Would you want your children to have a 40 year Teacher?

[Neverwhere_71]

It all depends on that particular teachers attiudes and teaching methods, rather than age.

They well might be updating their own education, as it were, following the National Curriculum, attending training courses as their younger colleagues do. Well they would have to.

My memories of Secondary school are still pretty fresh, I found myself having allot of respect for some of the older long standing teachers. They 'taught', rather than relying on and referring to a text book every five minutes.

[glass_of_merlot]

Originally Posted by The Outcast

My son's first grade teacher has been in the same school teaching the same grade for 40 years! Is this good or would you fear she was stuck in her ways, out of date, out of touch and burned out? Would you prefer a younger teacher for your kids?

My mom has been a teachers for grades 1-3 for 40 years. She is a great teacher and always get recognized. Sometimes the old ways of teaching works much better than the new teaching styles.Would you rather go to a doctor who is straight out of college or a doctor who has been practicing for 40 years?

[STLCardsBlues1989]

Originally Posted by The Outcast

My son's first grade teacher has been in the same school teaching the same grade for 40 years! Is this good or would you fear she was stuck in her ways, out of date, out of touch and burned out? Would you prefer a younger teacher for your kids?

Young teachers can bring more enthusiasm and more modern techniques, but not always. Sometimes the older teacher has experience that college just cannot teach. I would think either would be fine. They would be different, but just fine either way.

Teachers go to seminars and conferences and stuff as well to keep up on the latest techniques.

[loves2read]

My daughter got a degree in Early Childhood Education from University of TX in Arlington--she student taught in Arlington ISD at school that had large % of free lunch and minority students...
she had two supervising teachers--one a male teacher had maybe 8 yrs exp--he taught 4th grade I think--she was not that impressed with him -- he seems too lax and unmotivated--

her other teacher taught Kindergarten and had been at that school since it opened about 10 yrs before and had taught in Arlington ISD (in the DFW area) for probably 40 yrs or more altogether...
she was an AWESOME teacher and the best example for someone going into teaching to have as a mentor...
she used new methods, rarely taught the same way twice from year to year, hated worksheets, had a genuine joy in teaching and being with her students...

she was lucky enough to get a job teaching at that school after graduation and left there after three years when she married--she got job teaching at a very lauded school in the Sarasota public schools--it is magnet school for gifted--from 2-12 grades on one campus
one of the top ranked schools in FL and the nation...
she taught 3rd grade initially and found the teachers there to be hide-bound and totally resistant to anything they perceived as "new fangled"--some people were using the same type of worksheets that they did 15 yrs ago...
they wanted no one to "rock the boat" and try anything different--yet there were students who struggled to meet the standards expected of "gifted" students because their parents had cheated on their IQ tests to ensure they got in--so they were more average--not "gifted" and needed more help...
but she found great resistance on part of majority of teachers on that grade level to doing other than what they had done for past 20 yrs..
no working in small groups, no getting out of seats to do group projects--and those aren't really INNOVATIVE techniques--
the entire school got smart boards--she was one of two teachers on her grade level who really bothered to learn to integrate them into normal class teaching
after her first year there--she was the most popular teacher on her grade level with INCOMING students--she had more parents request her as teacher than any other teacher on that grade level--
so there was lot of resentment from other teachers because she was getting more recognition...

she moved to another grade level after the backbiting got too bad to take--

There is no one answer fits all--
teaching is a very personal profession--age, experience, talent, personality--they all come together...
Some teachers are great up until the year they retire and some teachers are mediocre their entire career...whether they are young/ old...
sometimes one year is a bust for various reasons either in or out of the classroom...and the teacher is not always the one at fault...
some years students can just be awful and nothing seems to work--sometimes teachers have stress in their private lives--death/illness of parent or child, divorce, unemployment--and it is VERY difficult to prevent that from influencing what happens in classroom...
Teaching is one of the most draining professions out that for stress and long hours--
I am always surprised there are not more divorces and suicides in teaching but this is such a high turnover in the first 5 yrs that I guess that is how venting takes place for most teachers who can't really take the classroom...

[DottyDo]

I'd think an older teacher would be wise WAYYYY beyond her years and a younger, less experienced teacher would have a hard time grasping the fact that not everything is going to go her way.