From teaching children to teaching adults. What are your experiences with the change in population? (government, community college)
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Do you prefer working with adults, or do you still prefer school-age students? What are the differences, beyond the obvious? What are the challenges? Do you teach adult ed, college, employees, etc. Do you get to focus on the primary job of teaching, or are there still behavior issues? Do you feel more respected by K-12 students, and or adult students? any additional information regarding changing student populations would be great.
I have worked in K-12 as ESL support and I teach ESL classes to adult immigrants through government programming.
Primary grades (K-2) can be a be physically and emotionally draining, but they are usually positive and well-behaved. I love this age group. Intermediate and above is when attitudes set in, but there's also a lot of independence. Person-by-person stress, rather than group.
Adults, you either love 'em or you don't. Authoritarian practices and behavioural discipline doesn't sit well. Think of them as peers/partners in learning. The majority are respectful, those who are not can be very problematic. Overall, it's rare and often a culture clash if dealing with ESL populations. The stakes are very high for them - this is time and money to them, and you need to "bring it" as a teacher. Enrollment is a personal reflection at that stage. Content knowledge is important, and you need to provide it in a meaningful way. A lot of my low-level students had depression too, so getting a chance to come out and talk in a non-judgmental group of peers made it a positive atmosphere.
I have worked in K-12 as ESL support and I teach ESL classes to adult immigrants through government programming.
Primary grades (K-2) can be a be physically and emotionally draining, but they are usually positive and well-behaved. I love this age group. Intermediate and above is when attitudes set in, but there's also a lot of independence. Person-by-person stress, rather than group.
Adults, you either love 'em or you don't. Authoritarian practices and behavioural discipline doesn't sit well. Think of them as peers/partners in learning. The majority are respectful, those who are not can be very problematic. Overall, it's rare and often a culture clash if dealing with ESL populations. The stakes are very high for them - this is time and money to them, and you need to "bring it" as a teacher. Enrollment is a personal reflection at that stage. Content knowledge is important, and you need to provide it in a meaningful way. A lot of my low-level students had depression too, so getting a chance to come out and talk in a non-judgmental group of peers made it a positive atmosphere.
Thanks for the post. I am familiar with the middle school attitudes, as I work with that age group. It is good to know that adult classroom behavior issues are a rarity, verses the daily problem I deal with. It is great to know that the majority of adult students are respectful.
It's very rewarding. Plus, coffee breaks written into the lesson plan scheduling always was a lovely perk It always kept them motivated, and a chance for me to watch them interact with others for real-life practice (obviously that won't apply outside ESL!)
I had two very different experiences teaching adults. The position I was in was part time at night, after my day job teaching middle school. I taught prep classes for the GED in English grammar.
During the first year, I had primarily immigrant students. Many of them went through our program's ESL classes, then they went on and took the GED prep class with me. I didn't get to know many of them well because they passed the exam pretty quickly. For the most part, they worked very hard, and were eager to learn. Some of them came back to show me their acceptance letters to the local community college which I always appreciated.
There was a change in leadership after that year and the new admin in charge did not recruit and publicize the program in the community the way the prior admin did. As a result my classes filled up with mostly young men who were only there as a condition of parole/probation. In general, they were disinterested, disrespectful and badly behaved. I often had to supply materials because they were never prepared. At the end of that year, the enrollment was down so much that I was excessed, and I was not sorry to go.
I've done both. Adults are so much easier it isn't even funny. Probably what makes the biggest difference is that the teacher is not as responsible for making sure an adult succeeds like they are for K-12 children. Second, there are no parents involved, just the student themselves. Third, you don't have to differentiate. Fourth, the students are not forced to be there, it is a choice, so behavior problems can be asked to leave the room or class.
Some of the above does seem to be changing. When it does, the quality of post secondary education will tank just as public K-12 education has done.
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I taught college, HS, and middle school. I sort of disagree with the comment about adults don't have to be there only because defining what an adult is could sometimes be a fine line. I've had a 22 year old student act like complete morons in a high school class. One brought food in and threw it at another student during lab. I really wasn't expecting that. These adults "had to be there" because they needed the class to graduate. My high school students were more mature than this person. I've also taught teachers... there's a weird bunch... they behave just like the high school students in class. They didn't want to do work, whined, some were grateful, and one even stormed out of class because she didn't get the assignment. She said it was irrelevant and would never use it in the classroom.
I also get crazy stories from friends of mine who are professors. One older student can't stop reminding her that he has been teaching for 30 years and knows more than her. He says this to her in front of the entire class. No one likes having him in their class and they can't wait until he graduates.
Yeah.. higher ed has already begun to tank just as K-12 education has done.
But to answer the question, my favorite age group is high school sophomores. They're more mature than freshman and they aren't thinking about jr prom, prom, or have senioritis.
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It always kept them motivated, and a chance for me to watch them interact with others for real-life practice (obviously that won't apply outside ESL!)
