while becoming a teacher, do you just learn what your teaching or do you learn how to deal with certain situations that could happen within the class room?

Hi Molly,

Any college graduate can become a teacher. If you already know that is what you want to do, then maybe when you go to college you can choose an education program that is specifically geared to teach you how to be a teacher - this means you will learn how to teach. Teaching includes a lot of skills - for example, you will learn how to plan for the year (develop a curriculum), how to create lesson plans and materials, create systems (like procedures for how students should come into class, transition from one activity to another, turn in homework, etc.) and many other tasks that teachers have to do. One of those will also be "behavior management" which covers how to lead the students in your classroom to behave appropriately, while keeping your cool, and the right way to "discipline" them when they are not behaving in a way that supports their learning.

Other teachers, like me, did not train to be teachers during college. I studied biology and then I joined a program called Teach for America that trained people like me to be teachers - so we covered all of the areas I just discussed, and more, through an intense summer training and then had more training every 2 weeks or more while we taught our first two years.

Either way, there will be an opportunity to learn how to handle tough situations. I was not very good at this my first year and there were a lot of people who came into my classroom to observe what I was doing and to help me correct and be better about keeping my students in check so that they could learn. It can be hard for some. For others, it comes naturally. Either way, this is something you will learn and you should not worry about it.

With that said, even though you didn't ask, I want to make sure you think about this: it's great that you want to be a teacher. Do you know what grade level and subject you think you would want to teach? If you are thinking about teaching a high school course, I suggest you go to college and study that subject instead of majoring only in teaching or education.

The short, pointed answer is "No!".
Most college [Education Dept] programs are long on theory and stats, etc, but WOE-FULLy short on practicalities. [Even thought some call student teaching a 'practicum']

MUCH of what you [will need to] deal with in the classroom on a daily basis comes DAILY BASIS - that is to say, the Daily Basics of what you see, hear, acquire, experience on a personal level every day. Eventually you learn how to adjust-on-the-fly [improvise], make [snap] judgements calls, define/discern 'grey areas' and be the best Human you can in any given situation.

There are a number of ways to handle discipline in the classroom. However, I would suggest a clear system of discipline and track data around how well this system works. If students are not responding well to discipline make sure you are changing your system to correspond with the culture of your classroom. I would suggest finding an incentive system like a lottery/ raffle. Students who are on time, in their seats, ready to learn at the beginning of instruction will get a ticket in the raffle every day then at the end of every week or bi-weekly (whatever works for you) pull a ticket from the raffle and that person will win a small prize (like a pencil, crayons, notebook etc.) In addition to an incentive system to reward good behaviors, you can use a similar discipline system to discourage bad behaviors.

• Decide what kind of incentive system you want to try, stick to it, and be consistent!
• Decide on a discipline system , stick to it, and be consistent!
• Read a book on classroom management.

There are multiple ways to become a teacher, Molly. You'll find that most elementary educators in public schools majored in education, while most secondary educators in public schools majored in a subject, alongside a secondary education professional program. Some became educators via an alternative certification program like http://ccteach.org/ or https://teachforamerica.org .

If you decide to become a teacher, make sure you're comfortable imparting not only what you intend to teach, but also what the schooling system you'll be a part of implicitly teaches because of how it's structured. See http://www.amazon.com/dp/0865714487/ . If you don't want to teach these implicit lessons, it's worth knowing: there are alternative education programs, which have distinct programs that train teachers for them. These include http://ami-global.org/ and https://amshq.org/ .

If you opt to become a classroom teacher, whether or not you receive sufficient training in classroom management, you can always supplement the training you receive with resources like http://www.amazon.com/dp/188340701X/ and those offered by http://www.criticalthinking.org .

One final note: Dr. Kieran Egan has written suggestions for inspiring lesson plan structures you can use in almost any school system (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0226190323/ and http://www.amazon.com/dp/0226190358/ ), a helpful history of Western public education (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0300094337/ ), and several books that explore alternative visions for American education, including http://www.amazon.com/dp/0226190390/ . Any of these make great reading, alongside whatever you're formally assigned in your education program.

Blessings on your journey!