Teaching Classroom Management: A Stand-Alone Necessity for Preparing New Teachers.

This paper presents several arguments for including a stand-alone course on classroom management in every teacher preparation program. Some teacher preparation programs do not offer any course in classroom management, while others offer classroom management as an elective or as a topic embedded into another course. In the latter situation, the course instructors typically have expertise in the primary topic and not in classroom management. Because of limited time and a lack of knowledge on the part of instructors, the management strategies taught are often quick and easy systems of rewards and punishments. Either approach does a disservice to future teachers as well as to the cultural, emotional, and special needs and interests of the students they will teach. Teacher preparation programs must teach classroom management as a discrete topic, and they must make the effort to employ instructors who have expertise in that area. (Contains 10 bibliographic references.) (Author/SM)