. i taught a model economy over -arching the work and this was tremendous with 6th graders.
What was less fun
1. Inevitably i get embroiled in the dynamics of lies, half truths and rumors.Or the social nightmare which actually is the core of the work and maybe it’s a plus when you deal with it and you do help. But there were moments of real angst.
2. Literalists….they get really lost in verbatim application, you said, we were told, it said in the book…it gets old.
3. Teaching fractions, decimals, algebra while wonderful seems so much easier 1 to 1. Very hard in larger size classes.I actually did not like teaching math to the range of students in whole group . Yet it had a clumsy feel no matter how I did it. I never felt that this was my strength and in 6th I felt it.
4. Loud. They are so loud.
5. They can be at the time in their life where unfair realities are hitting them-almost disillusioned-can create difficult school moments.
Ah well that said I like 6th, and 1st the best by far. Absolutely. I’m thinking of something similar. I rather want 3rd but that’ll be complicated as a very pushy teacher who is currently in favor wants the opening in that grade.I miss the writing of 6th. It’s so much fun to write. I had great support a few years ago from a friend Principal and she just said write the year away. So we did. Great gains on scores.
Hope you like this choice. Teaching kids 2 years is extremely powerful for them in their life and gives you insight into your work.
Having only taught sixth grade during a summer school session, but having enjoyed sixth grade “buddy” activities with my kindergartners every week for over a decade, I find it humorous that you both forgot ONE: sixth grade is when those magical body odors “appear,” remember?
And somehow, because of my age at the time, **I** was always the one the sixth grade teachers sent their female students to for the “that-time-of-the-month” discussion. Sigh. Of course, my students always win in ANY Gross-You-Out contest, though I can’t say “hands down,” because their hands are NEVER down. In fact they’re usually helping fingers get shoved up noses.
Enjoy the change Doug, and consider sharing your students with some of our younger ones. Sixth graders have always been the best buddies. Always.
I’ve taught gifted 6th graders, plus K-5, for over 20 years. In the last few years I’ve added a literature component to our curriculum. We’ve read some great books…I research and handpick them all looking for very high interest books they haven’t already read. Let me know if you ever want some “Wow” 6th grade titles.
Doug, your sixth graders and my Year 5/6er’s (same age group, 11/12 year olds?), second half of 2007, maybe some sort of cross-world, cross-cultural, cross-anything project? Maybe? Interested? Think about it.
Stay sane, and for heaven’s sake gainfully employed, but know that there’s one lurker out here who will miss your thoughtful voice about elementary kids!
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