Starting out a student teacher in your class
There are multiple ways to introducing student teachers. If you are not sure how you want to begin consider using collaborative teaching principles to introduce your student teacher to teaching.
Below are the basic points in using collaborative teaching as a tool to introduce a student teacher to your class.
- Have the student teacher watch you teach—in discussions about the student’s observations point out particular details and subtleties in your teaching (e.g., how you handle a problem student in period 3).
- Involve the student in ongoing instructional management activities (e.g., preparing assignments, grading work, working with individual and small groups of students)
- Include the student teacher in your planning and let the student teacher lead certain activities, or teach parts of a lesson or unit. Schedule together approximately when the student teacher will take over the class.
- Transfer more lesson planning to the student—continue to include the student in instructional activities.
- Develop the next unit plans with student. Let student plan objectives (with your oversight). Student takes over lesson planning (with your review) and all instruction.
- Student takes over all unit and lesson planning as well as instruction. You continue oversight, guidance, and providing feedback on the student’s planning and instruction.
Revised August 2003