Student Teacher Information

Some advice from previous student teachers

• Be flexible!
• Get plenty of sleep –you’ll work more than 8:00-4:00.
• Don’t intend to plan a wedding while your student teaching!
• Watch out! Each student DOES learn differently.
• Organize, organize, organize..Plan, plan Plan!
• Help students become more independent.
• The copy machine is almost as important as the support staff who work in the office.
• Be fair but firm with your students.
• Don’t be afraid to ask your CT for feedback.
• Smile lots!
• Make sure you’re a teacher and not a pal.
• Move around the room –it’s harder to hit a moving target.

A former student teach wrote this about her Student Teaching experience:

“I leave you with an analogy that I occasionally use to describe student teaching. Sometimes I feel like a clown in a three-ring circus. In this circus I have to juggle a bowling ball, a flaming torch, and an apple that I take a bite out of every time it comes around. Though I must perform my juggling act, I still have to appear and spend an equal amount of time in each of the three rings while I entertain the crowd, avoid the elephant droppings, wipe my clown make-up out of my eyes, and try not to take a bite out of the bowling ball. I don’t get paid to be this clown; but I must perform if I ever want to be the ring-master. Some days I catch my clown outfit on fire, some days I drop the bowling ball on my foot, and some days there are just too many elephant droppings to avoid. Bit every night I come home to my striped tent, clean off my over-sized red shoes and think, ’How can I add a squirt-bottle to my routine?’”

Students Comments, Northwest Iowa Region

….regarding preparation
“I felt pretty confident going into student teaching. However, I had never been to a staff meeting, in-service, parent conference, or an IEP sessions. These are all part of a teacher’s life that we just don’t get a chance to experience while attending classes as UNI. Also I think student teaching has prepared me for my first job because I was able to see the same kids day after day, and I really got to know them. I was able to see them grow from my first week to my last week, and I really felt like I was making a difference.”
- Kari Nelson

“I wasn’t really anxious about student teaching, just excited and very much ready. This has been a great experience, and I feel comfortable and ready to go to my own classroom in the fall.”
- Stephanie Reker

“I was really impressed with how much I learned through student teaching. I not only feel well prepared, but I also increased the social network of teachers that I know. I have gained more information of how to teach well, as well as more curricular ideas and resources….All in all, I was very happy with student teaching. I am so ready to get a job and start out in the workforce.”
- Elizabeth Wienhold

….regarding expectations
“My expectations were met during my student teaching experiences , and they were both very pleasant. I felt more confident about teaching now after these experiences. My anxieties have definitely diminished. I learned so much and am ready to use what I learned in a classroom of my own.”
- Kerry Boever

….regarding cooperating teachers.
“I wanted to be in a supportive environment where I felt I could ask questions and feel empowerment. My cooperating teachers were both very helpful and supportive of me. It was so nice to have someone to talk to on a daily basis that has been in the education field.”
- Michelle Ackerman

“The teachers that I had were both excellent. They were very willing to help me and give me advice whenever I asked, yet they gave me the freedom to do my own thinkg in the classroom too. I can’t think of anything that they could have done to improve the experience that I had.”
- Scott Stokes

“The comfort I have about being prepared for my first job is mainly supplied and supported by my two very wonderful cooperating teachers. Both guided me through the first few weeks of awkwardness and uncertainty; both supported me unconditionally as I was given more control over their domain. Both of them supplied me with ideas and materials that I could use to better my lessons, now and in the future.”
- Kari Christianson