Mature Schoolteachers
Looking to live in a tropical paradise where the cost of living is low, and the people are known for an easy-going approach to life known as Pura Vida? The entire Western Hemisphere south of the United States is a gold mine for English teaching opportunities. In addition, the cost of living - including rent, food, and medical care - in most Latin American nations is low, and most schools are happy to hire more mature teachers. Boasting some of the most beautiful rainforests and beaches in the world, Costa Rica is hard to beat regarding the quality of life, outdoor recreation, living costs, and high demand for native English-speaking language instructors.
mature schoolteachers
If younger teachers want to be taken seriously, they must be prepared to behave in a professional and mature manner both when interviewing for positions to teach English abroad, and when they actually begin their job.
Unless you are an experienced teacher headed to the Middle East, most mature English teachers abroad should not count on saving any significant amount of money. Although there certainly are many teachers abroad in their 50s and 60s earning and saving substantial amounts of money, don't go into teaching English overseas with the assumption that you are going to be saving a great deal of your paycheck or you will be in for a lot of let-downs.
Researchers say that what really differentiates mature age students is not age as much as it is life experiences. How and in what ways does that influence the preparation of pre-service teachers? What happens in the classroom is more related to the teacher than any other variable. All, and especially older student teachers, bring rich experiences and images into the classroom that affect their attitudes, approach, and decision-making. The overall purpose of this research was to learn how life experiences of mature age student teachers influence their learning to teach children in an elementary classroom. Participants are five students between the ages of 38 and 45, who did their student teaching practicum within a traditional teacher preparation program. Data was gathered from three in-depth interviews, three classroom observations with field notes and video tapes, and from selected documents. The Rainbow of Life Roles (Super, 1980) was used to supplement interviews about the life experiences of each participant. Stimulated Recall (Bloom, 1953 and others) was used to discover what past experiences influenced decision making and problem solving. Interview questions focused on participants' interpretation of their life experiences, their perspectives of themselves as learners, workers, and parents, and their ideas about teaching. Based on the data, the following conclusions were reached. (1) Life experiences, from activities such as other jobs, parenting, travel, reading, coaching, and community work were embedded in the perspectives of the emerging teacher serving as a lens or filter through which decisions were made in the classroom. (2) Life experiences provided connections to build upon or barriers to be reconstructed. Examination of prior experiences and beliefs will help to reconstruct these experiences into meaningful ideas about teaching that will be more than an overlay experience that may be washed out in the early rigors of learning to teach. Implications for teacher education include the need for promotion of the examination of prior life experiences to integrate self-knowledge with theory and practice and to remove possible barriers to the development of solid teaching practices.
Klausewitz, S. Kay, "How prior life experiences influence teaching: Multiple case studies of mature -age elementary student teachers" (2005). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI3179892.
The formality of the garden is continued by the extensive hedges and mature trees planted on the western side of the main building. Shrubs are trimmed into "cubes" along the western (lawn) edge of the elm avenue, including "Irish" strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo) and Japanese laurel (Euonymus japonicus) [21][1]
The notable gardens date from the early 1930s and, as such, are a rare and surprisingly intact representation of institutional gardening from that period. The garden features a mature parkland with pines, elms and poplars, sheltering rose gardens and other beds that are planted annually. The garden provides a magnificent setting for the Centre, in keeping with the building style and era. The gardens therefore provide the opportunity for studies of formal garden design and varied botanical specimens favoured during the 1930s.[1]
Escaping is also a safe strategy. It is never a good idea to allow teacher-student interactions to escalate out of control, particularly when students are older, more mature, and physically stronger than many teachers. Juvenile courts frequently place adjudicated youth in schools without informing teachers and administrators of their backgrounds. These students often have histories of assault and have committed other serious crimes. As such, escalating social interactions with these students often carry considerable risks to teachers and peers.
In my first school, I was one of only a tiny number of mature teachers. This was largely because the school did not pay well, and there was a limited number of teachers who would tolerate working long-term for such low pay. I took the job purely to get a foothold in the industry and stayed two years until I was in a position to take the DELTA. The challenge was to establish some credibility among staff. The younger teachers failed to understand my motivation. The older ones simply thought I was mad! Students, by contrast, seemed genuinely to appreciate the emotional maturity I brought to the classroom, and I quickly gained respect there. Age is on your side as a new teacher as very few students will suspect you have little or no experience!
While the pay for teachers in Eastern Europe is not great, schools do place a lot of value on hiring candidates with experience. Obtaining English teaching jobs as a mature applicant is certainly possible in countries like Ukraine and Russia.
However, the older you get, the harder you have to try - and the more thought you have to put into what clothes look better on the more mature teacher. The mirror never lies. You won't carry off those slim leg trousers like a younger teacher will. And you can pat that wobbly belly and tell me it's all paid for as many times as you like, that torso-hugging white shirt looks far better when it's stretched across a six-pack. 041b061a72