Student Teaching Paper

Student Teaching Graduate Paper

Spring 2004

As the time approached, my attitude toward student-teaching was one of confidence and in some ways overconfidence. I believed that I was equipped with all of the tools necessary to be a superior teacher. Little did I know what truly goes on behind the scenes of a teacher. Between grading papers, attending meetings, and preparing lessons, I would often feel overwhelmed. Still, student teaching would prove to be much more valuable than I anticipated. It would teach me to appreciate the wisdom of mentors and experienced teachers, value or being organized and prepared, and lastly the resilience of students.

Student teaching has taught me to appreciate the wisdom of mentors and experienced teachers. There were several times when my field based supervisors pointed my in the right direction when faced with challenges. I recall a student that I suspected to have copied his homework from other students. I stressed that we figure out how he did it but I could not some up with any definite facts to prove he had did so. Ms. Darling insisted that I not worry about it and if he did cheat then it would be revealed on his exam. Surely enough, the student failed his exam miserably. During a teacher/parent conference, I asked him how he managed to receive an A on all of his homework and fail his exam so poorly. To my astonishment the student confessed to having copied his homework from other students. His mother immediately addressed both issues with her child and needless to say I did not have the problems form the student anymore. During my computer Information technology Course, discipline problems plagued me during the first two weeks of student teaching. Mr. Washington, another field based supervisor told me to began calling parents immediately after class. He told me to call everyday if I had to. Surely after a few phone calls to parents, behaviors adjusted quickly. By the end of my student teaching time period, in my opinion I had a model classroom as far as classroom behavior goes.

Additionally, student teaching has taught me that organization and preparedness are keys to having success. With advice from other student teachers bell ringers became a subtle reason for my success in improving my classroom management skills. I learned that by occupying the students immediately