New Year, New Me??? Well no, not really but I figured I
could start by writing again. I guess I minimized my blogs because I just felt
uninspired. But with the New Year, I feel like I have a never ending list of
things to do and applications to read, so instead I will write.
This past fall, I had the opportunity to work with a P1
student teacher. At the beginning of the semester, I was so unsure that I was
qualified to help guide a student teacher, and following the semester I feel
just as unsure. However, with that being said (or written), I feel like I
learned a lot and was able to actually help this baby calf trying to walk
during her first few hours of teacher life.
So this is for any teacher that’s never worked with a ST (or
a lesson for those not great at it). Because of some confusion through the
university, I can honestly say I had no real clue what I was doing or what was
expected of me. So this list is just some food for thought:
- Set expectations early: I talked with a few veteran teachers and created a document that outlined the basic expectations for her while at HHS. Some of the documents I read from other teachers were awesome and others were sort of demeaning. I always thought of a ST as someone that wants to learn and do what teachers do, not someone that is around to be a TA and do your work for you? Maybe that’s just my understanding, but I feel like it’s a cooperating teacher’s job to set expectations and ensure the ST gets a full experience of everything a teacher does so that they can be successful after they’ve left you. I created a binder for my student teacher that we went through prior to the first day of school. We outlined the calendar, classes, curriculum and general expectations.
- Classroom comes first: Helping a student teacher establish a classroom culture and reminding them that the classroom is their first job. We talked with her and found out what she was most comfortable and confident with teaching and which she felt would be most challenging. Because she was a P1, she observed for a couple weeks then started teaching full time with the class she felt most comfortable with. We then added others in short units for other classes giving her more time to prepare for classes that seemed more daunting. Another thing that I personally do is 3-week packets which allowed me to sit and plan with the student teacher weeks ahead of time so there was less day-prior panic by all parties involved.
- But, don’t forget about the rest: As much as we must instruct and guide on in the classroom festivities, we cannot forget the other 60%+ of our job. Everything from officer meetings to FFA competitions, project visits, and banquets. How can we expect student teachers to learn professionalism outside of the classroom if they aren’t with us to see it modeled? Take them everywhere, don’t assume they’ve seen something just because they were maybe in FFA. Seeing how an opening and closing contest runs as a teacher is extremely different than how we may have saw it as a kid. Even things as simple as talking about basic housekeeping of running a chapter, like budgets, purchase orders and conference applications are important skills they all need to learn. We can’t assume that they know it or that someone else will teach them.
- Importance of being inclusive: This goes hand-in-hand with taking them everywhere. Include them in everything while keeping it professional. They need to understand the ins and outs of how a department works (or doesn’t) and they need to be part of working with the FFA officers. Have the kids include them and make sure to include them in the basic inter-working of the department. If we don’t show them, who will?? We cannot continue to blame student teachers for not knowing anything, if we don’t actually teach them…
- Let them make mistakes: It’s hard and I would say this is my least favorite thing but I would say allow them to fail or make mistakes in a safe environment. This semester, my student teacher taught a lesson she created and she learned quickly that she didn’t get through to the kids. The kids were lost and she ended up staying up for the better part of the night to re-do the lesson so she could reteach it. I didn’t criticize her, I just asked her after the lesson if she felt like it was effective. She said nope and began recreating her lesson to reteach. It was one of those fancy teachable moments, veteran teachers talk about… LOL
- Create a digital reflection: I’m big on reflection and based on scheduling I wasn’t always able to talk with my student teacher following a lesson. I created a google sheet that listed the date, lesson topic, student teacher reflection and notes and then my questions, comments or concerns. It was a great way for both of us to make sure we reflected on the lesson and when we got to the end of the semester it was super helpful for filling out university paperwork and evaluations. It was probably the number one random thing we did that turned out to be the number one most useful/helpful.
Bottom line, try to remember back to your student teaching
experience and if it was positive or not. Remember the things that made it that
way… Help guide others based on that. Helping your student teacher have a
positive but realistic experience will help our whole profession in the long
run. I was fortunate to have two amazing schools during student teaching with
some amazing teachers and mentors and am so grateful for their guidance and
instruction.
Thank you Rod, Lily, Susan M, Susan P, Ken, Kevin, Aireal
and all the others that let me watch and learn during student teaching…
Include them with officer things... Give them a chance to develop relationships with the kids
Take them everywhere including industry tours, CATA stuff, FFA stuff, school stuff... EVERYWHERE
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