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Nancy Really want to do that set the stage for your success and hopefully do that all along during
the time in our teaching program but you know that the student teaching semester
is where it comes together and to help with that we have put together a panel this
morning and I think you'll recognize after we do some they bring a lot of experience
to this and so I will be posing some questions to them and they will respond
then we will save the last five minutes or so if you have some
specific question that you would like to toss their way we certainly welcome that as well
the goal is to have each of the perspectives that will be in a very important triangle
when you are out in the schools that will be you
as the student teacher and also the cooperating teacher with whom you'll be working with as a
guest in their classroom along with the onsite college supervisor coming out to provide you
support and give you feedback on how things are going that the different perspectives
that we have represented here this morning and here to my right is Margie Hood and Margie
in her teaching years she has had 20 student teachers 36 years of teaching at Kirkwood
and more here in the Iowa City district she is going to respond to questions and will
be thinking about how it was for her as a cooperating teacher and because she is not
your cooperating teacher you can ask questions at the end and be quite honest and because
you are not her student teacher or one of her former student teacher she can be quite
honest about what her thoughts are about this experience on the cooperating teacher side
and then Brad Bolander is a recent graduate of our program he is beginning his third year
in 5th and 6th grade over at Warren elementary student taught at Hoover and we are especially
grateful for having him here with us because you can imagine the second day of school to
have a teacher to be able to come on campus and not be in school its huge thank you very
much Brad so I'm sure he remembers his time in a similar panel maybe even kind of remembers
where you sat for that that day so very familiar with our program and on my far right is uh
Julie Heidger I never get that quite right but Julie is in her fifth year providing supervision
so she is one of those on site supervisors who will be coming out to give feedback and
I'm sure that a number of you will be getting very acquainted with Julie over the over the
course of the semester so starting on a positive note I'm just going to toss out a question
to them and say ya know thinking about that student teaching semester what are some does
that they can jot down be sure to these are the does and then after we do that we
are going to toss out the next question will be the donts but we're going to start with
the positives uh when thinking about student teaching what are the does the be sure too's
ok so Julie Brad Margie whoever
Julie I would say first just be positive and
get involved it is just like your practicum experience and your orientation experience
and all your other experiences you've had if you sit in the back in the first week they
are going to let you sit in the back and not do anything so get that schedule start looking
for kids that need to you need to sit next to and maybe get to know a great thing to
do is to getting to know names the sooner you get to know the names the sooner you get
to ahh identify students and ahh start making ahh some friends
Brad I would agree with that start
greeting the students as soon as you can greet them when you see them give them a smile and
get to know them and I would also say get to doing things as much as you can right away
help out find anything that you can help out with umm when I was student teaching the first
thing that I noticed was my cooperating teacher had to go all the way to the office to get
his mail every morning so I said oh can I do that for you and he said yeah that's
great and that also meant that I got to meet the secretary right away and spend more time
saying good morning to her and getting to know people in the office and that's great
Margie I guess from a different perspective I'd say this is not brain surgery I think a lot of
people go in thinking if I do anything wrong I'm going to kill the kids you're not
go in like they said with a positive attitude ask loads of questions cooperating teachers
expect that we actually value that you asking questions and I would agree with everything
go to the special classes with them get to know all the teachers you can secretaries
are invaluable you really want to know them you want to know all of the associates in
the building and get out their routines right away but probably number one is to get to
know the kids names if you can get photos of the kids take them home that first night
and memorize them do that it means a lot to kids to be called by name especially by a student
Nancy we've got the does down so now we are going to do the don'ts what are some don'ts
Julie Well I would just remind it's kind of an interesting dynamic when you are in somebody's
classroom because it's their classroom it's almost like a roommate situation and you know
depending on the personality of your cooperating teacher they could be like oh yeah my classroom
is your classroom or they could be like this is your spacelaughingso just be conscientious
about it I've had some student teachers in the past that it's been hard to juggle because
they did things like leave their chair out or not pick up after themselves and that's
