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If you are just preparing to enter the ranks of professional teachers and you are not a recent college graduate, its easy to feel a bit insecure and ask that question, “Can you teach if you are old?”  Its a fair question even if you are not so far along in life that you consider yourself to be “old”.  But it is easy to feel old if you are a middle aged or senior adult among 20 year olds in teacher college and if the competition for the teaching jobs are kids that could be your own sons or daughters.

There are a lot of jobs where there is a noticeable age bias against older workers.  In the business world, sometimes companies prefer to hire younger workers because they work cheap and if they work out, there is such a longer career life ahead of them.  But even in the business setting, many forward thinking employers are beginning to realize that the ranks of older workers contain a group of workers who are stable, hard working and devoted employees.  So too schools are realizing more and more that hiring an older worker is not a disadvantage at all but that you bring a lot of good with you that the school should be thrilled to have.

If anything the profession of teaching is a perfect environment for someone who has seen a bit of life and who has matured and perhaps raised children of their own.  Teaching full time while rewarding can be a huge challenge because it is sometimes hard to establish your authority in the class room and there are so many ways for a disruption to hurt the flow of teaching that is so important to accomplish your academic goals each day.  An older worker is less prone to panic about disruptions or sudden problems that might come up as you teach and you have the experience and maturity to handle the problem efficiently without upsetting the rest of the class and get everyone back on task quickly.

It could be that one concern those who hire new teachers might have with an older worker is energy.  Younger workers are able to keep up physically with children and they need to know that you won’t tire during a long school day and that you have the physical stamina to get through a school day and come back for more tomorrow.  There are a number of ways you can demonstrate that you are in shape and up to the challenge of teaching.  You can put on a show of energy and enthusiasm during the interview.  Or you could go so far as to offer to substitute teach or be a teacher assistant for a day so the administrator can witness first hand our energy and ability to “keep up” with those kiddos.

There is a good chance that not only will you encounter no age based bias or discrimination from school administrators, you will find that they already have a number of older teachers on staff so they know the value the school gets from that experience and wisdom.  But the relationship that may give you more concern is whether the students can accept an older teacher and give you the same respect and regard that they would give to someone just out of college.

It may come as the biggest surprise of them all that children and even teenagers really do not mind older teachers or older people for that matter.  After all, to a child, every adult is  an older teacher so they may not even notice that you are 20 years older than their last teacher.  To a kid, old is old so what’s the difference?  Moreover, children have relationships with parents, uncles and aunts and grandparents that are loving and respectful so if they lump you in with those role models, you have it made.

What students don’t like are older people who try to deny that they are old, who are ashamed of their age or who try to act younger than they are.   Youth crave honesty.  And youth are also quite aware that older age awaits them down the road so the last thing they want to see is you showing shame or discomfort because of your age.  By being honest about your age with the kids, they will embrace you easily and you will have no difficulty teaching them.

Sallie Benadom is a writer for Uniformhaven.com which offers cherokee scrubs, landau scrub tops and lab coat as well as a host of other products.

Since the 1970s mind mapping has been the go to source for brainstorming and planning. Before long mind maps found its way into the education field and has proven to be the next best thing for both students and teachers. Teachers only have a few months during the summer to prepare for the upcoming academic year and those who work all year have less than this. Teachers of all levels use mind maps to help lighten the work load and therefore can focus on what’s most important, the students. Mind maps are the perfect solution to help instructors organize and complete these tasks in much less time than normal. Below are top ways mind mapping help teachers to save time and be more productive.

Planning. Lesson plans are the bulk of a teacher’s responsibilities. Mind maps help teachers to brainstorm potential classroom activities, lesson plans, field trips and other projects. Mind maps will also aid in the organization and arrangement of these items.

Presentations. Chalkboards are quickly becoming a thing of the past and teachers of all levels are searching for new innovative methods to communicate and present information to their students. Mind maps with it colors, text and graphics, captures the attention of students and makes learning interesting. Interested students absorb more, learn more and ultimately perform better academically. Using mind maps teachers can easily update information, and more importantly, open and organize these mind maps into a slide show with PowerPoint.

Study Guides. Mind mapping is well known for its learning capabilities, so it should come as no surprise that teachers utilize mind maps to help students do their best learning. Mind maps allows teachers to step away from the traditional list and outline form, and provide students with a learning tool to promote thinking and innovation. Mind maps are in a compact form, and loads of information is easily organized onto one page, making the mind map perfect for printing. Improved study guides result in improved grades.

