What Is the Best Grade to Teach? Pre-K Through 12

The decision to choose a grade level to begin your teaching career can include many different factors and questions. You may be wondering, What grade should I teach? and What is the best elementary grade to teach? For some of you, you may be looking at which teacher preparation program to enroll in and some of you may be just starting or almost done with your educational program. For others, you may have experience in the classroom at certain grade levels and are curious about what it’s like to teach other grades. Every grade level has its rewards and challenges and should be carefully considered when planning student teaching and pursuing a contract.

During your educational program, you will have, or have had, many required hours of practicum in the classroom. If you have not completed your required hours, it is highly encouraged to observe all grade levels that align with your program to gain diverse experience. Whether you are still completing your practicum/field experience or have the ability to observe other classrooms and speak with teachers, there are some relevant questions that can help you gain insight.

Understanding how the grades are divided is the first step. Grade-level bands are divided in various ways depending on the state and district in which you teach. This includes some overlap, such as early childhood (pre-K through third grade), primary elementary (first through third grade), intermediate elementary (fourth through sixth grade), middle school (fifth through eighth grade) and high school (ninth through 12th grade). These grade-level bands are more simply categorized for this blog as elementary (including preschool), middle and high school. So, let’s explore deeper into what is the best grade to teach.    

In This Article:

• What Grade Should I Teach?
• Elementary School (Including Preschool)
• Middle School/Junior High School
• High School
• Pay Range for Teachers and School Culture   

What Grade Should I Teach?

Some important considerations when choosing a grade level to teach include various responsibilities, such as the social-emotional needs of students, student development and psychology, pay range, required expertise, curriculum and learning standards for each grade level band.

Although this can all seem overwhelming, it is also good to know that each grade-level band can have amazing rewards. A phrase I say all the time to my teacher candidates and college students to help them remember when they are in their future classrooms is, “I know I am doing my job well as a teacher when my students come to my classroom with a smile and leave with a smile.” This often means they are happy to be in our classroom when they arrive and enjoy their learning during the day. This is why it is so important to choose the grade level that best suits your teaching style, comfort level, personality and expertise. So, to answer the question of what grade should I teach?, let’s take a closer look at each grade level.  

Elementary School (Including Preschool)

For the sake of this blog, we will consider elementary school as preschool thru sixth grade. So what is the best elementary grade to teach? The elementary school years encompass a wide range, from preschoolers experiencing a structured school setting for the first time, complete with rules, consequences and interaction with peers, to older children who may have attended multiple schools due to frequent moves. Understanding child and adolescent development and psychology is essential to being an effective teacher to the age of students in your classroom.   

Teaching Responsibilities for Elementary School (Rewards and Challenges)

When working with students, starting with the positive helps to establish a good mindset. There are many rewards to teaching elementary school. Students at this age are often very excited to be in school. They look forward to engaging in learning opportunities, seeing their friends and building relationships with their teachers. There is often much more room for creative learning and relationship building with students and families as they are with the same teacher throughout the day. 

As elementary teachers have more time with students, there are more opportunities to teach important life skills to improve students’ social-emotional development. The Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) indicates five constructs to social-emotional development including self-awareness, self-management, social-awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision-making.¹ These skills should be included in the classroom regardless of age group as they help develop valuable life strategies. Planning daily Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) activities can be engaging, fun, collaborative and essential to the development of independent thinkers and learners.

The other benefit of being in an elementary setting is the support you have from a grade-level team. Grade levels often plan together, analyze data, brainstorm new strategies and help each other with various tasks. Building a respectful relationship with the team can provide teachers with others to talk with about concerns, ask questions and gain new insights into situations.

As with all grade levels, there are also some challenges. Since teachers in elementary school are often responsible for teaching all content areas, there is more planning, assessment analysis and obtaining expertise in multiple subjects. Elementary teachers require good time management skills to stay ahead of their responsibilities. Additionally, students are still “new” to school for many years as they are learning the boundaries, expectations, consequences, how to work with others and developing their social-emotional skills. This can sometimes lead to behaviors that require teachers to explicitly teach appropriate language, communication and self-management.