hard so the cooperating teacher comes to me and says ok you need to talk to your student
teacher about this because I don't know how to approach it so just remember that it's
a shared thing and just be respectful of their space and but at the same time don't be overly
shy and be like oh I can't put up a bulletin board or anything feel free to kind of gauge
where your cooperating teacher is but remember pick-up after yourself scoot your chair in
put your bag under the table don't leave a mess because that that means a lot to your cooperating teacher
Brad I would say be on time so It's really really important to be there
on time every day I would say even a little early everyday dress professionally it's
a job interview um be professional and be on time
Margie I think that I would just agree with
everything they said remember that professionalism includes sort of not circumventing the cooperating
teachers management techniques you should all have your own management techniques and
they should fit your personality but when you are in the other classroom and there are
established rules even if you don't agree with them you have to go along with those
so it would probably be best not to say well I would let you do that but misses so and
Nancy so you know so the professionalism covers that
Nancy I think at the start sometimes the whole
semester is a little bit daunting how do I get to there from here so I wondered if you
would start by sharing just the first days recommendations what would you recommend for
Julie a student teacher during the first day of student teaching
Julie I think we may have already touched a little bit on it
getting to know the students names the secretary and janitor should become
your best friends bake them cookies bribe them those are some of the most important
people in your building get to know them and get to know the routine of the school find your way around
Brad I would say take note of routines when you student teach you miss those first
few days of when the teachers with the class and teaches them expectations for everything
like when to talk when not to talk how to make your lunch choice everything and that
is something that as a teacher you have to decide and you have to teach it so pay attention
to routines and if you have a chance ask your teacher how they taught those routines
Margie I agree with all of that and I'll say really jot down questions write all kinds of questions you
may not ask all of those questions they may be answered throughout the course of the day
but when you see the cooperating teacher say something to them and you don't know what
that signal means make sure you write down and find out what is this prompt for what
you are we trying to accomplish
Nancy you may feel as though you've already spoken to this but just
in case you have something else to add so that's the first day's recommendation do's
and dont's and then I'm wanting to have you touch on this I think maybe perhaps you
already have feel free to add more or we can move on and that is as a guest in someone
else's classroom and the reality that you are a student teacher what about classroom
management or procedural tips do you have any recommendations beyond what has already
come up that you might toss out
Julie just observe what the teacher does and what he or she does
ask questions about how did you why do you do it this way its ok to ask why because you
need to know because you are going to be having your own classroom in a year or sooner
Brad Yes, umm ask them certainly so that you know exactly what you should be doing and then one thing
that helps me is to tell the student what your next step is going to be so that you
don't blitz any students with any classroom management things they can feel ambushed where
as a student teacher I was trying to avoid it for a little bit so I didn't have to redirect
somebody then I'd say Ok now I need to and they would feel ambushed so just be open and
tell them if you keep doing this then I'm going to need to do this
Margie I think if you see them needing redirection its natural for you to give it if you don't even from the
beginning they are not going to see you in a teacher role so if you know that they are
to be quiet when they are in line and they are talking you can you all got a teacher
eye by now you can give just give them the eye you don't necessarily have to say anything
to them you know. you know you are there to help them but you are also an authority
Julie figure and you need to come across as that pretty early on
Julie and you're lucky when you are starting
you are starting in the fall with the kids student teachers who start in
the spring have a disadvantage because they are starting in the middle and they haven't
seen all these procedures so I would just say you are not there to be there friend just get over that
Nancy I wanted to bring up some a topic that some of you might have in
the back of your mind and wondering how this plays out because it can be a little awkward
and I think if we have their input on this and having worked with so many student teachers
over the years that is the reality that someone is going to be coming out to provide you feedback
that college supervisor and I wanted you to share ideas you had for them for preparing
for that experience and working through that reality but also preparing their students
for the reality that a supervisor will be coming in periodically to visit
