New School vs. Old School

       Today we have many teachers that are veterans. They know what they are doing and have been around a while, they've had to deal with all the different teaching techniques being forced into their classrooms and learn to adapt over the years. In comparison to that we have the new teachers, they are fresh out of school and ready to take on the task. The biggest difference between the two is that new teachers are coming into their classrooms fully prepared for the technology in the class and how to utilize it most efficiently. This gives them an advantage. Technology changes every year, it improves, it's innovative, and it can die off too. New teachers are coming in knowing the newest version of technology in the classroom and they are fully prepared for it to change every year and for them to have to learn and tweak lessons. They know this, they are expecting this. So, where does that leave our veterans? Veterans of the classroom are vital to teaching and new teachers can learn a lot from them, but the best teachers are those that listen to other people. We need to remember that new teachers do have a lot more training in areas that a lot of veterans never had the opportunity to learn. This means that yes our veteran teachers can learn something from the fresh faced new teacher on campus. Sometimes this can be hard for teachers to accept. Yes, our teachers have always worked their hardest and definitely have done a great job at teaching our children, but times change. The world is changing and developing, and our methods of teaching have to grow as well. We want our children to have the finest education they can have, and new teachers working together with our best veterans is going to give them that. So, I am not saying that one is better than the other, "new school" or "old school," rather I am saying that together they become the best possible outcome. Both techniques, both people, united our children will be unstoppable.

Teaching in a modern world.

Today there is so much more to teaching than there used to be. There is more information to learn and we are offering that information to the kids at younger and younger ages. I know when my parents went to high school they learned algebra their senior year, and as for me I was taught algebra in the 7th grade. That right there in a span of roughly 30 years education increased the level of math offered and upped the requirement for kids. The new level of difficulty isn't the only change though for teachers. Now there is so much technology available to the everyday person that teachers need to be able to equip their students for our technology driven world. Thankfully a lot of this technology is helpful to teachers, the only problem? Teachers have to teach themselves on how to use it. Every year there is something new that teachers need to better understand in order to utilize it in their classroom, and so many teachers just don't want to have to change all their lessons to incorporate one new piece of technology. I understand this, and can respect teacher that like to go old school. At the same time though, there are many new teachers coming into the field that already know much of this technology and have been taught to utilize it in their class. This is a good thing, teachers are coming into the field expecting that their role will look different every year, expecting change. We want to prepare our children for the future, and much of that is giving them all the resources they could possibly need. Among those resources includes new and advanced technology, so as teachers we need to be prepared . We have to take it amongst ourselves to always continue learning, otherwise every new generation that walks into our classroom won't advance. Isn't that our goal as teachers? To help better prepare the future of our world, to have them better, smarter and solve more problems than we every could? How can we do that if aren't giving them the best that this world has to offer?