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Supervising
Your Student Teacher
by Debbie Mendez
former director Crockett HS and Lake Travis HS, Austin, Texas
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A student teacher can be your greatest asset or your worst nightmare. A
great deal of responsibility is presented to you as a supervising teacher to prepare the college student for the transition from college student to
teacher. Unfortunately, many supervising teachers choose to just hand over classes with no preparation or supervision and this sometime will come back
to haunt them. With a little bit of forethought and effort, your student teachers can create a productive situation both for you and your students as
well as the student teacher herself. Here are some suggestions that may guide you in preparing for the ideal situation in being a supervising teacher:
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Be prepared!! Know in advance what you want the student teacher to cover
in class. Make an outline for them that will present them with your
expectations along with subject matter to be covered.
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Explain your school and district policies. Go over them thoroughly and
then present them with a handbook to refer back to in case of necessity.
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Allow creativity from your student teacher. This is the opportunity for
them to develop into an educator. Creativity in the classroom is a valuable
tool. Be open to new methods and teaching concepts that they may have.
There could be new methodology that they have been exposed to that you could
also learn. There is not just one way to present a subject successfully.
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Allow them to make some mistakes, then take the time to help them prevent
them in the future. Remember, they do not emerge from college as teaching
professionals. That is what the student teaching process is designed to do.
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Help them to build valuable reference materials. The text books that
they have in college are very limiting for their subject area (especially
dance!!). Make copies of your curriculum guides, handouts and tests.
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Evaluate their teaching methods after you observe their presentation. This should be immediate so that they can improve for each and every class.
You cannot evaluate them properly if you are not in the classroom to observe. There will be times to leave them to direct class on their own and times for
you to be present.
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Include them in all of your parent/student conferences, faculty meetings,
after school rehearsals, etc. Let them know these expectations up front.
This is a valuable part of the adjustment process to teaching.
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Be honest and up front about your expectations of them. Make sure that
they are aware of their commitments before they begin. This will make for a
smoother and more productive apprenticeship for your student teacher and you.
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