Help me decide if I'm going crazy or just need a change in teaching!

I need some advice and perspective from other instructors / teachers out there. I have been teaching at the community college level for over 12 years and I have loved it. I teach both F2F and DL classes. For the last 3 years I have been teaching at a school that is an hour drive, each way, from my home, for the first year it was a 95 minute drive each way. I'm grateful for being moved to a closer campus but now I'm teaching at night and I don't get home until 9pm or later. Anyway, that combined with a large student population that is only in class to collect a Pell check has started to take its toll.

That combined with being in Grad school and a lot of other responsibilities has started me thinking about a change. I have a chance to go work at a local high school that is only about 5 minutes from my house and teach what I love to specially selected students in our small health and life sciences school within our larger high school. It is also the same school my daughter will be attending starting next fall. Is it crazy to give up 10 years of teaching at the college level when I was thinking about trying to transition to some part-time university DL teaching, once done with grad school, to make this move? When I finish grad school I will be at the terminal degree level for my area of study. I have no desire to commute to our universities, but would like to teach DL classes.

I worry about being able to handle the teenagers in high school. I have teenagers at home and they are good kids, but some of their friends or classmates have me wanting to lecture them or run away! Does anyone here have any experience with teaching high school? Any thoughts or suggestions? On one hand I think it would be great to inspire new generations of kids when so many of them seem so lost, but I'm just not sure if it is worth the hassles. I hear that the kids are not teachable coming from some of our teachers and I don't want to believe that. Is that just foolish on my part?

 

Remember that YMMV. I taught at the HS level for awhile and HATED it. But that is me. I now teach at the CC level and enjoy it very much. The bureaucratic nonsense at the HS level drove me crazy.

 

As I am sure you will hear from a number of people here, each person's tolerance for immaturity will vary. Personally, I teach at a high school now but have been recommended by friends and family to pursue college-level instruction. It certainly seems like an interesting idea! Don't jump too hastily, especially if it might be difficult to get back to college or university-level teaching. I am not entirely how everything functions for college instructors, but don't forget that high school teachers are locked into a year's contract at a time. I suspect that college profs get semester-by-semester assignments and could, in theory, back out after a semester if things turn for the worse.

 

Actually, ever CC that I know has you sign a 9 month contract (or 10.5 month). You are signing up for a full academic year. Granted, you can always quit if you want. I know of at least 3 faculty who have done so mid-year for various reasons. Part time faculty is hired semester to semester, but not FT folks.

 

I have taught high school, and every other grade except kindergarten. If I had a chance to go to the CC level, I would take it and not look back.

But every situation is different, and every person is different. I know, though, what I can tolerate and what I can't.

 

I've taught high school for 27 years. I notice that you are also in NC. You mention that you will have a specially selected group of students in a small class. If the are juniors or seniors, you may be ok. But 9th and 10th graders are interested in just about anything BUT education. I have loved my career, as a Spanish teacher, assistant principal, and an ESL teacher. I have also taught at an urban Community College--no comparison! I love the kids--period! That's how I've lasted so long. If you want to "inspire new generations", stay in higher education. I hope that's not too blunt. Feel free to PM me if you have specific questions.
Best of luck!