Advice for Future Student Teachers

Student teaching is a great experience and you will learn so much. Here is some advice that will help you throughout the semester:

• Get to know your students. The kids are the best part of student teaching and the more you can connect with them, the better your experience will be. Knowing your students interests and learning styles will help you to make the most of your lessons and discussions in the class. Take every opportunity you have to talk with your students and get to know them, you never know what you may learn each day.
  

• Experiment with lessons. No matter how long you have been teaching, there are always new and interesting ways you can present a lesson. Take advice from your cooperative teacher whenever they offer it, but don't be afraid to think outside the box and teach your coop new things as well.
  

• Be prepared and ready for school everyday. Always know what you are going to talk about and do not show your personal emotions to the students. Always show a happy face for them and be there for your students.

Have fun and good luck with your student teaching experience!

The end is almost here!

Well after 15 weeks of lesson planning, working on Clinical Studies and other activities through student teaching, the end is almost here. In a few short days, this experience will be over and it will be bittersweet. After looking back on this past week and having attended the Coop teacher dinner and Bloomsburg Teacher workshop, the most valuable thing I can take from this week was the reaction of the students when I told them that my last day was Wednesday. All of them said something to the extent of "you can't leave yet!" This made me feel so good that they thought that highly of me as their teacher that they did not want me to leave. Through all of the ups and downs that I have experienced over this semester with them, it will definitely be bittersweet when Wednesday comes. Student teaching will be over and all of the hard work has paid off, but it will be depressing not to go into the students everyday and not know what to expect for the day. The students have taught me so much and allowed me to become a better teacher after everything we have gone through together and I am sure that all of you have similiar feelings.

If I could change anything about this week, would I? Not for one second! Every thing that I did this week was good as things are starting to wind down. All of my lessons were good and I am wrapping up things with my classes. The coop dinner and teacher workshop were also great experiences as it was nice to finally put some faces with names of other student teachers' cooperating teachers. Overall, this week was great and I am looking forward to next Wednesday as I am sure all of us are.

Enjoy your last few days everyone and see you all on Monday!

Week 14: April 13-17

The end is in sight!

Overall, this week was probably one of the smoothest weeks thus far for me. Everything seemed to go according to plan with a few minor interuptions that were out of my control due to assemblies and other school functions. The most valuable thing I learned this week is to have fun with your kids. This week we had nice weather the last couple days and the kids are getting anxious to being done with school. Therefore, I went into today thinking that if the students cooperated with the lesson and material I wanted to cover today, I would give them 10 minutes at the end of the period as free time. So all of the kids enjoyed this very much. Also, another valuable thing I learned this week was to realize the impact I was having on the students. I gave out my final survey this week and the kids were all asking me if I was done already. Many of them want me to stay until the end of the year which makes me feel good that they actually like me as a teacher. Lastly, a thought that crossed my mind after speaking with my coop is to substitute. I have been in contact with the district office at Pine Grove about getting onto their substitute list for the remaining month of school. I feel this would give me more experience in teaching, even at the substitute level and I would be comfortable at the school because I have been there for almost 4 months now. So overall this week was probably the best yet.

After looking back on this week and evaluating my student surveys, I wouldn't change many things about my lessons except perhaps Accounting. One of the students came up to me and asked me to slow down in class and I realized that I did go through Monday's lesson alittle faster than normal. So on Tuesday, I took some extra time reviewing Monday's lesson and the student came up to me and said "Thank you for understand." This made me feel very good about myself because she actually cared and took the time to come up and say that to me.

The time is going by extremely fast and I cannot believe we only have 2 weeks to go. Hope everyone has had a good week and have a great week 15!!

