Student teaching: you’ve taken a fair amount of education classes, and now it’s time to jump in and give it a try. The beauty of student teaching is that you are given a guide, a cooperating teacher, and it’s typically a gradual release model. However, student teaching is a short and important opportunity to get your feet wet as a new teacher. Here are 6 ways to make the most of your student teaching experience.
6 Ways to Make the Most of Your Student Teaching Experience
1. Watch, Listen, and Learn
You (hopefully) have learned a lot about teaching through your education classes, but an actual, real live classroom is a whole different ballgame. The first thing you should do as a student teacher is to watch, listen, and learn as much as possible.
Look around the room at the classroom environment. Take pictures and notes of how things are set up and organized. These will be so helpful when you begin setting up your own classroom. Veteran teachers can tell you exactly why the everything in their room is set up in a specific way, and making note will save you headaches in the future.
Listen to the way your cooperating teacher speaks to her students and vise versa. Listen to how students speak and interact with each other. Make note of classroom routines and procedures, and be sure to write down what you see is working and what you might want to change in your own classroom.
2. Ask All the Questions
As you’re watching, listening, and learning, ask as many questions as you can. Ask WHY the folders are organized like this and HOW she decided to set up her centers like that. Ask, ask, ask and make note of the things that make sense to you. Sometimes things are presented one way in your education classes, but in the field, it may not really work how your professiors presented it.
This goes both ways. If you see a practice that doesn’t seem to work or make sense, ask about it. Maybe the teacher doesn’t realize it’s not working, OR maybe it was working even less before, so she’s trying to figure it out. Be sure to be respectful when you ask, but don’t hesitate to bring your questions to your mentor.
3. Observe Other Classrooms, Grades, and Teachers
Depending on how your program is set up, this might be built right into it. However, if it’s not, ask to observe other classrooms and other teachers. If you’re student teaching in first grade, spend time in the other first grade classrooms, check out a kindergarten class, a second grade class, and even upper elementary if you can. Observe specials teachers (I’ve learned amazing techniques from PE, art, and music teachers!).
Maybe you think you love first grade, but you might realize fifth grade is pretty awesome as well. Maybe you think your students should know more, but realize after observing a grade level up, they’re doing just fine. This also lets you see other teachers in action besides just your mentor teacher. Every teacher has strengths and weaknesses, so seeing other teachers in action can teach you so much. Additionally, observing other grades, classes, and teachers gives a much wider perspective of the education process as a whole.
4. Try New Things and Ask for Feedback
When it’s your turn to start teaching and take over, try new things. This is the perfect time to take some risks and see what happens. You have the safety net of your cooperating teacher to help you if things really go awry, so take some chances!
That might mean trying things different from what the classroom teacher is doing, and that’s totally okay. I just don’t recommend changing every single thing all at once. Instead, try changing one thing at a time. If things work, great! If they don’t, it’s okay. You can always change it back or try something else new.
As you try new things, ask for feedback. Your mentor teacher might have suggestions as to how you can improve an idea, or might caution you against trying something for one reason or another. Or, you might inspire them and help them see things in a whole new way!
My one caution, besides not trying to change too many things as once, is to try things for a reason. Don’t simply change a routine that’s working just because. Look for areas in routine, procedures, and instruction that aren’t working as well as they could be and start there.
5. Act Like a Professional
Even though you’re not being paid for student teaching, it’s super important to take it seriously. You should treat every day of your experience like it’s your job. It’s important to do your best and be professional for the students. They deserve a teacher, even a student teacher, who is all in. It’s also important because the administrators are often watching student teachers to see if they’re a good fit for the school in the future. Who knows. Maybe you’ll end up beginning your career there!
6. Focus on Curriculum, Not Fluff
Student teaching is the perfect time to start off on the right foot in your pedagogy. There is nothing wrong with a lesson, activity, or project being cute, BUT cute should never be the point. I cringe when I think of some of the activities I had my students complete during student teaching and my first year of teaching because it was cute. Sure, I might have been able to tell you we were doing it to teach/practice/review a particular skill, but there were better ways to do it. Again, there is nothing wrong with an activity being cute, but the focus, goal, and outcome needs to be learning.
4 Student Teaching No-No’s
Now that we’ve talked about what TO DO, let’s quickly talk about what to avoid.
- Do not be late. This goes along with be professional, but I can not stress this enough. It’s rude, it looks bad, and as a teacher, you can’t roll up to school late. Obviously, sometimes emergencies happen, but find out when your mentor teacher gets to school, and aim to get there at the same time.
- Do not try to be “a cool kid”. I’m all about building relationships and finding common group with students. However, don’t get that confused with trying to be cool. Don’t dress like a student, don’t try to talk like a student… don’t try to fit in. This can be a particularly slippery slope in middle and high school (but even in upper elementary as well). Students need to feel cared for, loved, respected, and safe. They don’t need to see you as their BFF.
- Don’t be afraid to speak up. Although you’re there to learn, it’s most likely been a while since your cooperating teacher has been in college. You might have learned some amazing new techniques, or just have fresh ideas because you haven’t taught the same thing 35 times. If you have an idea or a suggestion, don’t hesitate to share it. Student teaching should be a learning experience for everyone involved.
- Do not give up. Student teaching is hard. Some days you’ll feel like you have no idea what you’re doing. Some days you’ll question if teaching is for you. That’s normal and totally okay. But, don’t give up. Stick it out through the end of your student teaching experience. If you’re struggling, talk to your mentor (either in the classroom or at your college) or other students.
So, there you have it! I wish you the best of luck on your student teaching experience. Embrace it, learn, and grow!
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