Working with a Student Teacher

Since we came back from winter break at the beginning of January, I have been working with a student teacher. This week, she began taking over all of my classes and writing her own lesson plans. I am really excited to work with her, and she is doing a great job already.

I hope to help her to have a fabulous experience. This is the first time I have hosted a student teacher. So, I was wondering if you could help me with some thoughts or reflections.

  • What was the best (or worst) part of your student teaching?
  • What do you wish you had learned as a student teacher?
  • If you have hosted a student teacher, what advice do you have for others working with student teachers?
  • Do you have a fun story about student teaching?

Thanks for sharing!

By Janelle

Space geek, science nerd extraordinaire. That's me! Want to know more, visit the About page.

5 comments

  1. I had two very good student teaching experiences. Both of my supervising teachers let me into their classrooms and gave me freedom to move within that setting. They offered encouragement and constructive suggestions. I remember most the questions that made me think about why I chose to do something or how else I could approach something. I hosted a student teacher once early in my career. She said it was a good experience, but I wish I had known more at the time. Good luck with your experience!

  2. G’day Janelle,
    I have had many student teachers in my 30+ years of teaching.

    The last one, who I had last year, had not used technology very much in her pre-service course, so we kept in touch using Google docs. Even though she was secondary trained in English/SOSE – (history, geography etc), she still attended my IT lessons to see where she could use IT in her other classes.

    When having student teachers,I have them doing the roll call from day 2 and when they feel comfortable taking lessons, go for it. Have plenty of time to discuss at the end of the day – what went well, how could things have been improved etc

    Have the student teacher keep a behaviour management type diary – how did they deal with problems, how could that be improved, what would they have in their class rules etc.

    If they are a student in their last prac before graduating as a teacher, I usually have them treat the class as their own. I am there in the background but they start as if it was the beginning of the year and they were their new class – set rules, expectations etc.

    I am pretty strict in what I expect in my classes so sometimes I leave the room for a few minutes rather than sit in the background or in my office. This allows the student teacher to really find out about the class – warts and all.

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