Student Teachers 101

Chapter 1: To Ask or Not Ask, That is the Question

Where is my classroom? How do I put in grades? Where do I go for professional development?  These are just a few of the many questions that your student teacher will have on any given day. Let’s face it; being in a new school for the first time is quite overwhelming for student teachers. There are so many questions that they have no clue as to what the answer may be. This chapter will discuss how cooperating teacers can thoroughly answer the multitude of questions that students teachers will have on a daily basis.  Suggestions will be given on how CTs should address all the questions that will be thrown their way, especially the first few days.  

Chapter 2: Did that Seriously Just Happen?

Students up out of their seats; students sharpening pencils during lecture; tardies, tardies, and more tardies; talking without raising hands; the list could go on forever. These are just a few of the issues that a student teacher will face on a daily basis.  So how can a cooperating teacher help a student teacher successfully solve these problems? This chapter will focus on how cooperating teachers can help student teachers become familiar and comfortable with rules and procedures.  Chapter two will give specific examples of different rules and procedures that should be explained to a student teacher. It also gives advice on how to make your expectations clear without being domineering. For a student teacher it can be quite intimidating taking over someone else’s class; multiple suggestions will be provided in this chapter to help you calm some of the nerves your student teacher will experience.

Chapter 3: Prepare? Shoot, I’ll Just Wing It

Let’s be honest, lesson planning can be an absolute nightmare for a student teacher. It’s time consuming, stressful, and just one of the many things on an ever growing checklist. However, as a student teacher it is absolutely necessary to be well prepared and have lesson plans done in advance. Student teachers often find difficulty in deciding what they should be teaching and when they should be teaching particular units.  This chapter will focus on how CTs can successfully work with their student teachers to plan upcoming units. No, student teachers don’t need you to create the entire unit but they need guidance along the way. Throughout chapter three there will be advice on how to co-plan successfully.

Chapter 4: Communication is the Key to Success

For a student teacher to be successful there needs to be great communication going on with the CT. When CTs and student teachers stop talking is when things can quickly go south.  Chapter four focuses on how CTs can effectively communicate with their student teachers.  How to provide adequate feedback will take up the majority of this chapter because student teachers need to know if they are on the right track. Suggestions will also be given on how to effectively give positive feedback.

Chapter 5: Not in Front of the Students Please

Making mistakes is a part of student teaching. Yes, student teachers will mess up and mistakes will occur more than once.  However, it is important that CTs do not call out mistakes in front of the students.  Chapter five will discuss how to tactfully approach a student teacher when a mistake is made.  This chapter also discusses the importance of providing constructive criticism away from the students and in a private setting.  Appropriate times and places will be addressed throughout the chapter to help give CTs an idea of when and where to address certain issues. 

Letter to Me

Dear Heidi,

It’s January 2010 and you have decided to make a change in your career path and go back to school to get another degree. I know you are hesitant and questioning whether this is the right decision; well it is so stop doubting yourself. Two years until graduation seems like a lifetime away but it will go fast; I promise.

My first piece of advice is to pay attention in your CORE Education classes.  They may seem boring at times and you will probably think you will never need to know all this information but you will. Don’t feel overwhelmed by the course work, especially the FERs. It is not as bad as it seems and you will get through it just fine. Manage your time wisely. You will be taking 16-18 hours a semester, coaching, and working. Don’t let all the stress bring you down. Stay organized and have fun when you can.

You will be nervous at the beginning of your last semester when you will be doing your student teaching. There will be times when you think that there will be no way you can do this, but you can.  You will actually have a better experience than you could ever imagine. Yes, some of your placements at the beginning will be a let-down, but in the end you will end up where you were meant to be. You will learn more during your last semester than all the semesters combined.

In all honesty, student teaching will be the least stressful time. Yes, there will be times you struggle and feel like you have no clue what you’re doing. However, the Praxis, KPTP, and the job search will be things that begin to bring you down. Don’t let the Praxis stress you out. You will pass it and everything will be ok. It is overwhelming and a hard test but go in prepared and you will do fine. The KPTP, well that just sucks and there is no way to avoid it. It is the most time consuming assignment you will ever do. Do not put it off until the last minute. Begin working on it in January.  Break it down and do a little every week and you will thank yourself in the end.  Make a goal to finish it before spring break. Finally, there is a little thing called the job search. This will be an extremely stressful time. You will be disappointed; you will worry. Yet, in the end everything will work out. You will find a job and end up at a place where you would have never thought. You WILL find a job. Don’t stay awake until the wee hours of the night worrying.

You can do this.

