Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Bad News and Good News

I received the following article from my principal. The New York Times reported today that "over the next four years, more than a third of the nation's 3.3 million teachers could retire . . ." That will leave a lot of classrooms without teachers. Not only will a large number of baby boomers be retiring but many rookie teachers quit within five years of entering the profession(that's the bad news). Some have suggested that schools be restructured so that the experienced teachers can remain in the classroom to mentor the inexperienced teachers. This would help both generations of teachers as well as the students. As a rookie teacher I would appreciate having an experienced teacher working along side of me during my early years in the classroom. However, during these difficult economic times I am not sure if there are monies available to fund such a restructuring. In the meantime, the loss of these teaching positions could make more positions available in the next few years, possibly by 2010 (that's good news for us).

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/education/07/teacher.html?_r=4&ref=education&page

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