Experienced Teachers Are Worthless...

....that's the message received by any teacher with too much experienced.  They are given the typical rhetoric that they are "over qualified" when the reality is that districts do not want to pay the price of a teacher with experience.



I had a professional development meeting today and one of the introductory comments made by the speaker was that she had 15 years of experience when she decided to change jobs.  The meeting was not about this issue, but her follow-up remark brought back a lot of memories and fears.  Her comment was that she knew changing jobs with that much experience means that if she didn't like her new job that she would not be able to return.

Those unfamiliar with the educational machine in the United States may find this surprising, but every teacher I ever met told me that if I wanted to leave IPS that I needed to do it before I had more than 5 years of experience.  That is because 5 years is the unofficial time when you begin to build up more experience than a district is willing to pay.

This is not a mark against school districts.  They are just working within the political-economical restraints put upon them.  Districts only have so much money to spend and if they can higher a 22 year old for <$30,000 or a 15 year veteran for >$40,000 then they don't really have a choice.  For the price of a 15 year veteran teacher, a district could invest in 1.5-2 new teachers.  The experience itself is wanted, but not for the price tag.

It kind of makes me think about horse trading.  Who wants an old horse?  Or to use a more emotionally charged comparison: slave trading.  See, a young slave has more energy and is less likely to speak up/out when told how to do their job.  An older slave won't have as much energy and will come with more demands (ie $$).

Slaves....er...Teachers who have a lot of experience will cost districts more money and are more likely to say it like it is.  The political machine that funds the districts is always finding ways to reduce their funding (all the while increasing expectations).  Teachers are paid to run their script, not for the knowledge and experience they bring to the classroom more than that, the knowledge and experience they bring to other teachers.

(fyi, no one can simply teach...script or no script)

So what makes me the teacher I am today (and will become), in order, and which had the most positive impact on my abilities as a teacher:

1. Experience
2. Help/knowledge/wisdom of veteran teachers
3. Retired teachers (Thanks Roger :) )
4. Content understanding (given both educationally and through experience)
5. Fellowship with other teachers
6. Fellowship with other new teachers
7. Feedback from students
8. Advisers/mentors (Thanks Lynn and Herb)
9. Constructively critical administrators (thanks Bill & Jim)
10. Educational background 
11. A decent lunch
12. Petting my cat when I get home
13. Coffee
14. Other teachers
15. Bad days (you can learn a lot when everything goes wrong) 
16. A good night's sleep
17. A drink with fellow teachers
18. Finding an extra dollar bill in my coat pocket so I can buy a pop for lunch
19. Sleeping on the couch in the lounge (if you have a couch....or a lounge)
20. Opening a can of tuna
21. Controlling/Policy-minded administrators
22. Watching anti-education documentaries
23. Listening to political speeches about education 
24. Paying taxes
25. Spending my own money on classroom supplies that will be reimbursed
26. Spending my own money on basic classroom supplies that won't be reimbursed
27. BS portfolio making
28. Educational Standards (state, district or "common" core)
29. District overlords/Political-bureaucratic stooges
30. Thinking about my retirement plan