Subject Expertise for Elementary School

As you probably remember from being an elementary student, the elementary teacher is likely to teach all subject areas of reading, writing, mathematics, science and social studies. Some elementary schools departmentalize, meaning, students may switch to another teacher at the grade level for a class or two.

Many of the same expertise is required for all grade levels in elementary school, but early childhood through third grade, requires teachers to have strong expertise in how to effectively teach reading. Teachers must implement various strategies to assist young learners with understanding the relationships between written letters and words and spoken language. Teachers will need to know how to scaffold and sequence learning in relevant and meaningful ways for students to build a foundation for reference as they become fluent readers. Explicit instruction is required for students to learn decoding skills as they develop an understanding of letter sounds, blends and overall phonemic and phonological awareness.

Phonemic awareness, phonics, reading comprehension, reading fluency and vocabulary instruction have become a very important part of early childhood as literacy is a focus for young learners. Early childhood teachers often implement strategies such as learning centers, cooperative play activities, hands-on learning and one-on-one learning opportunities to provide multiple means for students to practice, learn and apply concepts. It is essential for early childhood teachers to have a teacher toolbox full of strategies to support language development. Using the multiple literacy approach can help students to make meaningful connections to concepts of reading through multimedia, visual literacy, textual literacy and other digital literacies.²

Additionally, Parsons and Erickson discuss models of Science of Reading (SOR), including the importance of motivation in learning through strategies of authenticity, collaboration, high-interest texts and appropriate challenge in reading instruction.³ Stronger readers make for better writers and reading fluency and comprehension are building blocks for learning in all other content areas.

As students move into intermediate grade levels in elementary school (fourth through sixth grade), the curriculum becomes more rigorous and scaffolds from what students learned in primary elementary years. By fourth grade, students should have a strong reading foundation to support developing effective writing skills. Additionally, math curriculums often provide word problems as learning opportunities for students to apply math concepts in a practical context. Reading in science and social studies also becomes more rigorous and the academic language is higher level. As an intermediate elementary teacher, the shift in teaching moves toward a focus on writing. Expository, persuasive, creative/expressive, narrative, procedural and descriptive writing starts to take form during these years. 

Mathematics becomes more abstract during this time and requires students to understand more of the “how” of an algorithm and the “why” of formulas. Students need to have a strong mathematical foundation by fifth grade as it affects their mathematical comprehension and success in future STEM learning.⁴ Hands-on learning, such as “Hands-on Equations,” can help students understand relationships in math between numbers and variables. Using concrete learning opportunities taught in primary years, such as manipulatives, helps students to draw connections and make sense of the concepts. 

Differentiation and planning interventions and enrichment opportunities are another important part of instructional planning in elementary school. Students must leave elementary school with a strong foundation in all subject areas for transition into middle and high school. If you are considering teaching fifth or sixth grade, the additional responsibility of the teacher includes preparing students for middle school. 

This preparation can include:

• Content learning
• Responsible decision-making
• Time management
• Independent learning
• Self advocacy, such as asking questions

To really understand the milestones and benchmarks of elementary students, it is a good idea to refer to Piaget and Vygotsky’s theories of child development to better understand student development and how to best meet learning needs.⁵ 

Middle School/Junior High School 

Middle school, also called junior high school, is a transformative time for adolescents. There are many developmental, social, emotional and physical changes that happen during this time. Students in middle school are usually around 11 to 14 years of age and going through puberty changes that can affect their self-image, sense of belonging and learning who they are as a person, friend and student. Middle school students’ prefrontal cortex is still not fully developed and because of that, they often make impulsive decisions that affect their academic, behavioral, social and emotional development. 

