Teacher training really should change.

Yes, some programs throw prospective teachers in the classroom with little training, especially the ones that take bright non education majors and throw them into the toughest schools. Before I was put into the classroom by myself I was a student teacher for a whole semester. Before I student taught I observed different teachers and did demo lessons with my fellow classmates.

Nevertheless like many job there's a rough intro period. It's up to the principal to find a mentor for the new teachers and be patient and give constant feedback. I've been lucky to be around a few great principals who did this and just about all of the new teachers became successful.

Watch Pete Dixon for several episode of "Room 222". All you need to ever know about teaching humanities is there.

Let them carry and take them to the range at least once monthly

You can’t be nice and be an effective teacher. The classrooms are overrun with $&itty kids and their crack head parents. In order to be a teacher you need to have an angry edge. Too many teachers want to be kids friends. You’re not. If they like you then your probably not effective at teaching. It’s tough being angry everyday but that’s why you get July off.

Classroom discipline is the most important part of teaching. Yet few universities put any emphasis on it.

If you can't control your classroom, you can't teach. Period.

That was the toughest task for me and you really can't simulate it in college- experience and good mentorship are what's needed.

I’m in my 16th year teaching middle school and this is spot on. They need to know they’re not getting away with sh**. Too many new teachers start out too nice. Nearly all students will walk all over you if they get the chance. I actually think most (for sure not all) of my students like me but they all know there is a line and they damn well better not cross it.

You're a teacher yourself? Have you ever thought that first year teachers, and all teachers for that matter, don't get the support they need. Principals are stretched too thin. Resources are stretched too thin. We prioritize certain jobs in the US & teaching isn't one of them. It's sink or swim in year one. You either figure out you can do it or go find something else. That's what needs to change. I don't think education is the problem.

Its not teacher training that is the problem. **Parent** training is what we need.

It's important to remember that teacher training/education vary from state to state.

I got all my degrees (up to Master's) in NY State. I was prepared for everything and educated and trained to deal with all circumstances (Special Needs, the Spectrum, poverty, etc etc).

The standards were very high and rigorous and I LOVED my vocation. I retired and came back to sub in the school I taught in.

We once had a teacher who was fired from our school- she wasn't a good teacher and couldn't deal with kids. She moved to Florida and taught outside of her content area (you can do that in Florida, not in NY).

She eventually became lead teacher and ended up running faculty meetings because the Principal didn't know how.

She used to tell us what a clown show it was with teachers unqualified and administrators who didn't know what they were doing.

But, I agree- we need a national program based on states like NY, Illinois, Massachusetts ...

These are good points about classroom management. However, there are no strategies that work in every situation. I recently switched from teaching 8th grade to 12th grade, and it is a completely different type of student that I am working with.

I would describe myself as a "nice" teacher. I don't raise my voice. I don't make threats. I also don't have much discipline issues in my class. When I do, I just follow regular school protocols and take the emotion out of it. Usually by October, my kids get it.

The hardest part for me, with seniors, is getting them to do any work at all. Very few students have any internal motivation.

I was a basketball ref for years before going into teaching. There was a rule older refs had that they passed down to the younger refs that applies to the classroom as well. The rule is this: If you call it tight in the first quarter, the rest is relatively easy. If you let it get out of hand early on, you will have fights at the end. Teachers who come in with the attitude that we will have rainbows and unicorns in class and the kids will all love me will fail most of the time. Teachers who start the year off in charge can loosen up as the year goes on because the kids know who is in charge. I know, because I have been teaching 20+ years, and this is how I do it. By the end of the first six weeks, my kids know what is and is not allowed, and there is mutual respect between us. By the end of the year, the class is likely to give positive comments about the style I use, and I genuinely miss them when they move on to the next school year.

I've been teaching 15 years and I agree. You have to pick your spots to be nice. I don't think you have to be angry necessarily, but you do have to be firm and consistent. I find showing anger can further rile kids up; it's like they sense you are losing control. Handling a situation calmly and firmly reinforces that you are in control of the situation, even if you are boiling under the surface. I show anger sparingly, as it tends to lose effectiveness if used often. Maybe it's different for different grade levels, but that's what works for me with high school kids.

And I agree with the OP in regards to training. I got a few degrees before my teaching degree: English and then a Master's in English. They were definitely not the most rigorous degrees, but education was a joke by comparison. My wife is finishing up her Master's in admin. and she says it is easier than high school. The emphasis for teachers should be much heavier on time in the classroom working with various grade levels. I know students observe classrooms and student-teach, but it isn't enough. Most everything that prepared me for the classroom was from student teaching, and it should be expanded to a full year or more while cutting out some unnecessary Ed. Psych. classes or something.

