By Nate Reaven

I have been using a story lately to describe my summer-school teaching experience, which I believe, helps to illustrate my thoughts on whether or not I should teach middle school or high school.

There is a man in the woods, who is attempting to catch sticks in a river. I am not sure as to exactly why he is trying to catch those sticks, but it is certainly his goal. At first, he tries to catch the sticks one-by-one. Quickly, the man realizes this is an inefficient way to catch the sticks, because as he focuses his attention on one stick, and reaches out for it, another five sticks float by him, impossible to catch. Now, this man is quite enterprising. He finds all the rocks he can, some larger sticks, and other large items that can be found in the woods, and places them in the shallowest part of the river. Once the dam is completed, naturally, the sticks are easily collected, and his goal is complete.

The achievement gap is real and it is disastrous. Both statistically and anecdotally, I see the terrible nature of my students being grade levels behind their white counter-parts. Unfortunately, the gap is only going to grow wider, and when they get to high school, too many sticks will have floated by. I believe that teaching in the elementary and middle school levels, creating an excellent foundation there, will help build that dam. Focusing on high school is parallel to being that man in the river attempting to catch the sticks one at time – hard work, sometimes worthwhile, but overall, inefficient.

I begin student teaching tomorrow in an incredibly diverse high school. I will be experiencing a completely different environment than the campy – middle school environment I have experienced these last two months, and I am both nervous and anxious. How will I catch as many sticks as I possibly can?