When we discussed this in Professional Teacher I was caught between deciding what was more important in the classroom. I believe that you need both, professional and subject knowledge, in order to a successful teacher. However, I strongly think that the passion for teaching drives you to become more knowledgeable in the particular area. I think there is a big difference when we look at the content of the course vs. the skills of teaching. Reflecting on my personal experience, I had one professor who was very knowledgeable in the subject however the professor was brutal at teaching the course material. It is difficult for some people to teach others, therefore I would have to say that professional knowledge needs more emphasis than subject knowledge.
I believe that a good teacher can teach a lot of material as long at they are able to learn the material themselves ahead of time. We all attend education programs to gain the professional knowledge to become good teachers! If we only need subject knowledge, why are we here?? I agree we need to know what we are teaching, however it is more important we know how to teach the material! We need to be professionally prepared and need to have the ability to teach others! If we are good at teaching, we are able to help anyone gain knowledge!
This is a very difficult discussion as we need both of these to be great teachers! We can not have one without the other! They are both needed. However, I believe professional knowledge is a bit more crucial than subject knowledge.
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