Google Docs Podcast

Week 13 : April 6-10

This week was rather short for me. With only a day and a half with the kids, it was a quick week. Therefore, there was not too much going on, but there were a few things that I found valuable this week. First, with it being a short week, the kids were crazy and ready for a break. Experiencing their willingness, or lack there of, to do things in class was very hard to get much done, because their minds were on vacation mode. Therefore, I had to come up with activities that would keep them interested, but they were still being productive and learning something. Also, another valuable experience this week happened on Tuesday afternoon. With it being a half day, my coop and myself attended a YES Schuylkill County teacher meeting in Pottsville. The YES (Your Employability Skills) teachers got together to discuss how the program was going and some upcoming events for the certification of the students in the program. This was very beneficial to see how things ran and get out and meet even more teachers from surrounding schools to get ideas for class.

With this week being short, there was not much opportunity to change many things. However, if I could change one thing about this week, it would have been to try and get my students on task right from the start. They wanted to be chatty and discuss their upcoming break, instead of getting started right away with the activities. If I would change it, I would have allowed some opportunity for discussion at the end of class about break activities, but overall it was a good learning experience dealing with students who are on shut down mode right before a break from school.

Hope everyone has had a great week as well and have a good break!! See you all on Monday... 3 weeks to go!

Week 12: March 30 - April 3

What a week! This week has probably been one of the most valuable weeks thus far through student teaching. As many of us found out, FBLA is a huge deal at the State Leadership Conference. I did not realize how huge the organization was until this week. I learned so much this week at the conference and managing my time there was very important to make sure I was at all of my duties. I got to see many students in a whole new light and got to see how proud they were while they were competing. It was also very valuable to meet so many people that are currently teaching that my coop introduced me to on Sunday already. Networking is very important for us as beginning teachers to find out what opportunities may be out there. Overall, FBLA was one of the highlights and most important experiences that I will take from this whole student teaching experience with me in the future.

Another valuable aspect of this week was when I got back to school. Trying to figure out what my students had done and what they had not yet completed was very important. I spent the end of the week organizing everything and getting things together to regroup with the students, which at some point was controlled chaos, but that is sometimes how it gets. Also, having the students excited to have me back in the classroom was very important to me because that showed me that they really like me as a teacher as they were asking all about the FBLA conference.

If I could change one thing about this week, would I? I can honestly say that this week was probably the best week of student teaching. I would not change anything throughout the entire week because of the experiences that I had. I got to experience a State Conference, which I had never done and got to come back after a few days away and regroup with my students. I can take all of the experiences from this week to make me a better teacher, which I feel that I am really feeling comfortable in the classroom. As you all may say as well, FBLA is truly eye-opening.

Hope everyone had a great time at FBLA and a good rest of the week!! Our time is winding down. Have a great Week 13 everyone!

Week 11: March 23 - 27

This week definitely was the busiest for me thus far. Overall, it was probably the best week as well, because I now have all of my classes that I will be teaching and managing my time was definitely more important than ever this week. With the FBLA Conference coming up on Monday, I spent every night this week preparing and getting things together for my substitute as well as assisting my coop in getting everything together for all of her students as well. This was probably the most valuable aspect of the entire week. Realizing how much planning goes on and how many things need to be organized to go to a State Leadership Conference and make it a success for everyone involved was very eye-opening. I have realized as well that the senioritis is kicking in big time for the seniors as the weather has began to change. This makes it that much harder to come up with fun activities for all the students so they are not as bored and will do the work.

Overall, this week was very hectic, but organized. As my coop likes to explain it has "organized chaos". That about sums up my week. If there is one thing that I would change about this week, it would be in my Computer Aps class. They had the week to research and type up a report about a topic of their choosing. Some of them, even with several explanations, still did not follow the directions completely or still cut and past some of their report. If I were to do this project all over again, I would go over what it means to paraphrase and put things in your own words with the students, as many of them thought it was ok to cut and paste. After talking with them individually, they understood it, but if I would have talked about it with the entire class it may not have been as much of a problem. I realize through all of these experiences that every day we learn something new as teachers.

Hope everyone has had a great week as well. The weeks are winding down and the end at the light of the tunnel is getting bigger. Have a great weekend everyone and have a great week 12!!