Age

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Age
By Misty

Last year was my first year teaching and I taught at 8th grade at a school where I was the youngest teacher on staff(I was 23). I found that the 8th graders seemed to relate better to me because I was closer to their age.
Most of the other teachers were old enough to be MY parent, so the kids really liked that it had not been that long since I had been in school. They felt free to talk to me about personal issues which they would not bring up to most other teachers. I think most of this has to do with age, but it also has to do with the methods and attitudes of newly graduated teachers. I think I was more

laid back than most of the teachers who had been teaching for a long time, because we were taught that it's okay to have a personal realtionship with the students and a little noise and "energy" in the room (like group work) is okay too. Most of the teachers at my school were pretty "old school" (sit in rows, always quiet, always work alone, teachers and students don't talk about personal things, etc.) So, I'm not quite sure if it's age or recent changes in teacher education.