| Student teaching launches your professional career. Its purpose is the development, through practice, of competence in the art and science of teaching. It’s your initial entry into the field. |
| Getting Ready Classroom Conduct & Dress Classroom Management Preparation and Etiquette Checklist |
Day1 Top 10 Tips |
In the Trenches Building Relationships Student or Teacher? Remedies and Remediation |
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| Getting Ready |
| You have heard and read it before . . . and you will see it again here: Prepare, prepare, prepare. Your KDP community is here to help! Look to this page for ideas about what and how to prepare for your student teaching position. A Teacher-Mom’s Letter to Her Student-Teacher Daughter |
| Legal Preparation: Professional Liability Insurance Many student-teaching programs require professional liability insurance. Required or not, such insurance is recommended. After all, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” KDP’s affinity partner, Forest T. Jones, offers coverage up to $1 million dollars at very low rates. It’s worth the investment. |
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Become attached to your seating chart and attach students to it too!
If possible, glue students’ pictures to the chart for a visual reference. |
Day 1 |
| • | Become attached to your seating chart and attach students to it too! If possible, glue students’ pictures to the chart for a visual reference. |
| • | Make an effort to say each student’s name as frequently as possible every day—whether in the classroom or the hallway. |
| • | Plan an introduction activity, such as making a personalized nameplate or a playing a word-association game (i.e. Cool Courtney, Gabby Gabe) to increase your recall. |
| • | Create portfolios or files for each student and take digital photos to place on each folder. |
Top 10 Tips for Student Teachers |
In the Trenches of Student Teaching . . . |
| Building Relationships Student teaching is your introduction to school culture. What you learn and do sets the stage for stepping into your career. Your attitude, willingness to learn, confidence, and dedication to students and the profession will set you apart professionally. Developing a professional reputation starts with the relationships you build—and they begin with basic courtesy and goodwill. |
| • | Introduce yourself to the office staff and learn their names. |
| • | Let your cooperating teacher introduce you to other teachers and administrators. |
| • | Keep your conversations, especially in the faculty lounge, professional and friendly. Do not get caught up in discussions about students or “office gossip.” |
| • | Continue that conduct with students, particularly with middle or secondary students. They will want to be your friend. Yes, you want to be liked, but you must be their teacher friend, caring and personable, but not a friend at the students’ level. For example, if students comment on your hair, clothes, or other personal items, acknowledge politely, and then change the subject. |
| • | Establish communication with parents through a letter or newsletter that you initiate with the approval of the cooperating teacher. Introduce yourself and briefly outline your plans for the semester. |
| • | Reconnect later with the school principal and, with support from your cooperating teacher, ask her or him to observe you conducting a lesson. It is good preparation for future teacher evaluations and you can get feedback from the administrator, as well as a recommendation to add to your resume and portfolio. |
| If you encounter situation in which you don’t know what
to do, consult with your cooperating teacher, supervising instructor,
and/or student teaching cohort colleagues. If you have a question or
concern that you prefer to address with someone outside your immediate
professional circle, you may submit it to KDP’s Teacher
Hotline. |
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| Student Teacher:
Student or Teacher? During your initial classroom experiences, you may feel more like a student than a teacher. Observing and taking notes on what you see and reflecting on good and bad practices helps structure the foundation of your student teaching practices. As you become more experienced and comfortable in classrooms, you’ll feel less like a student and more like a teacher. Think of yourself as a “student of teaching,” rather than a “student teacher.” Think of your “student of teaching” time as a testing ground; a lab for testing what you have learned and taking risks in a setting in which you are “fail-safe.” Someone will be there to talk with you about lessons and strategies that don’t work, head off potential problems, and help you refine and repeat practices that go well. Don’t be in a hurry to get the cooperating teacher out of the room. Instead, solicit his or her ongoing commentary. Ask the teacher to take over the class again periodically, and be a student of his or her teaching. Preservice teachers who are older, or have had previous careers, may notice the transition from student to teacher rather quickly. Eager to be the teacher they have studied and so long desired to be, many student teachers are anxious to try out their own styles and they want to make changes right away in their assigned classroom. That may be you. You may think you know more than the teacher and sure that your teaching style would be more effective. Your ambition to begin teaching and the excitement and eagerness surrounding it reaches its zenith during student teaching. That internal response is normal; just remember that you’re not the “real” teacher. The responsibility for that classroom is not ultimately yours. Whether that teacher is brilliant or incompetent, you are the guest and professional and personal etiquette and protocol should be observed. If, however, you see something offensive in the classroom or not in the best interest of the students, you should discuss the problem with your university supervisor. Make the most of your student teaching opportunities and support systems to build on your classroom learning and gain confidence in your instructional techniques and classroom management. Draw on the strengths of your educational community now to be the teacher your students need when you are their “real” teacher. |
| Remedies and Remediation Recovering from a Bad Lesson: It’s inevitable; every teacher has a bad lesson or two, especially early on. Recovery comes with reflection and attitude. Begin recuperating with questions about the possible difficulties with your lesson: • Was classroom management a problem? • Was the content too hard or did you go through it too quickly for the students to understand? • How was your time management? • Were directions confusing or rushed? • Did the lesson rely on background knowledge that the students may not have had? If answering the questions still leaves you unsure why your lesson did not go well, ask your cooperating teacher. Even if the teacher was not present during the lesson, he or she knows the classes well enough to give insights on what may have been the problem. Once you have identified the problem and determined an adequate solution, teach the lesson again. An effective teacher must be flexible and willing to adjust lessons. Chances are that once you’ve found the problem, it will go much better the second time around. |