You’re sitting in first hour and doing your work, as usual. The room is peaceful with students working diligently. Your mind is at ease when suddenly, an eye-popping, nostril-flaring, ear-burning question pops into your head: do my teachers think I’m fun?
Norrix’s teachers answered this question. In a survey of 35 teachers, the popular opinion was that, out of all grades, juniors were the most fun to teach.
“I picked 11th grade because I feel like it’s the blend of maturity that you get with upperclassmen, but they’re not checked out yet,” said social studies teacher James Johnson. “They have started to figure out who they are and what they like, and they’re a little more mature than some of the underclassmen.”
Although Johnson primarily teaches sophomores, juniors are the most fun for him because of the deeper discussions they can have in class.
He’s not the only one who thinks that way. Many of the teachers interviewed spoke on the more intellectual conversations you can have with the upperclassmen.
“I think, because of what I teach,” said history teacher Michael Wright, “you have a lot of students who, by the time they hit 11th grade, have enough education to really speak intelligently on things, and so it makes for really good conversations in class.”
“I prefer 11th,” said science teacher Zachary Schmidtke, “and the reason being is just because they’re not quite out yet, so they’re still trying to get stuff done, but they’ve been here long enough to know how things kind of work, so you can actually have decent conversations with them.”
Johnson, Wright and Schmidtke are among over 50% of the surveyed teachers who chose 11th graders as the most fun. However, this doesn’t mean that juniors don’t have their challenges. Junior year introduces new responsibilities for students. They have the SATs, some are getting part-time jobs and maybe even applying to colleges early. This, along with their regular schoolwork, is a lot on their plate.
“The not-fun side of it is all the stress that comes with it,” said Johnson.
Science and social studies teacher Samantha Hensen enjoys students who can have fun while participating in class. However, her grade of choice is freshman.
“Ninth grade is the best grade to teach, because all the kids aren’t too cool to do anything,” Hensen said. “If you want to do a community builder with your class, everybody’s just willing to do it.”
These aren’t all the positives that Hensen mentions about freshmen either. She says it’s nice to see the freshmen grow as they progress through their high school careers: teachers who only teach juniors or seniors may not get to experience this.
English teacher Josie Pike agrees that freshmen are the most fun to teach, especially because of their view on the world. Middle to high school is one of the hardest transitions students make, since they’re still trying to figure out how the world works and where they fit in.
“It’s really cool because they’re not bound by the views of the world,” Pike said. “They live in their own kind of world. Their perspectives on everything and their analysis always surprises me. I feel like they have the best analysis because they see things that other classes don’t often see.”
As students navigate their way through high school, each year brings new challenges and experiences. Each grade finds a unique way to make it fun. Nevertheless, it’s clear to see that juniors are the most fun for our teachers.
