I just wanted to see what everyone's views are on lateral entry teaching.

as a returning student I considered the lateral entry path, but I didn't choose the path because I felt that there was much more to teaching than just presenting information to students. I feel that I would have been unprepared and thus be doing the students a disservice by attempting to teach without being as prepared as I can.

I have mixed emotions about lateral entry. I understand that we have a shortage of teachers in many areas and need to fill those positions as soon as possible. But, I don't think that we need any more unqualified teachers. If I was a parent I would definetly be against lateral entry because I would not want an unqualfied teacher attempting to teach my children.

I have a B.M. in music and so lateral entry was an option for me when I decided that I wanted to teach. But I couldn't imagine doing it! Knowing about a subject doesn't mean that you know how to teach it... I was completely unfamiliar with teaching terminology, methods, available resources, classroom management, lesson plans, etc. when I came here. I have learned SO MUCH - I can't imagine what it would have been like to start teaching from where I was before.

Yeah I agree with what everybody else says about lateral entry. I am a physical education major and know a lot of people out there who have done this in P.E. But its like Kaci said, just because you know about a subject, doesn't mean you know how to teach it. With our children becoming more and more out of shape and in danger for health problems at a younger age, I certainly feel like we need the most qualified people we can get showing our children how to be healthy. I mean after all, what good is math and science knowledge if you die of heart disease at age 30, because you had unqualified teachers who didn't show you how to live a healthy life?

i am definitely not a fan i kind of feel like it's cheating students out of a quality education.

To throw out the other side of this argument or issue, Is it better for school systems to not offer a class because they do not have a "certified teacher", Or is the option of allowing a noncertified teacher with relavant life or work experience to teach the subject until either a certified teacher is found or the non certified teacher obtains certification. An example that comes to my mind is if a certified drafting teacher can not be found and there is a willing archetict who is willing to take on the task I think that this could be an extremely valuable experience for the students. Much more than being deprived of the opportunity of exploring the class altogether.

I agree with Jeff. I know that we want qualified teachers in the school system but honestly I don't feel like I am that qualified. I am a special eduation major so what I have learned might be different from what you have learned. I am so glad that I had a brother with a disability, otherwise I would not know anything about the different types of disabilities. I do not feel like I am fully qualified to teach the children I am going to have in my class. But through experience, hits and misses, and pulling on the support of other special edcuation teachers I am going to do a good job. Why? Because I really care about the students and what is best for them. Especially with the teaching shortage that we have. My brother's special education class has four 'teachers' in the classroom but only one has a certificate. If those people were not in there to help her then she would have 30 students in a self contained classroom.

I think that it can also depend on the subject that is being taught. Like in Jeff's example, I think that if someone who had been an architect for years was willing to teach a drafting class, then perhaps it would be a good idea in order for the class to be available. However, on the other hand, my mom is a bank supervisor. If she wanted to go to a school and teach math, that would be a totally different story. Even though she has worked with numbers all of her life, she would not be able to do the higher level math. I think it definately depends on the subject, but overall, I think that lateral entry is a quick fix to a problem that is not going to go away, and is cheating students out of qualified teachers.

I think that lateral entry is a good idea in theory, but in reality teachers need to have teaching skills to successfully educate students. Although life experience does help, there is a big difference in knowing how to preform a specific task and knowing how to properly "teach" a specific task.

I think that some people just have a passion for teaching in their hearts, or may just be good at communicating with different age levels. However I do not think this makes you a better teacher than another person. It is a hard question about lateral entry because we need the teachers, yet we all want them to be qualified. I think it is fundamental to have it right now. Some people don't realize how much they want to teach until later in life. It is a nice option. I know a handful of people that are considering it.I support them because I know them personally and they are driven about teaching others. Even though we are here getting the education, it still won't come all that easy to us once we are out there, we just has the inclination that we wanted to teach earlier than others.

The idea behind lateral entry is fine. The result is less than fine. I believe that anyone wishing to teach should be required to take some classes before entering the classroom. If the government was serious about the need for qualified teachers, they would offer the opportunity to provide some training prior to putting business people in the classroom. Teaching must be more than having children reading out of a textbook, remember, Johnny can't read.