5 Tips for New Student Teachers
6/01/2015
[1.] Take a deep breath! This is the most exciting time where you are finally in the classroom! Although it may be intimidating walking to the office and your classroom that first day, it will soon feel like your second home.
[2.] Take full advantage of your mentor teacher. My mentor teacher was literally the sweetest person I've met. Not only was she an outstanding teacher, but she genuinely wanted to help me get on my feet as a newbie.
- Resources
- I have BINDERS full of resources and materials that either I copied from her lessons or ones that I used for lessons. My mentor teacher also would make two copies of activities she would find. Don't be afraid to ask for a copy if something looks good!
- Connections
- Your mentor teacher most likely knows everyone in the building. Use that to build your professional network as well.
- References
- Obviously you're not going to as for a letter of reference the first week your in the class! Build a positive relationship with your students and your teacher. Show that you are motivated to learn and get better. DON'T by any means think you know it all and people's advice/opinions are not valid.
- Free Things
- I received quite a bit of school and office supplies from the multiple free piles that would show up in the teacher work room or the staff lounge. Don't be greedy and take it all, but do browse and pick up some new materials.
[3.] Be as fully involved as possible.
- Coach
- This may not be as available in some districts but I was blessed with the ability to volunteer assistant coach the high school varsity softball team. One of the elementary PE teachers is the head coach and saw me throwing (teacher vs. kid dodgeball) and asked if I had played and the rest is history. It was an amazing opportunity to connect with the community and the high school students through a sport that I love.
- Book Study
- Other teachers in my building along with professors from ISU were involved in a CGI book study over the text Children's Math - Cognitive Guided Instruction. This text and the study was mind changing! It opened my eyes to new ways of teaching math and how students learn math and it's NOT through route memorization!
- Extra school curricular
- Attend school concerts, plays, and art nights. Since I lived fifteen minutes from my school, I also went back after graduation for visits periodically and for the last day of school. I thought it was weird that I was graduating the beginning of May and they still had three weeks left. We had worked so hard through the semester, I didn't want to miss the cumulation of our hard work.
[4.] You'll feel at an awkward place between college life and adult life and that's ok! I was heavily involved on campus with being co-president of an education RSO and a member of Epsilon Sigma Alpha - a service sorority - so I had quite a bit of responsibility still on campus. I remember having mixed emotions because I wasn't on campus daily, yet every Sunday I'd be there for chapter or periodically throughout the week. But I didn't feel like I was a college student, I felt like an adult because I was teaching all day. One day I remember struggling about that with my mentor teacher and she said the most simple, yet most comforting words - what I was feeling - it's natural and it's ok. So, when you feel like you're an adult but you still have those college-esk moments, it's ok! It's a perfectly natural transition period into the real world.
[5.] The last day will be the hardest. There will be tears, but thats how you know you've made an impact. It's hard to imagine that the day will come when you have to say goodbye to your students. It's also hard to imagine how in such a short time frame, these kids will become your kids. It will be emotional, but remember that every day you loved on those kiddos are moments that they will remember forever.
-- What other tips do you have for new student teachers? Leave them in the comments bellow!
-- What other tips do you have for new student teachers? Leave them in the comments bellow!
xoxo
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