Older Teachers

One of the hard parts of being an older teacher is to not come off as cynical.  This is difficult, because the system is set up to make you look that way.

Have you ever seen a plumbline?  It is a weight on a string. You can push it out, and it will swing back.  It can swing out anywhere in 360 degrees, but the string limits how far it will go.

The swing back and forth represents education's move from this program to that program.  For folks who have been in education less than 10 years, that swing to the 45-degree mark looks "new".  They want to give it a go, because the 100% success rate they have been longing for was not achieved in the "old" program.

This is when it is hard being an older teacher.  I have seen that swing occur three times already, but nothing positive comes from me saying that.

I remember my first staff meeting clearly.  A new program was being introduced.  The seasoned teacher beside me sighed.  She leaned over and told me this was not going to bring the results the district trumpeted.  I didn't think she might have a point; I thought, "Y'know if you are not willing to try anything new... maybe you should retire."  To me, it was a shiny new bobble!  To her, it was an old one that had been polished up.

After 34 years, I know a program... is a program.  Some are a little better, some a little worse, but none are a magic bullet.  There are too many variables.  The biggest variable is the student.

Some students have an aptitude for a subject.  They go over the math facts a few times and they are understood.  Locked and loaded.  Others struggle, but they (and/or their parents) are willing to put in the study and practice to be successful.

Then you have the third group.  They struggle... and they have little interest in putting in any effort.  For the teacher, this is like being in a three-legged race and the student lies on the ground... sometimes pulling in the opposite direction.

That isn't to say that such a student is doomed to failure in life.  They may have dozens of talents, aptitudes, and interests... they just don't fall into academic categories.  I have seen many of these kids go on to wildly successful lives.  Schools just tend to be obsessive about academics.

All that to say, as an older teacher, I just find myself smiling and nodding a lot.