Julie I always tell my student teachers just tell your class that your teacher is going to come in and watch
you you know my teacher is going to come to watch me she is not gonna watch what you are
doing it is not about you this is to help me to become a better teacher and so if you
refer to me as your teacher although I know that is not what I am they get that then and
then they are really funny because they are like oh you are the teacher and they will
come up and give feedback on you she is doing a really good joblaughingthanks for the
input the first few observations are pretty simple like practicum we just want to see
an introduction something basic it doesn't need to be a huge hour long lesson we just
want to see how you are interacting with your kids touch base ask questions how are you
fitting in routines anything that might be coming up and we're also here to
provide support and cheerleader from the eportfolio so we realize that we're here to help you with that as well
Brad let them know that somebody is coming in to observe and that uh they are
pretty used to people coming into the classrooms so I don't think it causes too much of a disruption
but letting them know is good
Margie and if you can actually tell them today during social studies
you know or today during math it is less of a disruption then if they just know some
time that a teacher is coming if you can give them a specific time a teacher is coming I think it helps
Nancy I think that this would be something on your minds that they can help
us with as a panel and that is in your coursework it is so scripted that you will do this lesson
and that you will teach this lesson at a certain time and that you will be teaching it to your
peers...so my question for them is what can we expect I bet you know one person
not calling you...with instructional planning and student assessment and then of
course parent communication I imagine that you're wondering what will my level of involvement
with I be will I be involved in the teachers plans or will I be responsible for all my
planning and assessment will I be the one that you know doing the grading and will I
be communicating with parents or how does that play out from your experience during
the student teaching semester
Julie the student teaching is a really nice kind of wave I like
to think of it were at the beginning very much you know still with the cooperating teacher
and then you're going to eventually be doing your head teaching and then its kinda a phase
out so at the beginning its just gonna be a lot of observing watching your teacher do
DRAs are coming up so you'll be watching a lot of DRAs and dimple testing and you'll
get to see how they do that you won't be responsible for doing the DRA testing or anything because
the teacher needs to be consistent and do that but certainly sit in on a few if possible
to see because you will be doing those in your classroom to see how that's done and
that is a great thing to bring up in an interview say yes I have had experience I've seen how
the DRAs are assessed I've seen the rules I've seen the math assessments whatever assessment
you can throw out so at the beginning anything you can get involved for parent teacher conference
attend them and see how those go it is very important to see how your teacher is wording
things so when that little student who might not be on task all the time how does he or
she word the kid drives me crazy you can't say that but there are great ways that teachers
have this way of conveying this information so that the parents are like oh ok..and so
its you're not going to be responsible for everything so you're going to be ok
Brad I think you say the student would benefit from support and not you're driving me crazy
Julie the wheel is spinning but the hamster is dead
Brad planning I would say any teacher cooperating
teacher is going to let you get involved as soon as you're comfortable so if you have
small things that you practiced in your practicum or in your classes a five minute activity
that even doesn't have to be a full blown lesson get involved and do that as soon as
possible umm and just communicate with your cooperating teacher about that
Margie I totally agree with everything you said
Nancy perfect well that's great my next question then has to do with
umm we are gonna split this a little bit I'm gonna have Brad speak to the job search
and successful student student teaching this afternoon we are going to be focusing on career
services and talking with them about some does and dont's and Brad's personal experience
but just before that I wanted to have both Margie and Julie to reflect a bit on when
you think about student teaching and all the student teachers with whom you've worked with
and there have been a fair number what in your mind differentiates that highly effective
candidate in your letter of recommendation and in your
references that you provide time and time again as opposed to the just marginal candidate
that yes it was a successful student teaching but it was not that exceptional candidate
what differentiates those
Julie I think being prepared I still remember to this day the student
teacher when we got to midterm didn't have her midterm completed so the cooperating teacher
and I were sitting there and we waited for her
to fill out her midterm while we were sitting there so be prepared know what is coming up
and that its very important because that is a
question that principals ask me how prepared are they? did they dress professionally? Did
they come on time? Did they get involved?
