Student Teaching Syllabus

TWS Prompt and Checklist
(Cover Page)

TWS Descriptive Words

Bloom's Taxonomy (Revised)

Important Dates

Reflective Journals

Student Teaching Checklist

Sample Lesson Plan

Adaptations

Gifted Handout

Video Review Assignment

Iowa Core Curriculum, Essential Skills/Concepts

Journal Topics

The following topics are suggestions for journal entries for your weekly e-journal to your University Supervisor.  They are only meant as suggestions and to provide some guidance when you are not able to generate your own idea of what to share about your student teaching experience.

As indicated by the sub-headings, some topics are more appropriate for the beginning of your student experience, some are more appropriate after you've begun to teach regularly, some are more appropriate for when you are full time teaching or as you near the end of your student teaching experience.

Topics for early in your placement:

From your personal observations, discuss your cooperating teacher's instruction and management style.  What makes each effective?

Discuss the “community” that exists among the staff within your building.  How does the support staff contribute or distract to the learning environment in the building?  What is the nature of the interaction between the professional staff?  Is there a difference between the degree of interaction of the faculty in the your department or grade and the interaction between faculty outside of your department or grade?

Topics for after you've have been doing some teaching:

When you look back at your first lessons, how do you judge whether the lessons were successful, were “good” lessons?  What did you do to contribute to their success?

What are your classroom management challenges?  Are these challenges because of the students or because of your actions?

During orientation we talked about levels of intervention towards misbehaviors that interfere with classroom management.  What have you found to be your most effective non-verbal signals to manage your class?  What have you found to be your most effective verbal signals to manage your class?

Topics for after full-time teaching or near the end of your experience:

Discuss the different challenges teaching all day have compared with teaching part of the day.

Inclusion and collaboration are essential parts of most current special education programs.  Discuss how inclusion and collaboration effect you as a classroom teacher.

Discuss the student who is your greatest academic challenge.  What have you done to try and reach this student or to make this student be more successful?

What is your philosophy of teaching?  How has that philosophy of teaching changed after your student teaching experience?

What area as a teacher will you need to grow and develop in the most in order to be an effective teacher