Teaching Responsibilities for Middle School (Rewards and Challenges)

Teaching middle school often requires an understanding of adolescent development and psychology. Students at this age need strong role models to positively influence their decision-making. Albert Bandura’s social learning theory is an excellent foundation for understanding the impact a teacher has on students’ development.⁶ Students at this age look to the adults in their lives for guidance, even though they won’t admit it.

Teaching middle school can be very rewarding. Having taught middle myself for many years, I enjoyed the impact I made on my students, the relationships I established, and the love of learning I was able to instill in my students. I won’t lie, it was hard at times, but worth the time and effort. 

Students at this age have a more established sense of humor, are more curious about how concepts apply to real life and have more energy than one can imagine. This is a time when teachers can engage students in class discussions about complex topics, do extensive problem/project-based learning opportunities, and help students develop goals and create a path for their future success. 

Understanding the many rewards of teaching middle school opens one’s eyes to some of the challenges as well. Middle school students are learning the boundaries of being respectful, developing self-awareness and understanding how their words and actions affect others. Their developing sense of humor can sometimes cause them to overstep boundaries. Their high energy level requires teachers’ patience and understanding of how to use that energy to benefit learning.

Middle school teachers likely only have their students for one course a day. This makes it more challenging to develop relationships with the students and families. We have an obligation to help students develop a sense of belonging to improve social, emotional, academic and behavioral growth and development.⁷ Regular communication with students such as one-on-one check-ins and timely feedback on assignments can help them to realize their teacher cares. Additionally, regular communication with families, including the positives and concerns, is important for families to understand you care about their child and they are not just another student in your classroom. 

Planning as a middle school teacher can be more independent than collaborative. Since there may not be many teachers teaching the same subject area at your school site, it is important to make connections with teachers at other schools in your district. Developing a professional, social network with others to share resources, assessment data, lessons and projects will help to build a support system. At your school site, you will have a department chair and other teachers in your department, so lean on them as well.

Subject Expertise for Middle School

Middle school teachers are often highly qualified to teach one subject area such as English, pre-algebra, social studies, science or one of many various electives (physical education, home economics, ceramics, band, choir, etc.). For many of these highly qualified areas, you will need to pass the subject-specific test. Teaching one subject has both benefits and challenges for the teacher. 

Some benefits may include:

• Become an expert in one content area, often requiring less instructional planning as you may teach the same class multiple blocks/periods per day. 
• Enhance your assessments and data literacy by focusing on the same learning standards for multiple classes, supporting effective interventions and enrichment opportunities for students. 

Some challenges of teaching only one class is the teacher can sometimes experience déjà vu, the feeling you have experienced the same thing before. Some teachers may feel bored teaching the same subject all day. To remedy this, teaching an elective course can help, mixing up instructional strategies based on the student’s needs in each class, and including your students’ interests into your lessons are some ways to continue bringing the energy and passion to every class you teach. These are some of the same considerations for teaching in high school. 

High School

High school is a time when adolescents start to solidify their plans for college and future career, develop their social circles and balance the desire to be independent while considering other’s opinions of what is best for them. The academic structure is similar to middle school with students changing teachers and classes every block/period. The difference is often in the pedagogical style of how content is delivered. Huynh et al. stated the importance of secondary teachers understanding adolescent development, psychology, and social-emotional learning skills is a crucial indicator of secondary student success.⁸ This requires the teacher to provide more opportunities for students to work collaboratively so they can develop their own perspectives through learning of others. The focus in high school is to also further develop students’ thinking and responsibility to be ready for college and career.

Teaching Responsibilities for High School (Rewards and Challenges)

Although high school may seem similar to middle school, there are some distinct differences. The positives of teaching high school are increased student independence, more developed thinking leading to stronger classroom discussions, and watching students start to build their future plans. High schoolers are often more motivated to learn as they want to pursue a certain path in college. This increased independence and awareness may help with building better study habits, choosing a better social circle, and increasing participation in class. 

