What to Expect as a Student Teacher

Here are some tips that might help new student teachers as they take their first tentative steps out into the field.

Step1 First of all. . . you have to begin somewhere. NONE of your education classes have REALLY prepared you for the reality. Get that straight in your mind now. Resign to the fact that right now, its OK not to know what to do or how to start.

Step2 Your cooperating teacher won't expect much from you for your first few days. All you will need to do is observe. Your cooperating teacher will give you directions on specific things that she/he wants you to do. You might expect to help a small group of students during centers time (if you are working in an elementary classroom), run some copies, help with a bulletin board, correct some papers, deliver kids to PE and lunch, etc. It is likely that your cooperating teacher might not know quite what to do with you at first. Please don't take this personally or as a sign they don't want you there. If it is their first time, they will likely not quite be able to articulate things outside of their own head. They are so used to having to multitask and do everything that it might take a day or to for them to start giving you some real independent tasks. Just go in ready to listen and watch and willing to follow explicit directions. You will likely be just sitting in the back of the room a lot of the time not knowing quite what to do. That's normal. You might want to take some notes about good ideas that you see that you could use in your own future classroom, or write down things that you have questions about to ask the teacher later.

Step3 During the 2nd week, you can probably expect to be leading small groups using lessons that the cooperating teacher has made. You won't need so much coaching and you will be able to anticipate what the teacher needs a bit more. By this point, you will have "soaked up" some more of the routines and will have gotten to know which students need help and need to be checked upon.

Step4 During the latter half of the second week and into the third week, you can expect to take over lessons in one subject area or a smattering of lessons across different subject areas. You and your cooperating teacher will likely set aside specific times that are "yours" to teach a particular subject.

Step5 By the 4th week, you will be about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way through your student teaching experience. You will be close to taking over completely at this point. Show your cooperating teacher your lessons ahead of time. They will be a good judge of how much time lessons will take which will help you in your planning. Your cooperating teacher will likely still be providing resources for you to use from his/her own stash of stuff. You and your cooperating teacher will kind of trade roles at this point. The teacher will be observing and helping you instead of the other way around.

Step6 By the last couple of weeks, you really will start feeling comfortable and will have settled into the routines. It is important to allow your cooperating teacher to continue with their classroom procedures and routines and to NOT totally revamp everything. You will have a chance to try these things out when you get your own classroom. You might want to talk to your cooperating teacher about your ideas, as they may have tried them too and might have something to say about their success or failure with the technique.

Step7 You WILL be overwhelmed at first. It WILL get better. Be sure to jot down websites your cooperating teacher used frequently. Find out what magazines and sites that require subscriptions they use to find out which are worthwhile. Record titles of books that the teacher uses. Remember, the district that hires you later on might be very different from where you are doing your student teaching, so be prepared to start from square one AGAIN as a new teacher.