A Secondary Teacher's Quandary
My good friend, who is also a middle school Language Arts teacher, recently reminded me: “I’m not certified to teach kids social studies, and that is not a fluke. I don’t really have a deep passion for any other subject [beyond reading and writing]. To be forced to teach something I don’t have a passion for would be a disservice to the kids.”
I couldn’t agree more. I’m not certified to teach math or science or media arts and that is certainly not by accident. Selfishly, I have no personal interest or desire to teach anything beyond ELA.
Secondary teachers, we teachers certified to teach grades 6-12, walk a tricky tightrope. Some of us were motivated to begin teaching due to the love of our given subject area. And perhaps, for some of us, the appreciation and enjoyment for the art of teaching children came second. Is this necessarily a bad thing? I guess it’s what you do with the job once you’ve entered the field that matters most.
As cliché as it sounds, I always turn back to the movie Mr. Holland’s Opus, which paints a decent picture of this quandary.
If you’ve never seen this film, I’ll give a brief synopsis. Mr. Holland is a composer with a money problem. He realizes his chosen profession is not the most lucrative, and so, by necessity, he takes a job teaching high school music and eventually takes over the marching band. Mr. Holland enters teaching as a temporary fix; a way to receive a steady paycheck. But soon he evolves; he falls in love with teaching music and embraces the craft. However problematic this film may be, and upon rewatching there are plenty of cringe-worthy moments, the overarching message still stands. A teacher is brought into the field due to the love of the content and stays for the love the job.
The more I reflect on my own teaching career and trajectory, the more I realize I totally Mr. Holland Opus-ed my own life! I walked into the classroom with a love for reading and writing, and a small sense that maybe, if I did my job right, I could spread this love to my students.
What I didn’t bet on was the way I would fall in love with the art of teaching.
Writing is fabulous, but it pales in comparison to seeing a child embrace and fall in love with writing. Same goes for reading. There is nothing better than watching a kid realize the potential hidden in a story.
My own progress is one thing, but charting the progress of someone young? Noting their academic and emotional growth, their accomplishments, their depth develop over time? That takes precedent. It is far superior.
What I’m trying to say here is this: to love the subject matter we teach is natural, and I’d argue important. If we don’t love and understand deeply the content we are teaching, how can we expect the students to love it? How can we expect our students to understand and embrace it?
But a qualified secondary teacher does two things. They love their content and understand it deeply, yes. But they also love their students and are deeply invested in their educational outcomes and success.
I am not endorsed to teach anything except for Language Arts, because I have no interest in explaining the Pythagorean Theorem or WWII or the scientific method. There are other people to do that valuable, vital work.