Do teachers find a classroom of students to be intimidating?

Question

I've known some education students who dropped out of their program because they found the classrooms to be intimidating during their student teaching. Did they make the right decision, or is this normal and lessen with time and experience?

Answer 1

Sure, a class full of kids can be intimidating.

Some people want to teach, but they are not actors. Teachers have to be performers, too. They stand in front of a group of 20 or 30 peole, and have to command everybody's attention. Some people get stage fright.

Kids can also be intimidating because part of a teacher's job is to maintain order and control. Depending on the classroom, that can be difficult. Even at the best schools with the best behaved kids, that can be a challenge. Think about how kids treat substitute teachers. They will try to get away with as much as they can. The prospect of facing children who might challenge them and refuse to follow instructions can be emotionally intimidating for teachers.

I guess if the education students felt so uncomfortable that they dropped out of their program, I guess they did the right thing. These feelings do lessen with time and experience. But if they weren't willing to give it time, then perhaps they weren't dedicated enough to be teachers anyway.

Answer 2

This depends on the type of person you are; if you go into that first classroom expecting to be master of all you survey, you may have unreal expectations when you feel the students have quickly gotten the best of you. The key here is respect. Go in respecting the students, not giving off the air of "friend" but one of a professional. Keep to a solid discipline plan from the get go, and STICK WITH IT! Any large group can seem intimidating at first, but it does get better with time and experience. Always remember you know more than they do, even though you may be unsure of yourself at first.

Answer 3

I think that is a very normal feeling, which does decrease as you learn what works for you. I remember crying everyday my first week of student teaching (not in front of the kids, of course!). All of the courses you take in college CANNOT prepare you for what happens in the day-to-day activities of a classroom. Most people who drop out before they even begin probably would not have made it under the pressures of teaching anyway, though...there are just so many hidden issues to deal with that the thought of dealing with them on your own (not under the supervision of a student teaching co-op) can scare you to death!

Answer 4

If they are uncomfortable, then they have done the right thing. There are too many teachers out there who do not belong where they are at and it puts a lot of pressure on them and the students get the short straw.

Answer 5

Try and decode the lyrics of this song "How we don'T talk any more"
Today's teachers live in fear of their own student and lose control over them with misinterpretation and miscommunication and communication failures with communication break-down that can end with violence on planet earth.
The blunders and slip-ups with human errors created by the dirty old men in office after independence on planet earth.

Answer 6

Depends how old the students are and the area hey are from

Answer 7

how could kids be intimadating? unless confidence is very low or they are naturally shy!!!