Any positives to having a teacher fresh out of school?

[Anonymous]

My daughter's 2nd grade teacher was fresh out of school several years ago. I volunteered once a week (mostly did copying for the 2nd grade team) so I saw her in action on a consistent basis. I would say in September she was getting her feet wet. It seemed that none of the more experience teachers took her under their wing to show her the ropes. But by October, she was on fire!

Man she had so much energy and was very creative. To help remind kids with behavioral tasks, she would come up with raps. For example, she had a rap the kids would recite before walking down the hallway to remind them to not talk, look forward, and keep their hands to themselves. She was great at using positive reinforcement (ex. praising the kid that is on task vs. scolding the kids who are not) when keeping order in the classroom. She came in early (probably the 1st one at school) and was the last teacher to leave in the evening. She felt each kid was her own and really went above what anyone would expect from a teacher. At the end of the year, I told her that no matter what, she should stay in the classroom. She truly had a gift when it came to teaching kids.

To this day, I think she was the best teacher any of my kids ever had. Unfortunately, she got married and move out of state so she is no longer in MCPS. But she is still teaching.