Sarah, interesting questions and I'm curious to see how the rest of the group reacts...

Are they two sides of the same coin? Well, several years ago I would have said hell no. However, especially after teaching last summer, I would say yes, they are similar, but I don't really think the coin metaphor works here. They're just two stops on the same trail. My students last summer were two weeks removed from high school. Did something magical happen to make them college students? Were they all of a sudden incredibly different people with incredibly different needs? No, they were 17 and 18 year old kids continuing their education... The difference between my class and their high school classes? Probably a lot more cursing, a lot less discipline, a little more trust, and slightly more reading. But considering how well they performed, I can't imagine the classroom was that different than a high school experience. (Mind you, I am aware that UT students do not represent "average" American high school students and that the training some of these kids have received makes them very privileged.)

But quite honestly, I've started to develop a pet peeve of people who high school teacher bash (I've been guilty of it). There seems to be a sentiment that ALL high school teachers have really effed up and it's our job to somehow "undo" all the TAKS testing, five paragraph essays, movies-as-lesson-plans, coaches as teachers...

Because really, we might know we're not trained high school teachers (though most of us COULD pick up an emergency credential really quickly in some states - it's fairly easy to do in CA and I was a certified substitute my last year of college), but I often wonder...are we trained college teachers? Did graduating college, learning Foucault, getting a key to Parlin, and taking 398t all of a sudden make us exceptionally prepared? I do know that if I was in a high school setting and my students had problems, I would have resources and training to handle particular issue. However, I have no idea what the hell to do if I have a suicidal student, someone who confesses an eating disorder, or a student who has an emotional breakdown in my office. And yet these are all situations I've faced. It's during these situations where I realize how little I do know and how we sometimes act as though our mastery of a particular subject (literature, writing, rhetoric) somehow makes us masters of all things that occur in a classroom. In my experience, this is not the case. To this day, I have no idea what the "rules" are with regards to anything other than plagiarism (398t this fall, someone?). Can I hug a student who cries? Should I answer emails parents send to me? If a female student has been abused, do I call the police?

I have no idea what I'm even saying here, but I do know I'm not bothered by people asking if I will teach high school because I often ask myself the same question. Am I qualified? I could take classes and be more qualified. I could certainly find a job somewhere. Do I want to deal with parents, censorship, and no child left behind? Most days I don't. But do I feel like I could I could teach college at any time? Nope. I still feel like I'm floating in teacher-land some days. So when people ask me if I will teach high school, I try to take it as a compliment because I sincerely feel that people believe that teaching in public secondary schools is a noble job, albeit one many would never want to do.

Teaching high school is my absolute worst nightmare. Imagine making 6 or 7 lesson plans PER DAY! FIVE days a week! For ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY DAYS! Not to mention the grading...oh the grading. It makes me want to puke or cry.