Inside: Tips for hosting student teachers in the classroom. How to rock as a cooperating teacher of a university practicum or student teacher. Tips for a successful experience with a student teacher.
Author – Allison Wienhold 7.16.19 & most recently updated 8.12.24.
Hosting Student Teachers in the Classroom
The last post was 10 Tips for Student Teachers written by my former student teacher Srta. Depping. As promised, here is the companion post with tips for the cooperating teacher.
Over three years ago after having my first university practicum student for a week, I wrote, Why you should have a student teacher. Since then I have a better idea of what I am doing after hosting four official practicum students, a full-time 8-week student teacher, as well as many, many one-day university student visitors after speaking to a local university methods class.
For some background, I live in the university town that I attended. So there have been many opportunities for visitors. UNI has four levels of teaching practicum spread out from the second year in university and on. My four practicum students were in their “level 3” which means they were in one of their last semesters of college. This practicum is a companion experience to a methods class. It is pretty flexible and they schedule about a full continuous week in the classroom including teaching some lessons.
My full student teacher was doing her full-time semester teaching in the classroom. This included multiple formal and informal observations from a visiting university supervisor. Since my university students have always been towards the end of their studies, my approach has been more about throwing them out of the nest to teach. If I had students earlier in their university program, I might adjust a little depending on their level of comfort.
Tips for Before Your Student Teachers Start
Meet with your student teacher in advance
If at all possible, I like to set up an informal meeting in a local coffee shop a week or so in advance. You could also do this at school. But, since I live in the town of their university and work out of town, this is easier for poor college students.
This allows me to get to know them as people, to figure out how to best support them in their experience. I tell them to come with questions, so they can feel as confident as possible on day one. {This is not something that I had a chance to do with any of my experiences, but I wish I would have}.
Hosting a Student Teacher in the Classroom? Give them the tools to be successful
At the advance meeting, I bring any possible books, and curriculum binders or share electronically other materials, so then they have a chance to start planning. I always try to provide options, so the university students can have a voice and choice in what they teach. More recently, I updated my sub binder to personalize it as a student teacher binder which answers many questions and gives a lot of background info. It includes the following:
What to Include in a Student Teaching Binder
- Welcome letter – teaching style, contact info, dress code, parking and logistics, school calendar, daily schedule with class period times, levels & important student info such as IEPs, passwords and technology tips for computer and projector, lesson templates, curriculum map, links to Google folders with resources
- School Procedures – staff symbaloo & Google Folder links, Attendance, Nurse, Sign Out, Cell Phone & other school policies
- Emergency Procedures – Fire, Tornado, Lock Down, Who to Contact
- Class Procedures – Start of class routines, expectations
- Behavior Management – attention getters, school consequences, and referrals
- Google Classroom – how to access and use in-class
- Grade book – how to use Infinite Campus and how we enter moving toward SBG
Tips for Hosting a Student Teacher
Have the student teacher introduce themselves Day 1
I ask that university practicum students come with a mini slideshow introduction of themselves. They do this in Spanish with pictures that can be adapted for all levels of Spanish. Right away the first day they have something that they have practiced and are prepared to deliver in comprehensible Spanish. This is much better than the alternative of being put on the spot of “tell us about yourself in Spanish,” and the ensuing small panic attack with nothing prepared to say.
The student teacher gets a chance to command control of the classroom right away. Also, the students get to know this new stranger, with a chance to ask them questions. It is a great chance for my high schoolers to ask about university as well. Plus if all of this is done in the target language it is a win-win of compelling new input. An alternative would be having a student do a persona especial interview of the new student teacher guest. If all are interested this introduction and question and answer could take up most of the first class if you would like it to.
Encourage the student teacher’s passions
If at all possible, allow the student teacher to have a say in what they teach. Ask them what they want to teach about!
I would never work at a job where I was given a scripted curriculum and hated that was exactly how my own practicum experience was. {Teaching that textbook unit about car parts during my own student teaching was about as appetizing to me as eating dirt. It is not a surprise that after that experience I almost did not become a teacher}.
My student teacher loved art, so we shifted the original plans and instead, she taught an amazing Frida Unit. For shorter practicums, they often spend a day talking about their travel or study abroad experience, which is usually a source of passion.
If they do not have a certain what, make sure they get to try out a way of teaching they are interested in. For Spanish, this could mean trying out story asking, a cultural unit, a movie talk, Sr. Wooly, or using a novel. Weeklong practicums are the perfect length for Somos story or cultural units or a Sr. Wooly song unit. This way they can help to plan the whole unit from start to finish and see the big picture.
Get out of the way of your student teacher
Make sure that students know this is their new teacher. This means if they have a question, need to use the restroom, or generally just want to interrupt class, it should be through the new teacher. A big part of teaching is learning the management of starting class at the bell, managing interruptions, and handling when a lesson swerves.
I try to be a fly on the wall, hang out in the back, shake my head, and point to their teacher if needed when one of these interruptions arises. If you are allowed to during the full student teacher, leave the room. I was known to hide in the office just down the hall, so I was only a call away if needed, but then the teacher could REALLY get the full experience since some students will always act differently when you are still in the room.
Full day teacher experience
If the practicum is just required to get a certain number of hours, I always highly recommend a full continuous week of the full teacher contract time. A university practicum student coming in from 10:30-2:30 who misses the start and end of the day will never really get what a teacher’s day is like.
My own “level 2” experience was going to the first hour for a month at the neighboring lab school. Wow, one class a day, really prepared me for teaching a seven-period schedule with four separate preps, intervention, and homeroom to shuffle between all day, plus that early morning meeting and student makeup test after school. {not!} It is important that teachers enter the workforce with a realistic view of the full school week.
Let them struggle (a bit)
Be there to support and cheer them on, but every student teacher needs to feel a little bit of struggle. You can not save them from experiencing pain by reserving the hard class for yourself, making the parent phone call for them, or jumping in when the students are being turds.
Sometimes you give them space by leaving and allowing them the chance to work with a tough student or situation. Provide guidance up front so they have tools in place to succeed and make sure to reflect after as well, but then them grow and learn some on their own.
Hosting a Student Teacher? Ask questions
I have an awesome instructional coach who taught me the greatness of asking questions. Ask reflective, open-ended questions, and then give them the chance to answer truthfully. One of my favorites is: “So how is that working out for you?” It allows for an open dialogue. This is especially true to show that something is possibly not working that well at all, such as allowing the students to keep talking over you. Also, ask questions about your teaching and how you could do better. Show that you are still learning and growing and that reflection is how we all get better.
Be the cheerleader
Being a new teacher is hard. Being a practicum student teacher with a strange teacher watching over you is even harder. Model a positive attitude. Support them when they try new things. Cheer them on when things go well. Motivate when something does not go as planned. Encourage the new teachers to not create everything from scratch and to reach out when they need help. Support the new teacher beyond being in your classroom and into their first job.
Hosting a Student Teacher? Have fun!
If you are a #deptof1 like me, make sure to embrace the chance to have another adult human to talk to daily in your classroom. You even get the opportunity to talk to someone in your target language! Also, nothing freaks students out more than seeing multiple teachers speaking quickly to each other in Spanish. Let it go and embrace helping to coach the next generation of teachers.
Make sure to also check out Tips for Student Teachers – guest post from a recent graduate
