I took a pay cut to work part time. One of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
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That’s awesome to be able to take the career that you want.
I substitute-taught a few times a couple of years ago when on a break from actuarial work. The junior-high students were the absolute worst.
One said to me, “does your butt sweat?”
Ugh, the future of this society isn’t looking too bright.
Yeah, I hated subbing in middle schools. Subbing in high schools is way better.
I’ve had a few good days subbing in a middle school, but preferred high school.
That said, I taught middle school Sunday school at church for a while and enjoyed that. 
But the subset of kids you get at church is not the same as the subset you get in a public school.
Heh, I remember a 5th grader coming to me… “Ms Twig, Ms Twig… Jimmy said the D word!!!”
Me: What makes you think I give a shit?
I kid, I kid. I did NOT say “shit” to a 5th grader, despite desperately wanting to.
I dutifully wrote in my notes for the regular teacher “Sherri told me that Jimmy said the D word” and let her deal with that however she wants.
Obligatory Simpsons vid:
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Yeah - I’d rather be doing high school math, but this is where I was needed.
Being able to set expectations from the beginning of the year helps. I took over as a long term sub the last two months of last year, and that was tough.
The first couple weeks with 7th graders was kinda nice, since they were all still terrified of the newness of junior high. They’ve gotten over that though.
If I went back to teaching full-time, I’d definitely stick to college (or remedial education for adults). I don’t want to deal with other people’s kids.
My mother used to teach middle school math, and said it was her favorite. (She also taught high school, college, and graduate school.) She says it was fun to get to show kids big new ideas for the first time.
My MIL was also a middle school math teacher and found it to be her favorite age. She was able to (generally) control a classroom AFAIK which she and her (teacher) friends I know said made the biggest difference.
Absolutely. This is why I got out of education.
I had classes I clicked with and classes I didn’t. I can’t explain it… it was definitely not correlated to the academic level of the class. But the lower academic level classes that I also didn’t click with were an absolute nightmare.
I guess I’m just polarizing. I was some kids’ favorite teacher and other kids’ least favorite teacher.
Thinking back to my own favorite teacher… she was one of the least popular teachers in the school, but I really liked her a lot!
I had fun teaching at Mathcamp, but that’s not a full-time gig. Teaching at my old high school would be fun.
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