Practicums, or in-school placements, are an integral part of teacher education programs. Though mine isn’t till the end of the year, some of my friends have already started their student teaching in the last term. I wanted to know about their experiences as well as learn from them, and what better excuse is there than a cup of coffee? 🙂 In this article, I share my conversation with my dear friend, Peter, as he recounts his student teaching experience in the five weeks of being a student teacher in a Grade 8 math class.
So, how was it?
It was a very positive experience. When I started the teaching degree, I had wanted to teach high school students. Now, after spending five weeks with junior high students, I think I want to teach junior high. They are such a fun group with a bad reputation. Overall, they were all very sweet.
Tell me about the mentor teacher. What was he like?
My mentor teacher was great. He is a different person from me and that is maybe why his input was so valuable. He is very song-and-dance. He is the cool teacher, funny guy. Great with people and child psychology – he cares a lot about the students. He was always ready to give feedback.
School had already started in full swing by the time you came to their class. How was starting and coming in the middle of the term for you? Did you start with a fresh unit or wherever the mentor teacher had been?
I started at the end of the Algebra unit. The first week I was there, the students were working on an algebra project. My mentor teacher and I set some goals that with the remaining 4 weeks I would teach and assess them in the 3D and 2D geometry unit. I was able to instruct the entirety of the unit and assess them on the 3D portion of the unit. Unfortunately, our time ended just a day or two short of assessing them on 2D transformations.
How much flexibility did you have in deciding the teaching method during the practicum? Was there lots of direction from the mentor teacher?
My mentor teacher was fairly of the opinion that it was my class – he just wanted to be informed about the plan for the week. Later in the practicum, he did not want to see even the plan. I think he was fairly confident in his ability to turn a bad lesson around after I left my practicum if it were to happen. He did not ask for a week plan – that led me to plan daily. I don’t think I would recommend that because it led to a sense of uncertainty. At least planning a week ahead of time would be good. Building plans piece by piece and knowing where you are going next in the bigger picture.
Did he offer any guidance for the lesson plans initially?
He wanted two specific things in the lesson plan: He wanted me to break down the lesson into tasks as well as predict the time it would take for each task. Having a list of tasks handy on a small piece of paper was very helpful for me because it allowed me to make progressions to the next topic in an orderly fashion.
How much does the coursework from the first year apply in the practicum? I mean, how easy or how difficult is it to relate theory from the first year with an actual classroom?
Most of it applied to teaching.
- The course on differentiated instruction was quite helpful, especially with regards to readiness. I had extra materials prepared for students who were quick to complete the tasks. I recall implementing differentiation on the fly during a test on 3D geometry.
- The math curriculum course had talked about discovery learning, letting the students struggle with things: I tried that with them. One of my major efforts was to destigmatize mistakes and that also comes from the curriculum class.
- The course on First Nations, Metis and Inuits was helpful because I was aware of their customs. Some kids had pow wow drums and it was great to see their culture first hand.
- As for assessment, I marked a project and a test that I administered. I did not create any assessments. The ones made by my mentor were fairly balanced and so I only made minor adjustments by discretion. He emphasized that we not ‘re-invent the wheel’ when we don’t have to.
I observed other teachers and also engaged with preservice teachers. One of my classmates was at the same school so we were moral support for each other, talking about ideas for some lessons.
How much were you able to connect with the students as a preservice teacher?
The fact that I was preservice affected how seriously the students took me.
My mentor teacher introduced me as a new teacher. I later reintroduced myself as their new teacher for the next 5 weeks. He set me up for a right start. That was really important.
I found it hard to connect with them in the beginning. One of my insecurities was being able to relate to younger kids. They surprised me in that they understood my jokes and were interested in things I was interested in. On my introduction day, my teacher did an attendance question of “tell me your hobby” and it was interesting to hear their hobbies and how much I could relate to them.
Did the students have any feedback for you on your last day?
They said I was very chill and they wanted me to be stricter. They realized they were difficult a lot of times. It was around week 4 that I felt that it was my class and they were my students.
What would you change for next time?
I also wish I had spent more time knowing them – I was shy and did not approach the students as much. Next time, I want to build rapport with my students early on. That would particularly help in laying down discipline.
Overall, what would you like to say about the practicum and what advice would you give your peers for their practicums?
It was a great learning experience in the class. I also discovered some new resources, such as a website called Mangahigh.com for Math games and I highly recommend it!
I would recommend my peers to start some conversation with your students even if you feel a bit uncomfortable because you are shy. That would make the five weeks better.
As I have mentioned in a previous article, student teaching is thought to be a lot about lesson planning, getting to know the students, impressing the mentor teacher and the coordinator who will do the evaluation. These evaluations form a major part of the application when applying for teaching jobs, hence, student teaching can be a time of stress as well as fun. I realized in my conversation with Peter how valuable it is to have a mentor who supports you and introduces you as a ‘new teacher’ rather than a ‘student teacher’.
It is hard to step into a classroom which is not your own, yet how can we prepare for our own classrooms without the safe space of another teacher’s classroom? How can we try out ideas for lessons plans as new teachers without the assurance that if anything doesn’t go as planned, we will be able to learn from a seasoned teacher who has our back? I would love for more preservice teachers to come forward and share their experience, even anonymously if that is more comfortable.