How was their interaction with students and the parents? so all those things are very important
and just remember that I think the thing that I think of for my really exceptional students
is that they really loved what they did and you could tell and they weren't always the
exceptional one's at the beginning so don't worry don't think you have to be exceptional
I'm not getting this there were tears at the beginning I think of one of my student teachers
who was just phenomenal we had a few crying episodes you know when we conference which
happens a lot so don't worry umm she's like I don't know if I can do this so if you have
those moments don't think ok this is not for me
everyone has those moments but just she really did so well and she progressed and was involved
and brought in a lot of things her cooperating teacher was so impressed she brought
in power or smart board you know smart board that's gonna be a really good thing to know
so she brought in a lot of things to add to her lesson using smart board she just really
got involved and thought of some creative ideas to bring because the cooperating teacher
that's why they want you there because they want to learn as much as you are there to
learn as well so they want to learn from you so if there is something in your classroom
or something that you can bring to the experience whether it be your unit that your make or
your smart board or technology things you bring in those are all going to be beneficial
and things we are going to remember about you that we can tell a perspective principal
Margie I would say the number one thing I think Is the standout student teacher over the good
student teacher is passion and that is uh a passion for children understanding that
they are children they are not any adults they are kids and um I really admire organization
don't personally have a lot of it so that's why I always liked my student teachers to
be organized but preparedness to me is key you have to have that organization is great
and it will make your life easier I hope you can surpass many teachers in that regard some
of it is time management if you are well organized your time management is easier to keep under
control than if you are disorganized so it is a really good thing to have but if someone
were calling me and talking to me about my student teachers which one's would you most
highly recommend it would be the ones that have the most passion most love for children
and were the best team players that worked well with the other teachers that were cooperative
with other grade levels that helped uh if there was an ice cream social or you know
a back to school night that they were there volunteering to hand out pamphlets and take that extra step
Nancy ok so that is what the cooperating teacher and supervisor will be saying about
you as candidates what is the real scoop on the job search
Brad the real scoop is that
if you want to get a job in Iowa City it is very competitive there a lot of great teachers
coming out of this program for example and so a lot of times people will say something
like if you get a job here you were really lucky to get that job but you have to remember
that you make your own luck starting today you need to meet people show what your guiding
principles are like uhh Margie said you should be passionate you don't have to do everything
perfectly you need to go out there and do it as much as you can and your guiding principles
will show through even if everything you do isn't perfect um so what happened for me is
that I did the mock interview through this program and uh I practiced for it like it
was a real interview and I did it with an administrator from the district and it went
well and I got to know her and then the weekend before school started a job popped up that
was available and I applied for it right away and it was the same administrator and she
needed a teacher like now for the following Monday and I had already interviewed with
her so we did an interview of course but it was so great it was ready to go and I got
the job and you could say it was luck but you have to make your own
Nancy nice nice wrap on that questions that you have for these three your heading out maybe you've
already been in your school if you are in Iowa City we certainly hope so and I know
some of the rest of you have too but what questions might you have for Margie Brad and Julie Yes
Audience Member this question is probably for Margie I'm curious um I'm curious if students I mean
cooperating teachers if this is something they want to be doing if they feel like you
are tagging along or if they feel like they want you there or if your kind of they have
a lot going on they have a lot of kids they are working with how do they feel about you
being a part of that you know how it all works
Margie remember we aren't forced to take student
teachers it is never we need you to take this student teacher sometimes you are asked we
have somebody who would like to be in class with you would you consider that but at the
beginning even though you are working very hard you are a lot of work for the cooperating
teacher because essentially you are teaching two classes you are teaching the class with
twenty five kids and every time they go to music or lunch you are talking non-stop to
your student teacher and trying to trying to give them bits of knowledge as the semester
goes on and probably for most people by week four or five it becomes much more of a partnership
of learning and you are both learning from the other for the majority of the semester
I think hopefully your cooperating teachers are really enthusiastic and want you there
and I think that's the vast majority of them you are entering in at a stressful time at
the beginning of the school year so it's also lucky for you you really even though
you may be missed maybe a day or two you are seeing the setup and the development of a
sense of community by being there at the beginning of the year second semester is easier for
cooperating teachers but its I don't think as beneficial to student teachers as first semester
Nancy other questions yes Mike
Mike I guess this is for really anybody what have you done
with your student teachers or as student teachers as far as staying after like so we've all
been really given a general time how do you figure out what is appropriate? or Do you always wait for the teacher?
Margie I would say yes unless they tell you to get out of there in
the beginning they are gonna say oh go home you don't need to be here but as the semester
goes on if they work until 4:30 then you probably should work until 4:30 would be my take on it
Julie and I hear this in feedback because I'll talk with your cooperating teachers and say
are they coming on time? are they staying after school? And those student teachers that
leave right at 3:30 its noted and it's not only seen by your cooperating teacher its
seen by those in the building so I'll have other teachers come up and say you know that
student teachers been leaving at like 3:15 for the past 5 days they notice the principal
notices which so yeah enough said
Nancy other questions you have been so attentive
and I know it's been a big morning and we have more in store for you this afternoon
so thank you for your attentiveness and if you would help me say thank you to our panelists.
Clapping.