High school students’ prefrontal cortex is still developing, but they do have a better ability to reason and make responsible decisions. There are more opportunities to watch your students participate in their passions such as theater, sports, music, student government and art. The joy of observing your students plan their futures for college and career is exciting, not to mention the letters you get years later for college graduations, sharing about their first job, weddings and baby announcements! As a high school teacher, you also become an expert in your field of content, which is engaging when you are passionate about the subject area. 

Some other differences that occur in high school is the heightened awareness of developing romantic relationships. At times, this can cause disturbances in class. The increased independence can make high school students “stubborn” at times, but when you build respectful relationships with students, they can often see other points of view. 

Students at this age can also start to feel stronger feelings of depression and anxiety. Integrating SEL opportunities and discussions through literature and other teachable moments can help students develop coping strategies and develop a growth mindset. Arslan et al. conducted a study on the importance of SEL and helping high school students develop resiliency and supporting them through challenging times through literature.⁹ It is important to be aware of changes in behavior that may be present due to coping, such as sudden changes in grades or attendance. 

Another challenge similar to middle school is instructional planning and developing a support team with others who teach the same content. As mentioned above under middle school, connecting with teachers at other high schools in your district to share resources, assessment data, lessons, and projects assists with not feeling like an island. You will also have a department chair and a content department at your school, so meeting with them regularly to brainstorm strategies and discuss positives and challenges helps to build an onsite support team. Also, getting to know the school psychologist and counselors is important to support your students during these years. 

Subject Expertise for High School

Similar to middle school, high school teachers are often required to pass the subject matter test to become highly qualified in the content they plan to teach. Positions in mathematics and the sciences can be challenging to fill due to the limited availability of qualified teachers, often leading to stipends being offered for these areas. 

Some high schools offer dual enrollment courses where students have the opportunity to earn high school and college credit concurrently. Additionally, students also have the opportunity to take advanced placement (AP) courses in arts, English, computer science, sciences, mathematics and languages to earn high school and college credit. Teachers for these courses often need additional credentials or approvals. Talking with the school administration at your district can help guide you if this is something you are interested in.  

Pay Range for Teachers and School Culture

Salary is often a big consideration for determining which state, district and grade level to teach. As pay scales vary widely across the nation, it is always a good idea to do your research. It is recommended to go to the district’s website and learn about the starting salary and options to move up the pay scale. 

Most districts will offer additional monies on top of base salary for: 

• Additional credits earned at a higher learning institution
• Endorsements
• Obtaining certification in a subject area(s)
• Filling a high-needs position (most often in the mathematics and sciences)
• Teaching a dual enrollment or AP course
• Completion of a master/doctoral degree

To break down the median annual salary by grade level band, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) states that as of May 2023:

• The median annual wage for kindergarten and elementary school teachers was $63,670¹⁰  
• The median annual wage for middle school teachers was $64,290¹¹
• The median annual wage for high school teachers was $65,220¹² 

Remember, these numbers are national averages, it is important to research the average salary and pay scale in your state and district.

Once you have determined a district with a salary range you are interested in, it is also a good idea to start looking at individual schools to learn more about their culture. When choosing a grade level, there’s more than just salary, duties, students’ age development and expertise to consider. You must also ensure the school’s culture and practices align with your educational philosophy.

By viewing the school websites, you can discover the district and school’s mission and values, school-wide behavior management plans, social-emotional learning opportunities, involvement with families and the community through events and resources, and insight toward the overall sense of school community.  Some school websites even have individual teacher pages where you can learn about the pacing of curriculum, homework load and policies, projects and classroom culture. 

When answering the question of what is the best grade to teach, it is important to understand and reflect on what grade level fits best for you. If you are ready to pursue or develop your career in education, Grand Canyon University offers a variety of accredited teaching degree programs in elementary and secondary education. Whether you are just getting started in your teaching career or are looking for advancement opportunities, GCU’s College of Education is ready to help you fulfill your educational goals.