Fifth Grade

There is a reason why when people are asked – if you could go back to any age or any grade in school what would it be? – that not many people respond fifth grade…(or middle school…) The reason? Because fifth grade is a difficult age. Fifth grade is right at that age where kids SHOULD know right from wrong and how to behave…and they DO, but they also realize that grown-ups will still let most things slide because they’re so “young” and “innocent.” Well, most people includes pretty much everyone in Guatemala, except me.

I treat my fifth graders the way I think they deserve to be treated – like people. I ask them to respect one another and listen and tell them that, in return, we can have a lot of fun in class, play games pretty much every day and just enjoy ourselves while learning a new language – with the condition that I don’t have to spend the entire class period waiting for children to take their seats, or to stop shouting, or just to simply - behave.

Yet for some reason it doesn’t work. Time and again I am blown away at their lack of respect, the yelling that ensues every single class period, the aimless wandering, the picture cutting, the other homework doing, the newspaper reading, the pretend sleeping, the incessant “can I go to the bathroom?” asking or “can I get some water?” asking, the fighting, the pushing, the punching, the kicking, the hair pulling, the crawling on desks, and the back talking. All of it. All crammed into a 45 minute class period. All experienced in that 45 minutes, 6 times a week. Needless to say, I’ve been a little drained lately.

Now don’t get me wrong – it’s not just that I have no control over my classes (I seriously hope you don’t think that!) In fact, my other two classes ROCK. They sit and take notes, ask questions, ok, so maybe they don’t always raise their hand, but here, that’s not the most important thing. The fact is that when they aren’t raising their hand it’s usually because they are all too excited for me to wait to call on them. (Yes I know in the states it’s a pretty big no-no to go with it, but I challenge all you teachers out there to get Guatemalan orphans to raise their hand in class…) The point is – NO I have NOT lost the respect of my students, NO I don’t let them get away with a lot of things, and YES we play games pretty much every day in class. No, it’s not all my classes that make me bitter.

Just my fifth graders.

If I ever thought that I would actually want to do this as a career when I get back to the states – my fifth grade classes have quickly taught me otherwise. Sure, I could go back to the states and I could teach. It certainly wouldn’t be the hardest transition in the world...especially after what I've experienced this year. And yes, there are bound to be ENDLESS wonderful teaching experiences to be had in the states that are completely different and wonderful and rainbows and butterflies. Yet after 8 months here, I can say in all honesty that teaching is definitely NOT my calling.