Generational Diversity in the Teaching Profession

Educators across America are attempting to prepare students for a world of rapid change. Some of the dynamics of change includes teachers, who encompass a wide range of generations and experiences. Each generation includes a set of value and belief systems, and each generation has been engaged in their learning experiences in differing ways. The primary purposes of this study were to determine if there were the following: * A relationship between teacher generation and teaching style * A relationship between teacher generation and student engagement * A relationship between teaching style and student engagement. A survey of 53 teachers in five large Michigan high schools identified teachers' generations and analyzed their preponderance towards five different teaching styles. Close to 3000 ninth and tenth grade students in the same high schools were also surveyed regarding student engagement. Five low relationships were found. The more we learn about effective teaching practices and how they relate to the engagement of students, the more effective we can be in our teacher professional development and continuous learning programs.