DR. WALLACE: My fifth grade teacher cried and ran out of the room in the middle of our class the other day. I felt really bad for her, but most of the other students were laughing, especially most of the meaner boys. I sit up at the front of the class, so I couldn't see every face that was laughing, but I sure heard some loud ones that were no doubt from the boys who regularly pay the least attention in class.

We know it is our teacher's first year of teaching and because she is still considered to be a "rookie," a lot of the kids have continually given her a really hard time for most of the school year. I thought I wanted to be a teacher until I saw this happen right before my very own eyes.

When you were a teacher or an administrator, did you ever see another teacher cry in his or her classroom? — Uncertain of my teaching future, via email

UNCERTAIN OF MY TEACHING FUTURE: Some teachers are more emotional than others. I was not in this category, but I've dealt with similar situations as an administrator.

Although I never actually saw a teacher cry in a classroom, I have seen tearful and emotional teachers in the teachers' lounge recounting stories of what students did to cause the tears that flowed from such occurrences.

The first job of any teacher is to maintain the decorum, discipline and a suitable environment for learning within the classroom. Everything flows from that, so it makes no sense to work, for example, exclusively on very detailed lesson plans if a classroom can't be maintained in a manner such that said lesson plans can be fully actualized in a suitable environment.

There are many strategies and details that can be implemented to assist inexperienced teachers to gain and maintain full control of their classroom dynamics. There are even teaching workshops for new teachers taught by more experienced senior teachers expressly for this purpose. My wife, who taught third grade for over 25 years, was one of these teachers who late in her career taught workshops to new teachers about how to set and maintain good classroom order. These workshops brought the desired results back in her day, and I trust your young teacher could similarly benefit from some current similar guidance.

Finally, don't plan to give up your dreams of teaching so soon, especially based upon this one instance. Instead, learn how important it is for a teacher to be able to control a classroom effectively and resolve that if and when you become a teacher someday, you will be one who is fully prepared and equipped to succeed in that most important regard.

STRANGER DANGER

DR. WALLACE: I'm a young mother and I really want to keep my child safe. When I was young, my mom scared me about never trusting strangers. I've read that statistically, up to 93% of child sexual abuse victims knew their predator, and even worse, 34% of them were family members!

Does this mean that every child shouldn't ever trust anyone? — Worried mom, via email

WORRIED MOM: The majority of people in the world are indeed good people, but as we well know, predators exist amongst our midst.

Teach your child that it is not acceptable for anyone, ever, to take advantage of them or touch them inappropriately whether they are family or not. And most importantly, children should be taught to never be silenced. If any adult attempts to do or say anything to a child while implying that the child must remain silent about the subject, the child must know that they must inform a safe parent or trusted adult immediately.

Predators often get away with and extend abuse by attaching a threat of silence along with their untoward actions. Every child should know to immediately make that threat publicly known.

Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. Email him at rwallace@thegreatestgift.com. To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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