Research. Information has changed over the years and so has research methods. Mind maps give teachers an open canvas to test and explore subjects and classroom content before presenting them as lesson plans. Mind maps helps to keep all found information neatly organized, and allows the instructor to easily expand on the said mind map.

Learning Encouragement. The word encouragement is used because although school is a place of learning, it is very rare the instructors actually teach the students how to learn. Presenting mind maps to students will not only open their eyes to a different method of learning, but a more beneficial method as well. With the help of mind maps students have no choice but to be more innovative, organized and a better student overall.

As one can see there are many ways teachers can take advantage of mind maps. The uses range from brainstorming lesson plans to designing study guides. Incorporating mind maps into classroom room activities and other projects encourages group interaction and learning. Take a look at the attached mind map and feel free to print it as a quick guide to how instructors benefit from the use of mind maps.

Education and mind maps go hand in hand. Many lesson plans are thought of, implemented and built upon all with the aid of mind mapping. The benefits of mind maps in education are practically endless and both the teacher and student can benefit from the use of this learning tool. Mind maps can be used for presentations, developing better study habits and research.

Presentations. Presentations with mind maps are fun and creative. With colors, images, font, shapes and other visual aids, presentations can make an impact far beyond what is expected. Mind map users can insert links to blogs, files and other web pages. These advantages allow users, as well as readers, to learn more about the specified topic or concept as opposed to being limited to the mind map. A teacher or student who incorporates mind maps into a presentation is sure to wow the audience with his or her creative and organization skills.

Study. Each of us has a different way of learning, so it only makes sense to admit we all have different methods of studying as well. Regardless of the method, mind maps can help us all. Mind maps helps to collect and organize information in a clear and concise format. There is no limit to the size of the mind map and once created it can be as complex or simple as the user would like. There are many cues to help with memorization and learning techniques. These cues can vary and can be in the form of images, shapes, text or colors. Mind maps can also be printed; this is a very helpful and convenient feature for a quick reference, study guide or both.

Research. The educator uses mind mapping to perform intense research on potential lesson plan content, while the student benefits from the mind map’s ability to visually organize and summarize academic notes and information with ease. The “branch” format of mind mapping promotes easy recording, increased learning and memorization.

Planning. Instructors and students alike can attest to the need for organization as they go about their day-to-day hectic activities. Mind mapping is most used for its planning and management capabilities. Mind maps can be used to plan a field trip, or as a project and assignment management tool. Overall, mind mapping software makes organizing and prioritizing an easy task. To make things easier, mind mapping software includes a large database of images, colors and other graphics help to categorize projects and ultimately help users to be more productive.

Although mind maps are a hit when organizing tasks, they are also beneficial for the development of increased thinking skills and ideation. Mind maps have a solid place in education and without the assistance of mind maps, some would students would simply “not get it” and some teachers would never find a better way to explain processes. In any case an education without the use of mind maps is completely fine, but to take learning and teaching to the next level, mind mapping would be the way to go. Take a look at the attached mind map to view how mind mapping works and its benefits in education.

One of the greatest challenges teachers face is preparing an engaging and enriching lesson plan for students. There are many tools teachers can use to make this process easier. However, very few of these methods will contain the advantages found in Mind Mapping. Mind Maps are more intuitively laid out than most traditional lesson plans, because they are presented spatially, rather than linearly, and are “mapped” out across the page. Moreover, because Mind Maps are comprised of colors, visual images, and pictures, instead of just words, they allow the brain to process the information contained in them in a manner more consistent with natural brain functioning. Mind Maps are an effective and creative way to help teachers design lesson plans, and they can make the process of teaching students a lot simpler.