HD

Creative Writing...not so scary after all:)

More and more I am starting to feel comfortable teaching. I am not as nervous as I first was and I feel as though I am learning a lot. My CT is very supportive and always provides helpful suggestions to guide me along my way. Technology is something that my CT always incorporates into her lessons which has influenced me to use more technology. Now I am using the smart board for almost every lesson which has been a big success; the students enjoy the interactive activities.

We just finished our unit on creative writing which to my amazement went rather smoothly. I personally had never done much creative writing so I was extremely nervous about this unit. Catching the students’ attention on a daily basis is always a struggle so I knew that I needed an activity to start with that would be exciting, or at least interesting.  Therefore, I decided to open with creative writing circles. The students were split into two groups and each person within the circle got a different prompt. Students had around three minutes to read the prompt and then begin to create a story based off of the prompt. When time was up the students passed their papers to the left.  We followed the same procedure for all nine prompts. Each time a paper was passed to the left the student had to add their own take on the story. We shared the stories that the groups believed to be the best. The students were really able to get creative and construct some fabulous stories. Most importantly they wrote for a solid hour. Something I am sure several of them have never done.  After this class period we spent time discussing how to develop plot, character, and suspense. I made it a point to really break down these elements into examples that the students could understand and relate to. I used pictures, movies, and books to help students relate to the different concepts. Sometimes I feel like teachers just tell us to write but don’t actually teach us how to write; therefore, I am doing my best to teach writing.

In April I will be starting my unit on poetry…ahhh! This is where I need help from my classmates. Poetry is by far my biggest weakness; I am extremely nervous. I will have approximately two weeks to teach my unit and the one area I feel semi-comfortable with is the Harlem Renaissance Era. However, I am not for sure how to teach poetry. What activities can you incorporate into a poetry lesson? Just simply reading poems for two weeks is not something I want nor do I suspect the kids would want. So how can I teach a variety of poems but make it more interactive and interesting? Any ideas or suggestions would be awesome!

Gaining their Trust

Over six weeks have gone by since my first day as a student teacher, and boy have I learned a lot in a short amount of time.  I must say that I am truly enjoying my time.  I completed my first unit on Monday which was over compare and contrast essays.  We started off by learning the different ways to structure a compare and contrast essay.  We read several stories and used graphic organizers to expand on ideas. This was for my Senior College Prep Class and overall it was rather successful.  Grading essays is definitely a process but so far it appears that the students understand how to structure a compare and contrast essay as well as create a thesis and develop ideas.  However, I was a little disturbed with the students’ inability to put sentences correctly together. Sentence fragments and run-ons appear to be a problem across the board. Yet, I was pleased with their ability to follow instructions and structure the essay in a trait by trait format.

However, I am wondering whether anyone else has difficulty getting their students to turn assignments in on time.  Out of 34 students I only had 10 students turn their papers in on time. 10 STUDENTS!! This seems extremely crazy to me. They had plenty of time to write the paper and were even given class time to complete their rough draft.  This just does not make sense to me. My CT does enforce the late policy which is an automatic 20% loss if not turned in on time, but this does not seem to faze my kids whatsoever. Does anyone else have problems getting their students to turn their work in on time?

My biggest issue with student teaching deals with the fact that the students do not see me as “the teacher”.  Heck I do not even feel like these are my classes and my rules. I am always extremely anxious to step on my CT’s toes, and it is hard to enforce rules that my CT does not make the students follow. Now don’t get me wrong, my students have never been disrespectful in any way but I feel like trust is lacking. For the most part, when I give a suggestion or an answer the students take it and move along; however, there are a few who will look to my CT for confirmation. I understand why they do this but it still can be bothersome.   For me, I think it is hard to adapt into an environment that does not truly belong to me.  This makes me extremely excited to get my own classroom in the near future.  The trust continues to grow as the days go by; yet, I wish it would grow faster!

My First Month as a Student Teacher

I have almost completed my third week as a student teacher, and I have already learned so much. My biggest concern during the first few weeks was learning an abundant amount of new names, and I thought learning 20 names was difficult! Luckily, I have conquered the name game. Starting early ended up being a great decision.  Of course it would have been nice to have that extra week of having no cares in the world, but in the end, starting early worked to my benefit.  The first week or so can be difficult and overwhelming.  There are so many new students, colleagues, procedures and so forth that you have to become accustomed to.  The extra time definitely helped me make a smoother transition.    

For the last couple of weeks I have mainly been observing and helping with small group lessons.  I am feeling more comfortable working with the students as each day passes. My CT and I have organized a schedule of the upcoming lessons I will be teaching.  My first unit will be teaching how to write a compare and contrast essay for my college prep students. This will be a two week unit which I will start next week. My materials are prepared, and I am ready to get started; yet, I am a little bit nervous!

