Teaching: a 3 year career step to greatness

The new superintendent of schools is slated to become the state superintendent of education at only 35 years old. This is typical of a system that now allows teacher to be twelve, principals to be 17, and superintendents to be 25. Okay, he's 35, but still times have changed. For the better, yes, in some ways. If he stays and learned, he may really do some good for the city and the state of Louisiana.

Teaching: a 3 year career step to greatness

It has become increasingly obvious to me that most teachers are 12 years old. Or they look that young to me because of my age. As a retired educator, I find myself wondering what is happening to the profession. Now I am not one to resist new ideas, new technologies, or new instructional methods. In fact I would have the latest instructional technology in every school for kids and teachers to use. No, what I am referring to, flabbergasted by is the thought that teaching is a short-lived profession the way tennis or gymnastics is for athletes. A common belief among educational organizations run in a business model manner is that young professional can teach for about 3 or 4 years before they get burned out, too old for the job, and then pursue their real careers as attorneys, doctors, or even educational consultants. I find this ridiculous. Charter schools run by for-profit institutions are especially guilty based on my observations of the past 5 months in New Orleans. Katrina may have been the major catalyst in the preponderance of charters, but the private organizations running some schools contributed to this new phenomenon as well. Teachers used to begin work and learn for at least 3 years before they were thought to be able to enhance and adjust curriculum and instructional techniques based on that experience in the classroom. If you are over 35 with 10 years teaching experience, you are thought to be too old, too set in your ways to be effective in the 21st century classroom. Now, I realize that some teachers are bad, no matter how many years experience they have had because they practiced wrong strategies for too many years. However many teachers learned new and better methods, adjusted and learned to use new technologies in their curriculum, and they, most importantly, learned a thing or two about children. We all took the requisite 3 hour child psychology course to get our certification, but that was only the beginning of learning about kids, how they think, what they think, and what they want from the adults surrounding them in schools. The experience of working with children for 10 or even 20 years is not something a new teacher gets in the 3 days of inservice for "new teachers." Mostly they learn what forms to use, how to get online to post their grades, and whether or not they have lunch duty the first week of school. That is, if they are listening at all. Okay, not fair, in fact, that comment is addressed as much to the poor presenters some school administrators are rather than the new teachers. They are not bad people, and their young vibrant enthusiasm for teaching is good for the students. Plus they are used to the newer technologies available in the classroom and beyond. Many are recruited from Teach for America and other valuable organizations that help fill classrooms with teachers. They agree to teach for at least 2 years and are set free at that point. The fact that they will leave the classroom is built into the agreement they make with the recruiting organization. They get about 6 weeks or less of training, have at least a bachelors' degree in something and are ready to teach, at least for 2 years. Teaching is a stepping stone to their real career, and they are happy 12 year old campers.