Mrs. Santaniello chooses not to teach 7th-grade social studies at McAuliffe International School in 2022 due to her preference for 6th grade and the extra workload that would come with teaching 7th grade. Mrs. Santaniello is a second-year 6th-grade social studies teacher at McAuliffe. She told her first-year students that she would not be moving to teach 7th grade, leaving them devastated. Despite the fact that Mrs. Santaniello jokingly implied that 7th- graders are “loud and annoying,” when asked if she misses the 7th graders she excitingly expressed, “I miss them.” Although she does miss her old students she continues to teach 6th grade because she “[likes] how much the 6th graders grow throughout the year.”

In addition, she agreed that it would be difficult and inconvenient to move around the building with a cart, which is a big reason why she would not teach both grades at the same time. Most importantly she won’t teach both grades seeing as “It’s a lot of prep and memorizing lessons, [and] I want to improve my teaching.”

Mrs. Santaniello, only being a second-year 6th-grade teacher hasn’t quite had the time to perfect her teaching to the students and to her own liking, and adding another grade to her workload would mean she would have to write and memorize more than she would feel ready to or be comfortable with.