Effective Tips >>

Some Tips for Success

Master Teacher
You will need to balance conflicting demands, beliefs, ideas, and issues. If you are lucky, you will be with a master / cooperative teacher who will provide you with a positive and rewarding learning experience. However, that is not always the case and you will need to do whatever is necessary to get through the experience. You can do it and then you will be in your own classroom to teach the way that is best for you.

Guest Teacher
You are the guest and you will need to wait to teach and to plan with your goals and ideas. This is not your class and the Master teacher will set the plan. Set realistic goals that are attainable within the time you will be in this class. A good master teacher will help you.
Meet the cooperating teacher as soon as possible after you receive your assignment. Visit the classroom to learn more about the teacher's style and find out about supplies in advance. Ask questions. Ask for help. Your College Supervisor should also be a resource for you.

PR (public relations)
Keep an open mind.
Keep your mouth shut.
Listen carefully
Remember that you are a guest in the classroom and that you are there to learn.
Even when the cooperating teacher disagrees with you, try to learn from the experience. Listen to the suggestions given.
This is a full full time job. Learn from the experience.
*Take initiative in helping out with things in the classroom.
*Ask if there are tasks you can assist with.
* Never make negative comments about students, other teachers, or the school
*Stay focused and positive.
*Keep communication open between your cooperating teacher and yourself. Speak to the teacher daily.
*Discuss any problems/successes you are having.
*Share ideas/feelings early, especially if you are uncomfortable about something.
*Ask for help with curriculum and lesson plans. This is a learning experience. You are not expected to know everything.
*Learn your rights as a student teacher. This includes knowing whether you can request another assignment and knowing what to do if you are unable to go to the school because of illness or interviews.

Time Management
Now is the time to perfect your time management skills. You will be:
*planning lessons
*grading papers
*conferencing with students
*contacting parents
*hopefully there will be some time to spend with friends and family. (But don't count on it!!)
Use every second of time wisely.
You will be exhausted..that's normal!

Reality
Student Teachers often have an idealized idea of what teaching is like.
Student teachers are often frustrated by "things" that take up time during the school day:
* lunch count
* attendance
* announcements
* fire drills
* class transitions
* coordinating schedules
* students coming and going for music, chorus, library, etc.
* photocopying handouts
* bus duty
* meeting
* monitoring the halls
* communicating with colleagues
* phone calls to/from parents
* actual teaching represents only a fraction of a day

Student teachers must also learn to balance theory and practice.
You must now use what you've learned from preparation courses to design practical classroom activities. Teacher education courses introduce the theories of cooperative learning and inclusion. But, you need to know how to plan group work to ensure each student learns and works as a team.
You must learn to be an authority figure. You need to find a way to establish rapport with students.

Students
Get to know your students as soon as possible.
Learn something about each student. Be sure you know which students have special needs or need to be treated in special ways.
Learn how to deal with various personalities.

Lessons
Make your first impression a confident and positive one.
Plan well. Plan well. Plan well. Plan well. Plan well.
Over plan! Over plan! Over plan! Over plan!
Be realistic about what you want to achieve with the class.
Use a variety of teaching strategies in the classroom.
Use:
lectures
reading
discussions
note taking
worksheets
games
role playing
individual work
group work
Have a specific discipline plan for the classroom that is coordinated with your cooperating teacher.
Know the school's rules about discipline.
Have a good sense of humor.
Be flexible. A lot of teaching is trial and error.
What works for one class may not work for another one.
Be organized.
Share your ideas.
Be ready to fail.
Be ready to make mistakes and to admit them.
Make copies of everything. Everything you do and everything your master teacher will share with you. Collect as much as you can from as many teachers as you can. The more resources you have the easier your first position will be. You can revise someone else's ideas to meet your own needs.
Get organized! Make sure you are ready for each day.
Be ready to think on your feet.

Find out how much your cooperating teacher will want you to follow his lesson plans. Every cooperating teacher is different. Some want you to follow his lesson plans and others encourage you to come up with your own. Find this out early.

Professionalism
Don't expect to have much of a life outside of student teaching.
Beginning teachers need almost every waking moment to be prepared for the classroom.
Say good-bye to television.
Say good-bye to late-nights.
You need to prepare and you need sleep.
That is all you have time for!
Remember, student teaching is preparing you for the work force.
You must consider this a real job.
* That means be on time or early every day.
* Don't call in sick.
* Go to teacher's meetings.
* Treat others with respect and do your best to get along with everyone. You need good recommendations to get a job.
* Attendance and attitudes can become the factors that separate the employed and the unemployed! .
* Listen to your master teacher
* Try new ideas. Run it by your master teacher.
The lesson may not work but you will learned from failures. Analyze what went wrong and what was needed to make it successful. Keep notes. Try again.
* Dress Professionally

Networking
*Ask for recommendations of other teachers you should observe to give you an idea of other grade levels.
*Get an emergency credential. This will permit you to sub for your master teacher if the need arises.
* Sign up to substitute in the schools as soon as your student teaching is completed, even if it is only for a few weeks.
*Visit other classes, schools, districts.
* Go to Back to School Night at as many schools as possible
* Go to Open House at as many schools as possible
*Talk to as many teachers as possible