English Honors 3 is the other class I will be working with.  However, they will be starting Academy soon which helps prepare them for the State Assessment.  This means I will not start teaching until after spring break. Hopefully, my college prep classes will help get me ready for the second half of the semester.  With my juniors, we will be reading Raisin in the Sun and then we will move onto a poetry unit.  I am really excited about reading Raisin in the Sun, but I am extremely nervous about teaching poetry. Poetry is definitely not my strength so if anyone has any advice I would love to hear from you.  I would really like to do so poetry from the Harlem Renaissance era.

The next few months will go by in a blur, and I am excited to see what they bring.

Where has the Semester Gone?

I cannot believe this semester is almost over. It feels as though I am just getting settled in and it is already time to move on to the next chapter. Well, this I do know, there is still so much more I want to learn.  The first several weeks I spent most of my time observing my CT and becoming familiar with her teaching methods.  I did my lesson a few weeks ago and ever since then I feel so much more comfortable in the classroom.  I feel like I have made connections with the students and I learn something new every day.    

My CT has been very supportive during these last few months.  She is always willing to help answer any question that I may have, and she is quick to reassure that everyone questions themselves, especially when first getting started.

My CT also incorporates a lot of technology into her classroom. I love the fact that she does this and is not afraid to try new things.  She uses her smart board everyday for some type of activity.  She mainly uses it for power points and review games.  The students, even though they are seniors, really do enjoy the review games. She is really good at mixing things up as well.  The last few weeks we have been reading Hamlet and she always finds different ways to learn the text.  We will read out loud as a class, we will listen to the play off of a CD, and she will also show video clips of the play being performed.  I find this method to work really well.  It is easy for students to lose focus when the only thing they do is read out of a book, but with the different methods it helps keep the students more intrigued.

The one concern I do have is that my kids are too good! Of course they can be talkative and you have to remind them every once in awhile to stay on task, but otherwise I have not seen one discipline problem.  This is a senior English class so I know that they just want to get their work done and graduate, but I also know that this is not the norm.  Does anyone else have a similar situation?  I am glad that my kids are well behaved and for the most part participate rather well, but I do know that I am not getting the advantage of seeing how teachers handle discipline problems. 

KATE Conference

I must be honest, when I was told that we would be attending the KATE Conference I was not jumping out of my seat with excitement.  I was not for sure what to expect or if I would even come away with any beneficial information. Therefore, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I learned.

Before Thursday, I knew nothing about the keynotes speakers for the day. I knew the titles of their books and that was about it.  However, through the short time we spent together I learned a lot about them.  I found it very easy to connect with Clare Vanderpool.  She seemed very personable and down to earth.  I love that she doesn’t take herself too seriously and I liked how she shared stories with the audience about how her family and friends keep her grounded.  The one thing that I found inspiring about Clare is her ambition.  She never gave up on her dream even though it took her over a decade to achieve it.  She was told no repeatedly; yet, she didn’t let rejection stop her from doing what she loves.  Instead, she kept pushing through the hard times and never gave up.  It felt as though everyone had a connection with Clare. Whether it was because she is from Wichita or just her approachable personality, it is fair to say that it felt as though she was speaking directly to you. 

Jay Asher was also inspiring.  He experienced rejection just like Clare Vanderpool and he was also willing to share his struggles with the audience.  I loved how he shared a few rejection letters to show his journey. He never gave up on his dream even though he was rejected 12 TIMES.  Another thing I enjoyed about Jay Asher was how he explained his thought process for creating 13 Reasons.  The audience was able to learn where he came up with the idea for the book as well as he reasons for writing it.   

The first break out session I attended was how to survive the first five years of teaching.  I thought this was a beneficial session to attend.  The first few years of teaching have got to be extremely overwhelming so any type of advice is always a plus.  Several different things were discussed from what supplies to have, to seating arrangements, and how to appropriately plan for a substitute.  The session also provided several handouts and templates for lesson plans, letters to parents, how to conduct teacher-parent conferences and so forth.

The second session I found to be the most helpful was utilizing iPods and i-phones in the classroom.  This session discussed how to use technology that kids are already using, within a class setting.  She gave the positives as well as the negatives of using i-phones and iPods. Some of the positives included how it helps students stay focused, limits talking, and most importantly it allows for a different method of learning.  The negatives that were discussed included cheating, students listening to inappropriate music, surfing the web, and texting.  Yet, the positives seem to outweigh the negatives (and most of the negatives can be avoided with teacher supervision). During the session several different apps were shown that could be used in the classroom. Some of the apps that were discussed were Voice Memos, Dictionary.com, Google, iBooks, Flashcards, No Fear Shakespeare, B-Rhymes, Dragon Dictation, and Speller just to name a few. 

Overall, I enjoyed the KATE Conference. I found it to be informative and I came away with several things I would like to incorporate into my classroom someday.