Elementary School is the Place for Me!

Last week in my blog, I discussed my first observation in a kindergarten class about how joyful my experience was and how I knew that I was supposed to be teaching kindergarten.
This week we observed in a middle school and I learned so much from being there. Probably even more than I learned from being in the elementary school. One of the main things that the middle school taught me was that I'm really supposed to be teaching elementary school. I always knew that's what I wanted, but I felt like I needed the confirmation in that I was headed toward the right age group and the middle school was my confirmation.
I enjoy all kids, but to me it felt like 6th graders were mini adults and that was a little bit intimidating to me. I'm not good at leading other people close to my age. I've noticed through the years that my strong point is teaching and leading smaller children because they don't know any better and they rely on you to point them in the right direction. The 6th graders in the class I sat in on were very opinionated and didn't think twice about saying exactly what they thought in that exact moment. While small children are the same in the fact that they blurt out whatever they think, it's a different context I feel. Children know different things than children in middle school do. Middle schoolers are old enough to be aware of things going on around them and they are old enough to form opinions on various topics going on in the world.
Also, I feel as a kindergarten teacher I can ensure that my students are starting off on the right path. I enjoyed the middle school visit because it showed me what I need to prepare my students for in their future. Learning in class that it takes 3 years for a student to recover from a bad teacher makes me want to ensure that that doesn't happen to my students the first year of their schooling career.
The middle school visit was rewarding to me because I did learn so much about my future career and where I want to go with it. It was confirmation to me that I'm headed down the right path and I look forward to seeing what connections I make during the high school visit.