lhARTz 01/04/2013 at 12:36pm
I''m only in my 2nd year teaching so haven't had this experience yet either. BUT, I remember from being a student teacher what I liked about the teachers I worked with.

My teachers were always giving me samples of their handouts or e-mailing me their digital files they used. They allowed me to be as creative and brave as I wanted to be, with giving me a few pointers on how to achieve my end goal. So I'd suggest for you to be open to their ideas.

If you have a set curriculum you usually do at a certain time, try not to force that. One of my cooperating teachers made me teach what he usually taught and I hated it because I would have never taught it the way he did.

Leave the room as often as you can. I enjoyed my cooperating teachers help, but felt more comfortable when no one was really watching or paying attention to my every move. Except of course when being formally evaluated.

Give a lot of positive feedback. but if something negative needs to be addressed, be open and honest about it. A student teacher needs to hear where they need improvements, whether they can handle the critisism or not. A good teachers recognizes their faults and works to correct them.

If you remember your hardest part about student teaching, it's probably the same as mine... classroom management and discipline. Give your student teacher as much advice as possible in these areas!! The art part is easy. The other stuff can be tricky.

I hope this helps, even though I've never had a student teacher!!

ArtKat0508 01/08/2013 at 05:52pm
thanks. I tend to be a bit bossy. My student teacher is really great with the kids so far but she doesn't seem to have any ideas of her own about what it is she wants to teach when their current lesson is over. Maybe I just need to stop make suggestions and give her a chance to think.

AmyHall 01/09/2013 at 05:16pm
I had a student teacher last year and loved the experience. It was difficult for me to step back and I wanted to jump in to help, but had to force myself to let her handle it.. and she always did, she was wonderful!

Be supportive and encouraging, but let her figure things out... unless she really needs you.

I remember my student teacher well... I grew a lot during that time because my cooperating teacher gave me the space to think for myself and learn from my mistakes.

mrscmjones 01/09/2013 at 05:17pm
When I student taught over 20 years ago at a high school the teacher asked me what my strengths were by asking what I liked to do. During the discussion he gave me the classes that best suited me. When it turned out that i was actually working with another class more he allowed me to teach that one.
I appreciated him so much because he was able to hold onto his ego and let me teach what he didn't know in the interest of students having a broader exposure. When I wasn't teaching I was observing and helping students when they asked. I also appreciated how this eased me into my responsibilities. I was teaching students within the first week informally, and by the second totally with lesson plans.

From a mentor perspective- aid your student teacher in any way they need. Be honest but kind. Share what ever you can. Play up on strengths and make suggestions for weaknesses. There is nothing worse that making another adult look bad in the eyes of students intentionally or not. Praise is always good as well as specific feedback.

This is your time to shie as well because you have the oportunity to share the best of yourself to someone jsut about ready to come intothe teaching profession.

MrsImpey 01/19/2013 at 06:37pm
I haven't had a student teacher of my own, but I have worked with the last two student teachers the high school teacher had. Both were required to teach one class at the elementary level during their high school student teachign time. Anyways, I hate to say it, but they were the worst student teachers I've ever witnessed! Not to toot my own horn, but I aced my student teaching and graduated with quite a few other art teachers who aced theirs as well. The quality of work was completely different!

The best advice I can give is to make sure you understand and know what the student teachers are being required to do during their student teaching experience. Are they supposed to be creating visual rubrics? Complete lesson plans or units? What formats should they be using? What does their supervisor expect of them?

Make sure you know so that you can keep them on their toes and don't let them be lazy about things like grammer in their lesson planning (it was unbelievable what the last student teacher spelled wrong in his lesson plans!) I know it probably sounds harsh, but the way I see it, art teaching jobs are very hard to come by in quite a few states...we should make sure we are educating valuable art teachers to fill those positions when they come up. I know that if I ever lost my job and had to re-interview, I would be very upset if I didn't get the job and I was up against the last student teacher that was at my school!

In my experience, student teaching was almost twice as hard as being a teacher because you were expected to cram a lot of stuff into a 10-week experience! I had to write various papers, attend class once a week for three hours in the evening, create a visual portfolio, make two visual rubrics, write a journal, create an on-line teaching portfolio, and create a piece of art based on my experience as a student teacher.

So again, make sure you really understand what they are being expected to complete during their student teaching experience. Offer any advice you can, but don't do the work for them either.