Like you, I don't raise my voice. I raise an eyebrow, and the point gets across. Like you, I don't have many issues in class. However, I differ in one way. I am not the "nice teacher" in August. I establish that this is my classroom, and that all will be treated equally, and the kids adjust. The atmosphere is one where the kids feel same and cared for, but there are rules they must follow. I don't have many rules, but they are not negotiable. They center around respect for the teacher, and for each other.

I forgot to address the last part. I find it easier to teach seniors, because I see more motivation in them because they know they have just that one last chance to get the credits.

The biggest problem most teachers have is too many rules, or not enough. Those with too many rules cannot possibly enforce them all fairly. Those with too few cannot maintain any order. Teachers have to pick their battles, and also let the students know they are the authority in the classroom. I wish more training on how to do this were offered, because that is where most new teachers fail in teaching. Great lesson plans. Great knowledge of the material. Crappy ability to read a room and lead the students effectively.

Teaching in public schools is a thankless task and its getting harder every year because kids arent the same any more. A large part of that lies in their over use of social media and the need for instant gratification which a teacher cant ever provide.

There are lots of great teachers but I feel that number is dwindling due to the above mentioned issues coupled with terrible salaries. Why would someone in a STEM field want to deal with crappy students and earn next to nothing? Add to that a public distaste for teachers in general, for all the wrong reasons.

I agree that teacher Ed has to change, a lot of it is completely irrelevant and they don't address what actually happens in a modern classroom. The NE seems to be on the ball with the best education programs and the best prepared teachers

BTW discipline issues that cant be resolved are an example of poorly prepared teachers, because it is about classroom management and setting a good culture and rules to follow.

Bottom line, public education is in big trouble in the US.

I taught for over a decade in high schools and universities. I also went through a secondary teaching program at a flagship public university.

I would agree 100% that the teacher training programs need a rework. People should be in the classroom earlier so they have real experiences to judge their classroom content against. It would also help them sniff out the few classes that are basically useless.

That said, I do not think teacher training is the problem. Put another way, I do not think we would ever fix our issues with education in any substantial way by improving teacher training programs.

My opinion on the problem:

1. The biggest issue we face is teacher turnover, both in teachers leaving the profession, and teachers leaving needy schools to get better jobs. The result is many students are taught by inexperienced teachers who have not put in the reps to learn how to sustainably teach at a high level without burning out, manage classrooms effectively, and develop the sense of self-concept to be able to be firm with students but still kind enough to build relationships.
2. Teacher turnover is bad because the job sucks for new teachers. My first year of teaching was in a Title 1 school with a lot of problems was the hardest job I ever had. They had just reassigned half the staff to try to "rescue" the school. It got better, but the first year was incredibly stressful. People with any reasonable level of talent often get a few years in and realize that the compensation both in money and social prestige is just way too low to justify working in a struggling school. So they switch to easier schools/school districts where they get paid better to teach easier students. Or they go to industry or grad school.
3. Smart phones and parents who enable kids who use them have seriously reduced the quality of classroom learning and homework. Students don't pay attention. The phones make them listless and depressed. Teacher morale has dropped substantially. Administrators are not willing to fight students and their parents to do the right thing and rid classrooms of distraction. This has to be fixed.
4. The prestige and pay of the job will not attract the best talent. There are about 10-20% (guessing here) of teachers who were top students who go into teaching because they love learning. These would be students who get math degrees who could easily go into industry, or students who study history/social science and could also go into industry or get a degree in data science or something like that and make money. But they like teaching. Then there are maybe 10-20% who may not be academically the best, but have a great disposition toward students and great soft skills. This group make for great teachers. The rest are, frankly, just not the best talent. They're not always bad teachers but filling the ranks of schools with them isn't going to move the needle.
5. Poverty damages students so severely in the first five years of life that no heroic teachers are going to fix it. About 50% of achievement gaps in test scores between advantaged/disadvantaged students (whether the grouping is done by measures of class, race, etc.) already exists when students show up to kindergarten. The rest grows in the next 12-13 years. And there's good (but not perfect) evidence that achievement gaps narrow during the school year but widen in summer. In any event, students only spend about 13% of their waking hours before age 18 in school. The rest of their education happens at home and in neighborhoods. Schools are not equipped to overcome the forces outside school that depress learning levels.

Teacher training programs could help improve turnover and, if they gained social prestige, maybe attract more talent. But they're only a sliver of the problem, in my opinion, compared to what I outlined above.

This is in no way facetious: this is the best commentary I have seen on the state of public education. You hit all the nails on the head. Student apathy is at an all-time high, and I suspect smartphones are largely to blame. I really don't see things getting better. I rack my brain to find ways to make my classroom content entertaining enough to keeps students interested, but it gets harder with each passing year.