When Is Teaching Teaching?

I'm posting this question as more of a question to myself and all other teacher. Past, present, and future.

I've been working at an inner city school, Leggett Elementary School, for two years now, as a teachers aid. I work in a second grade classroom three days a week. I know that I can't see everything that goes on within the classroom. However, I am there all day long for three days out of the classroom, the entire school year. I'm able to see where the students are starting and ending in their progress throughout the year. I am able to see this due to the fact that I work with most of the students during their progression.

I personally grew up in a suburban school, Revere Local Schools. This atmosphere is 100% different from the inner city school I work in now.

I love the school I work in now. The teachers I work with are amazing and I love learning from their guidance every time I'm there.

With all of that being said there is a distinct difference in the things that teachers have to deal with within these two VERY different schools. At a school like Revere, most teachers have more issues with parents on their backs for every decision they make. However, at a school like Leggett, the teachers are dealing with more behavioral issues and rarely having parents breathing down their necks about grades.

This is obviously not true in every instance. However, being a part of both school types within my life I find it interesting to look at the two different types of teaching. At Leggett, a lot of the children I work with are at least a year behind what they should be. This is due to the fact that they do not have everything accessible to them that a child in a more suburban school would have.

When going into teaching, I ask myself. Am I more concerned with helping my students through the school year offering as much help as I can but feeling defeated most of the time because of how behind my students may or may not be. Or am I more concerned with a school where I can go throughout the day without anyone storming out of my classroom or possibly doing such things as hurting other students. Days where I can spend most of the day actually teaching to the curriculum I am supposed to. This causes me to think a lot. In reality I would love to do both. I want to help progress all the inner city children to being on the track they need to be on in order to continue a successful life. However, at the same time the luxury some teachers have in suburban schools where they are dealing more with parents also sounds good to me.

I think this is something I will continue to struggle with until I actually experienced both as a teacher.

This blog was more just some thoughts on my mind the past few days!