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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think teachers should be required to do student teaching and a few courses prior to teaching. Alternative certification programs don’t all do this so you have teachers in classrooms with zero experience at all. That’s not okay. [/quote]

I’m a teacher who came through an alternative program. I am now a mentor teacher and I speak district-wide about classroom management, assessment, and curriculum development.

There are many of us who came into teaching this way, and we are extremely successful. [/quote]

In our district, the majority of teachers who come through alternative programs leave within 2-3 yrs. They are not prepared and spend the first few years doing what they would've done during student teaching except they don't have nearly as much support. They are building the plane as they fly it. Would this be accepted for other professions? To have no previous experience experience at all or any coursework? [/quote]

Then you have a bad program.

Everybody is building the plane as they fly it their first year. I’ve had this conversation with coworkers who came through traditional ed programs. Student teaching is not the same as having your own classroom.  Year 1 is hard on everybody.

And you are discrediting the myriad of experiences career changers bring to the profession. My career prior to teaching prepped me for the long hours, the organization, the interpersonal communication, etc.

Frankly, some of the strongest teachers I know started the same way I did. [/quote]

How nice for you. One of my kid's worst teachers was a second career former engineer who was not good at teaching.

No, student teaching is not the same as having your own classroom, but spending a year(ish) working in tandem with an experienced teacher is a huge benefit. [/quote]

And my child’s worst teacher by far was an education major who came through a traditional education program.

I posted above about coming through one of these programs. I did student teach for 3 months before I had my own classroom. Many of these alternative route programs include a student teaching component.

Being a good teacher or a bad teacher has a lot to do with your traits, which can’t be taught in a class. Are you engaging? Are you able to connect with people? Can you remain organized when your job pulls you 20 different ways? Can’t be taught. [/quote]

None of the people at my school coming through alternative programs had any student teaching prior to starting. That was the problem. They had no idea at all what to do. I would tell the one I worked with that she needed to think of the entire school day and write down procedures for each transition (this was kindergarten). She couldn't understand why she needed to do this. Her classroom was complete mayhem most of the year. I ended up pulling my students out every time I came to her room.

[/quote]

[b]But no one teaches you that stuff in a graduate education program either.  [/b]Or any program.  Not having a disorganized class comes from experience and on the job learning - and unfortunately, many experienced teachers with teaching degrees never learn it.  I was an alternative route teacher (although I came from community college teaching, so not really that alternative) and except for my first year (which was about as bad as everyone's first year, student teaching or no) I was known as a very good teacher.

And anyway, you still have to have all the same classes in order to get an alternative certificate.  When I finished, I had more than the equivalent of a master's degree in education in credits.  But that's not where I learned much of importance in the classroom.[/quote]

Not true at all. One of my courses as a Master's student was classroom management and discipline. It was probably one of the most useful courses I take. We had to write out step by step each procedure of the day. How do students enter the classroom, what do they do when they sit down, what are the procedures for lining students up, bathroom procedures, how do students answer questions, how do they get their materials, etc. The devil is in the details and a person just walking into a classroom hasn't thought about any of them. Many, many behavior issues in lower elementary school (and probably other grades) stem from not teaching students all of these procedures. Ex: A new teacher with a group of first graders tells the students to line up. A bunch of (mostly) boys run as fast as they can to get to the front of the line because that's what 6-7 yr old boys do. One falls and hits himself on the chalk ledge and another shoves someone out of his way. Chaos ensues. Multiply this by every single thing that happens in a classroom in a day. [/quote]

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