The Toughest Teaching Job

I’m going to give you my opinion on what I think is the toughest job in teaching. I have been involved with teaching and even coaching for 32 years. First the foundation of my opinion, here goes:

Years 1-2: Middle School Science Teacher – fun and difficult, felt like they threw me to the wolves back in 1989

Years 3-12: Alternative School Science Teacher.  Taught mostly Earth Science and Living Environment – definitely challenging!

Years 13-19: “Regular” High School Earth Science and Living Environment Teacher.  I also taught inclusion as well.  Very good but had some very challenging classes.

Years 20-23: High School Physical Education – greatest job!  A lot of fun and great people to work with.  Definitely not as easy as it looks!

Year 24:  Got excessed from PE due to the financial crisis and had to go back to teaching High School Earth Science.  Had 3 good classes and 2 difficult ones.

Years 25-29: Elementary Physical Education Teacher.  Much harder than I thought but I learned a great deal about how difficult it was to teach in elementary school.  I learned how to pick out kids with disabilities.

Years 30-32:  Back to being a High School PE Teacher.  What a great way to end my teaching career!

When I was in the high school all those years I always thought that life in the elementary schools was like Shangri la. I was always under the mistaken impression that little kids always did what they were told. Boy, what an epiphany I had when I was in the elementary school. Most of the kids were great but there were some that would not listen and it totally shocked me. Of course, when you teach them you have to explain every little thing. All the things that you had taken for granted in middle and high school have to be constantly taught: like walking in a straight line, keeping hands to oneself, tying shoes etc. Needless to say, it can be exhausting. To me, the closer to kindergarten the tougher the job.

In the high school and middle school you can have really bad classes, some that may even have you rethink your career choice but when the bell rung and the 40 minutes were up, they were out. I couldn’t imagine having a very difficult class for the entire day! This is why I think an elementary classroom teacher is the hardest teaching job, not that all teaching jobs don’t come with their difficulties.

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