Teachers.... What is student teaching like?

[PRINCESS VIJA]

I am excited, nervous and scared! I met my cooperating teacher and the class yesterday. It is a kindergarten and they are such a happy group! The teacher is SUPER nice and the kids are terrific. BUT, I am very concerned about slipping in to the teachers spot and taking over. What was student teaching like for you? Any hints and suggestions? How did they ease you in to lead teaching?

 

[Sthronds]

It was absolutely terrrifying but I loved it!

The first few days, you will probably just be getting used to a routine and learning the kids names. The person who is assigned to observe you will probably give you a schedule and you'll need to sit down with your lead teacher and decide what lessons you will teach when you are observed. When I student taught in a Kindergarden class, most observations were small group lessons since we did centers. It made it a bit easier and less stressful.

I had a time line of when I should be doing all the teaching and it worked really well to follow that. By about the 6th week I was teaching full time. Just make sure you communicate and let your lead teacher know when you feel comfortable enough to take over. Be as helpful as you can and offer to do as much as you can. I took things home to do as well.

A couple of things that I got praised for was always being at school before the teacher and never leaving until she did. I also got praised for using the children's names a lot and giving lots of praise and positive encouragement. Good luck! You'll do fine!

 

[BkrsLoveDis!]

I am excited, nervous and scared! I met my cooperating teacher and the class yesterday. It is a kindergarten and they are such a happy group! The teacher is SUPER nice and the kids are terrific. BUT, I am very concerned about slipping in to the teachers spot and taking over. What was student teaching like for you? Any hints and suggestions? How did they ease you in to lead teaching?

I'm starting my student teaching on Monday the 9th so I'm right there with you - excited but nervous!!!

I'll be doing a 6th grade class for 7 weeks and then a kindergarten class for 7 weeks.

Good luck to you!!!
Cyn

 

[PRINCESS VIJA]

THanks for the info!

Hey Cyn, nice to know someone else is right there with me! I teach Kindergarten for 10 weeks and then 5th grade for 10 weeks! Good luck to you too!

 

[barkley]

i think it's different now. when i student taught you had 2 placements in the final semester of the credentialing program (one had to be k-3 the other 4-6).
the first placement was in a lower income school in a higher income school district. the kids were realy challenging-school had abandoned assigning homework because kids never did it and they could not get any parental support in getting it done. the master teacher i had was great and very supportive, but i got a wierd "vibe" from the principal. publicly he made it know that he had no place in his school for "young female teachers", he wanted experienced "seasoned" teachers (i found out years later he had been a principal at a higher profile school in the district but after several of the younger female teachers complained that he had made passes at them he had been transferred to the school i student taught at spec. because it had a staff of older teachers who would'nt be "tempting" to him ).

second placement only lasted 2 weeks (highest income school in the same district). master teacher had been in same credentialing program with same college advisor (20 years earlier) and got livid when she read the guidelines (when she went through it they precluded participants from holding any type of job for the semester, required arrival an hour before class-departure 2 hours after and some type of massive written project) she announce to me that she was going to show the university the error of their ways and by the end of my placement i would have had to quit my weekend job and shown the "lack of education and training" i had received. yeah-um. they took her off the call list for future placements.

i ended up in a low income/highly diverse school district. it was awsome-great dedicated teachers and the best principal. he was an old school teacher who had moved into administration (curriculum development) but decided to go back to being a principal because he missed working with students. this school did tremendous things-they figured out that a large porportion of the kids who did'nt submit homework were doing it because their dads were often the only english reading/writing adults in the household and more often than not worked nites (moms could'nt read it or write it so they could'nt help kids) so they implemented a program that offered the moms (mostly sahm) basic english reading/writing skills during a couple of hours during the time the kids were in school-the kids ended up helping the moms study in the evenings and as a result strengthened their own skills.

that said-i think allot depends on the support you get in your placement-the master teacher can make it or break it for you. the one's that are there to help you develope as a teacher and model respect to you for their students are great. the ones that are in it only for the prestige, stipend and having someone to do grunt work in the classroom are a shame on the profession.

best wishes and good luck.