Dear Student Teacher,
I’ve been exactly where you are. I can still remember walking into my first placement on the first day and feeling overwhelmed and excited at the same time. I was fortunate enough to have a positive experience in both of my student teaching placements. The following advice is for you in hopes that it will make your experiences positive as well.
Be On Time
You should be at school every morning (even before your cooperating teacher arrives). Your promptness and attendance paints a picture of how you will be in the future. Your mentor teacher will notice; other teachers, the principal, secretary, custodian, and/or upper administration will notice as well. It is better to show up sick and let them send you home then to call in even one day! Always try to show that you are willing to go the extra mile even if you aren’t feeling 100%. Don’t let a diagnosis or label be an excuse for not giving your all. There are more eyes on you than you might think. Show them your very best.
Be Present
Put your phone away and ask to be involved in everything. Your review depends on more than the lessons you teach. Talk to the students; ask them about their interests. Try and help a struggling kid or just be an obvious positive presence in the classroom. If you notice misbehavior- speak up! The students will view you as an authority figure. That mindset will be a benefit during your placement. Ask to go to extra meetings, attend after school events, or volunteer for a school wide event. Seek out ways to participate in your placement other than in the classroom.
Take Notes
You will learn more in the next few weeks than the entirety of your schooling to get you here. Now is when your “feet are to the fire”. Take advantage. Take notes, a lot of notes. Journal everyday about what you see, what you do, and all the positives and negatives of the experience. You will look at your notes again and they will hopefully bring you inspiration. Grab extra copies of lessons, worksheets, assessments. They will provide support for you in the future when you are recreating the wheel in your own classroom. If possible, set up a cloud based drive and “dump” as much as you can into it. The drive will become a home base for everything you experience. In my day, I had a copy paper box. I’m thrilled that technology has evolved to make your experience easier. Take advantage of the tech!
Ask Questions
Your mentor teacher and supervisor are there to help you learn through doing. Ask a question before you get into a situation where you are being observed or make a mistake. All the things you do in your student teaching should be learning experiences. Asking questions ahead of time can hopefully help lessen the painful experiences. There aren’t any stupid questions. There is a lot of educational jargon and acronyms. If your teacher (or another) says something you don’t understand, ask for clarification. It’s better to get it clarified than to waste your brain energy trying to decipher what what said.
Student Teaching is a Job
Consider your student teaching to be a real job! Even though you are not getting paid for your student teaching, you should take it just as seriously. Take it all in and be as professional as you have ever been. Make sure your paying jobs and social life don’t interfere with your student teaching experience. This experience will be approximately 5 months of your life. How you conduct yourself during those 5 months can have lifelong consequences; do everything in your power to ensure the consequences are positive. Your hard work will pay off later.
Now is the time! Take advantage of every opportunity to spread your wings! Learn from your experience and someday you can have your own student teacher read this letter, too.
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