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Teachers are extremely important elements in the education of students everywhere. Teachers of all ages orchestrate learning activities and positively impact students in classrooms all over the world, every school day. Student learning styles and teaching methods change over time, that's a proven fact, however the need to educate students is always present. I personally don't believe that a teacher's age is as important as their willingness to change and adapt with the current times and to accept and adopt new technology as it is introduced to the world of education.

We all know of those teachers who can't seem to drift away from what are now considered old-fashioned, sit and get teaching methods: lecturing, teaching straight from the textbook, worksheets, tests that only involve regurgitating facts, dates, and numbers, etc. Most of the time, the teachers who partake in these types of teaching methods have been in the educational system for more than a decade or two. They are teaching the way they were taught in high school and college and the way they believed they learned. After using the same methods for so many years, it is very difficult for them to understand why a change is necessary. They generally feel that they have given many students the tools of knowledge necessary to positively impact their future and have more than likely been touched by success stories of students past. All of this reinforces the idea that what they are doing must be right and doesn't need to change.

However, as the world changes, so must teaching methods; it doesn't matter if the teacher is young, old, or middle-age; teachers have to accept the responsibility to adapt to changing times and generations of students who differ from their predecessors from past generations. Anyone is capable of learning new teaching methods and strategies, however unfortunately not all educators are willing to learn or willing to utilize what they learn in the classroom. Sometimes I think it is tough for older teachers to buy into the ideas of people who are a great deal younger than them or ideas that will force them to revamp their entire teaching plan, plans they may have used for many, many years to teach their subject. Change involves a great deal of hard work and challenge. So, while anyone is capable of learning new ways of teaching, a teacher must be actually be interested in learning new teaching methods and motivate themselves to utilize them in their classrooms. There are many older teachers who do this very effectively and stay on top of the newest innovations, while others fight it as much as their school will allow them to.

Yes, old teachers can learn new tricks, but they have to have a motivation for doing so, or it is all for naught.

Learn more about this author, Olivia Kay.
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