I have a student teacher starting with me tomorrow, and I'm a little nervous. I am concerned that my schedule will be overwhelming, with all of the crazy travel, even though his college supervisor thinks it will be good for him to experience (since these are the kinds of jobs music teachers often end up in when they first start working). I also remember LOVING my cooperating teacher when I was student teaching, and I want to make sure I offer the same valuable experience to the guy coming to work with me.
Do any of you have suggestions, either for me or for my student teacher, on how to create the best possible experience for him? What are some of the qualities you most appreciated in your own cooperating teachers? (Or things that drove you CRAZY about them?) What are things you wish someone had told you when you were beginning your student teaching experience?
I have two suggestions:
ReplyDeleteFirst, it was extremely helpful when my cooperating teacher told me WHY they were doing what they were doing. With out the explanation I would often not understand the purpose of what she was doing and once she told me why I was more open to trying some of her methods.
Second, be extremely honest with them. It was nice to know for interviews some of the politics, behind the scenes, things to avoid things not to say, etc. It was nice to hear honestly what kinds of things most teachers struggle with and way to avoid that.
Any free resources were great too ;o) Good Luck!
Both my cooperating teachers showered me with resources and lesson plans and projects that I could use. Make sure to open up your computer files and unload some of those great lessons. I also found it more helpful when my cooperating teacher was actually watching and observing me even if they were not required to. I understand you want the student teacher to feel independent without someone constantly watching, but give them some space, but also come in after a class or lesson and really have a conversation about what went well, what didn't, what would you do next time, here is what I might have tried. Also, be open and human about the experience and try to remember when you were a student teacher. Good Luck!!
ReplyDeleteI appreciated my cooperating teachers allowing me to decide when I wanted to hold the reins and run the classroom. I liked observing them and how they set up and run their classroom. I would share strategies you use for classroom management, obtaining materials/turning them in, attention grabbers. I agree with the free resources, those are always great. I would share how you log daily points, or what are efficient ways to track student progress. I would share how you use technology in your classroom, since this is such a huge part of our students' lives.
ReplyDeleteI had two fantastic cooperating teachers. Both of them were good at slowly releasing the various responsibilities to me so I had plenty of time to observe, but also plenty of time teaching. As others have said, they also shared their resources. One even gave me time during my last week to look through files of lessons I didn't teach and make copies. I have used some of these since I have had my own classroom and am very grateful for them!
ReplyDeleteI also appreciated the fact that they let me make mistakes. There were a couple of times when I think they knew something in my lesson wasn't going to work. Instead of telling me, they let me figure it out on my own. Later, when we would talk about the lesson, they would share their thoughts and ideas for improvements.
The only thing I really didn't appreciate was being babied. My second cooperating teacher started off treating me a bit like I didn't know anything. At one point she sat me down to show me how to use a plan book (which I had figured out all on my own). That quickly got cleared up, and I appreciated the level of attention, but it was a little too much.