21-26ish.. I had a colleague graduate college at 21 so she was a very young teacher. I am 26, 27 next month, and I consider myself a younger teacher since I am usually one of the youngest teachers at my school.
Hmmm, I guess I could classify those twenty-five and under to be "young teachers". Then again, I think it depends on one's personality.
I personally wouldn't consider someone "unusually young" unless they were teaching at an age before most people typically graduate from college. For example, one of my friends from HS did post secondary classes in HS and summer courses and ended up finishing college in two years. She was also young for our grade (fall birthday), so she was literally 19 when she began her first teaching job! I was 22 when I started and people always acted like that was super young when they found out my real age- people even literally asked me, "How are you a teacher if you're only 22?" Well...I went to college for four years and then I got a job, of course!
It all depends on how you look. I'm very petite and tend to look younger than my age. I've had alot of parents comment on how young I was to get my job. They're thinking that I'm in my early twenties. I'm going to be 27 in August - not that young anymore! I sure have everyone fooled!
I think it's all about attitude and maturity. I have always been an old soul. Even when I was 17, I would be mistaken for being several years older because of the way I carry myself. I was able to be 21 and walk in to a classroom of juniors in high school and handle it. Other people might be in their late 20s before they can feel comfortable with that.
I was 23 when I first started teaching. I can clearly remember my first day in the classroom. A parent walked in and said, "Do you know where the teacher is?" I sheepishly said, "Ummm...I'm the teacher." A few parents weren't happy about their child having "that young guy" as their child's teacher (that's kind of how I got my user name on here). Now that I'm 30, I still think I look young, but a lot of people in the community know me as a strong teacher, so I think they're happy when they realize their child is going to be in my class!
Ten years ago, I thought anyone under 30 was a young teacher. Now I think anyone under 40 is a young teacher.
Do you think looking young/being young causes a lot of problems with parents? Or is it just a few that may be concerned?
Maybe 2-3 parents were concerned. After the first few weeks, though, I'd won them over (I'm sure they saw how much their children were learning). Those 2-3 parents ended up being my biggest groupies by the end of the year! As the years have gone on, I've had more and more parents requests (despite my age).
That depend on your maturity level and your thinking level, otherwise physically I would consider 23-28 age group as young teacher.
I would consider 25 and under young teachers. I tend to look a little older than I am, but I can sure say that I do not feel young anymore.
I think it depends on the grades being taught. The older I get, the younger 20 seems, lol. I'd be much more concerned with a 21 year old teaching seniors than I would one teaching second graders. When I was a senior in high school one of my teachers was 24. She had been teaching for three years by then. My husband attended the school when she was 21 and teaching for the first year. He said all of the boys had the hots for her, lol.
I graduated at 21 and no one has really said anything. Most parents equate young with energetic so they were happy to have me as their child's kindergarten teacher because we always were moving around and exploring outside etc. I think the way a person speaks, treats others, and completes their work is more important than a number (age). Most of my friends graduated at 21-22 and most have been able to find jobs just fine.
It depends. I started teaching at 23, but I looked about 16 years old. I'm 31 now - and look much closer to my age - but other teachers still consider me a "young" teacher. Then again, quite a few of my coworkers had me as a student...
I agree with those who say it depends on the way one would act/ and present themselves. Sadly, there are a lot of "young" teachers in their 30s. ~ maturity is surely not only a #.
I think it can depend on the area also. Where I live, it is next to impossible to get a teaching job right out of college. I've been out three years and just now a lot of my friends are finding jobs. So, at 26, we are the youngest in our buildings. By a lot.
When I started teaching I was 22 (almost 23). Most parents had a harder time believing I was married (you don't look old enough to be married!) than that I was teaching :haha:
I've had similar experience. I was 25 when I started teaching. It's funny because at least one parent has always tried figured out how old I am by asking how long I've been teaching or if I'm new to the school.
In my book, it's 21 - 25. If they're a teacher already at 21, they either graduated from high school at 17 & went straight to college knowing what to do OR they graduated from HS at the usual 18 & were able to take enough college courses & pass the exam to take only 3 years.
I think it also depends on the other teachers at the school. I left my previous school at 29, and I was the youngest by about 5 years. The other teachers were all married, with children, so I was definitely considered a "young teacher." At my new school, I think there are about 13 teachers who are younger than me (I'm 30). I'm pretty much in the middle, but I feel like I fit in more with the younger teachers (probably because I'm not married, and I do not have kids).
Same here...I started teaching at 26, but when people hear that I am going into my 5th year of teaching, they assume I am around 26 or 27, when I am actually 30.
Young to me would be 21-25. I started teaching at 29 after working for a year and half as a parapro and two years as a substitute teacher. I am in my 30s and consider myself a young teacher since I am not married nor do I have any children. I have also been blessed with looking much younger than I actually am. At 21, I had just transferred to a 4 year university so I could not imagine being a classroom teacher at that age.
I started teaching high school at age 21. I've known too many 30 year olds who acted like kids, and a number of 21 year olds who acted with the maturity of a 30 year old. One of our math teachers started off, at age 21, teaching Seniors. (That never happens. But I was out on disability, another qualified teacher was out on maternity, and the Precalc/ Calc teacher went into the ER on the Saturday before Labor Day; school started that Tuesday.) She struggled a bit, but with a little help did a fabulous job. "Young" is more about behavior than a birth date.
Since the consensus is age is more about how one acts and not the date, then I am conflicted. I would say about half the time I act like I am 5 and the other half I act more like 65. The average of the two is pretty close I guess.
I started my first job at 21 and had 8th graders, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. I had a great rapport with my seniors but still kept boundaries. I guess it helps that I'm a little overweight so wouldn't be considered hot :lol: We also had SEVEN first year teachers out of about 25 teachers all at the high school level. I think that also helped since I wasn't the only young teacher! They were used to it. This year I'll be at a new school and am 22. I will have sophomores and seniors once again. Sometimes I love having seniors and sometimes I wish I had the other schedule. Especially when third quarter rolls around and the seniors have terrible cabin fever combined with senioritis :lol: I will say I agree with Alice 100%. I've always been a responsible and mature individual. I was taking care of my horses from the time I was 12. At 16 I managed a full barn for a summer. In college I was never into partying and usually could be found at night watching tv. I definitely act older than I am! I also have found dress to be very important and the way you act. Back to the original question-I see young more as how many years of experience they have. I taught last year with a guy who was 26 but it was also his first year of teaching so he seemed more about my age. But I'd say up to about 28 if they started at 22 is definitely young!
I got told how young I was all last school year, and I'm 27. (Probably because 3 of the teachers in my grade level are quite a bit older than me.) I usually can't tell how old anyone is, so most people probably mid-30s and younger look "young" to me.
Depends on the school. At my school the mean age of the teachers is probably 26, tops. So 22,23 is "young." 30 would be "old" but that's only because so many of the teachers are so young.
A few years ago I had a parent who crinkled her nose at me and said, "Oh, you're another of those young, new teachers, aren't you?" I was the the third teacher she'd met. The first was a 22 year old first year teacher. The second was a 30-something teacher with two years of experience, but first year in our building. I was on year 15 or 16 at the time. I guess "young" is in the eye of the beholder. I was 22 when I started teaching, and I had 18 year old students. The assistant principal once asked me where I was supposed to be. I was in the hall walking from my classroom to the lounge during class time. Some of our young teachers don't act really young, and I forget that they aren't very old. One of our teachers is starting his third year with us, and I'm the same age as his mother. He doesn't seem that young . . . and I know I'm not that old.
