Chapter 29: John Helped Me Find My Way as a Middle Level Educator

My memories of John Lounsbury walk me through my journey as a middle level educator. It begins with teaching sixth grade in the early 1980s, after being thoroughly prepared and eager to teach primary-aged students. After a year of substitute teaching, I finally landed a teaching position in a crowded job market. Instead of landing in a world of sweet first graders sitting next to me and holding my hand, I found myself in a world of boisterous young adolescent learners, some taller than me, some (I was informed) smarter than me, and all of them seemingly more comfortable with being in a sixth-grade classroom than I was. Although I held a K–8 teaching license, I knew I was out of my element. I quickly decided to seek ways to become more informed and a better fit for teaching and reaching young adolescent learners. As soon as I was able, I returned to the university to work on a master’s degree hoping it would help me to become a better teacher. The only problem was there was no middle level teacher preparation or licensure in the state of Ohio at that time. I did manage to find one science methods’ professor who had an interest in middle grades’ education, and I took a couple of courses with him in hopes that it might help, and it did.