Using Mind Mapping to Construct a Lesson Plan

At minimum, a good lesson plan usually contains six key components. The first component is the key concept of the lesson, namely, what the teacher wants the students to learn about the topic. The key concept should be represented in the center of the Mind Map. The second component of a good lesson plan is the objective, or the skill the teacher intends to teach, and which he or she wants the students to learn as a result of the lesson. For instance, the teacher’s objective may be to teach students the letters of the alphabet, resulting in the students being able to recite the alphabet from memory. The main topic should be connected to the key concept via a “branch”. If the teacher has more than one objective, he or she can list them on multiple “branches”. The third component of the lesson plan is the pre-planning materials. The pre-planning materials are any materials that must be prepared in preparation of teaching the lesson. The pre-planning materials component should be attached to the objective(s) via a “child branch”. The fourth component is the student materials, or the materials the children need to successfully complete the lesson. The student materials component should also be attached to the objective(s) via a “child branch”. Though attached to the same topic(s), the pre-planning materials and student materials components should be shown in separate areas of the Mind Map, on either side of the topic(s), with the specific materials to be used flowing out of them via new “child branches” or “twigs”. Fifthly is the procedure component. The procedure component lists the steps a teacher intends to take when teaching the lesson, including sample questions. As with the previous two components, this component should also be attached to the objective(s) via a “child branch”. The “child branch” should extend below the main topic, off to the side, and have the steps of the procedure attached to it via “child branches” or “twigs”. The last component of a successful lesson plan is the closure, or the summary of the lesson to the students.¹ On the Mind Map, this component should be attached to the key concept via a “branch” located below the key concept. The attached Mind Map shows an example of a teacher lesson plan “mapped out” in the manner described.

Teaching the Lesson From the Mind Map

Once the Mind Map outlining the lesson plan is completed, the teacher can easily see all of the components for his or her lesson “mapped out”, with colors, visuals, and picture associations included. This mentally and visually stimulating representation of his or her lesson plan makes it simple for him or her to interpret, process and internalize the lesson. Therefore, the teacher will have more thoroughly learned the lesson, and can more naturally impart the lesson to the students.

1. Source: www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/fieldexperiences/pdfs/lessonplanhunter.pdf

Field trips are a fun and enjoyable part of the classroom experience. However, planning a field trip is often not as fun, or enjoyable, as the trip itself. Teachers, when planning an outing, must organize everything from deciding when and where to go, to collecting permission slips from parents or guardians. All of this planning can leave the teacher wondering how to organize the trip without forgetting any of the necessary steps. Visual Mind Mapping can be instrumental in helping teachers to organize this information by allowing them to “map out” all of the components of the trip in a creative and intuitive format. With a Mind Map, the teacher can plan the entire trip, start to finish, in one, highly visual, and spatially represented format. The teacher can, thus, use Visual Mind Mapping to make the process of planning and executing a class field trip more effortless than originally imagined.

What are Visual Mind Maps and How Are They Created?

A Visual Mind Map is “a means of organizing information that allows individuals to create diagrams, pictures, and other graphic visuals in order to show the relationship between ideas or other types of information”.¹ With a Visual Mind Map, the creator makes use of colors and symbols to construct the map and represent his or her ideas in a non-linear format. When creating a Visual Mind Map, the individual usually begins by showing the key concept or main idea of the information as a central image, located in the center of the map. Any themes surrounding the main idea are shown on “branches” that are attached to the central topic. Subsequent themes of less importance are then attached to these branches using “child branches”, and so on. The resulting diagram is a “map” of the ideas and information presented that includes the images, visual graphics, and colors the individual associates with each of the themes and ideas.

Planning a Class Field Trip Using a Visual Mind Map

A fourth grade teacher wants to begin planning her annual class field trip. Remembering how difficult it was to keep track of everything last year, she decides to make this year’s process simpler by using a Visual Mind Map. She begins constructing her map by placing a visual to represent the class field trip in the center of the map. Next, she lists all of the main aspects necessary for planning the trip, such as scheduling the trip with the museum the class will visit, on “branches” attached to the central graphic. She lastly lists all of the steps she will need to take to successfully execute each aspect on “child branches” attached to the “branches”. Throughout the map, the teacher places interesting pictures and visuals to make her map more intuitive and therefore each step is easier to remember. When she has finished her Visual Mind Map, it might look similar to the attached Map diagram.

Organizing the Trip from the Mind Map

As the teacher begins to execute the steps listed in her Visual Mind Map, she is amazed at how smoothly the process of organizing the trip is going as compared to last year. The teacher is not bogged down with “to-do” lists that she must find, as was the case previously. Rather, everything that the teacher needs to remember when organizing the trip, including contact information for the museum’s field trip department and deadlines for collecting permission slips, is neatly “mapped out” in one, clear concise document. In addition, the teacher’s use of visual imagery and associative colors make remembering the steps for planning the trip much easier. The teacher, therefore, finds that she is able to organize the trip much more efficiently this year, finishing well ahead of time, compared to what she did last year. Visual Mind Mapping has, therefore, made the process of planning and organizing the field trip almost as enjoyable for the teacher as the trip itself.

1. Farrand, Paul; Hussain, Fearzana and Hennessy, Enid (May 2002). “The efficacy of the ‘mind map’ study technique”. Medical Education 36 (5): 426–431.