Student teaching in the past and today as well is an important time for someone who is thinking of pursuing a career in education. Some don't have the time to do it as they enter the profession years after college. Some pursue teaching coming from programs like The Teaching Fellows with a few months of preparation and then being thrown into the lion's den too often without proper support. Student teaching does show someone if they are cut out for the career, and if they are motivated and prepared to handle the incredible pressure and work load a good teacher has to face.
I was fortunate to have had a wonderful student teacher experience way back in 1984 in Snyder, New York at Amherst Central Senior High. My cooperating teacher was like Pete Dixon: encouraging, helpful, informative, and positive. He corrected me when I needed it, and encouraged me when things didn't go well. For many years during my own high school teaching career teaching English, I used to write to him every year about my experiences.
Over my own teaching career from 1987-2016, I had the good fortune to mentor 16 student teachers of my own. Overall, they were all excellent, and two of them were even able to acquire jobs at the high school where they student taught. One even had gone to that particular high school himself only a few years earlier.
In this episode, Alice Johnson is faced with handling Pete Dixon's class one day alone and then the next day having to perform in front of her college student teacher supervisor. The episode does show what we teachers have to face when beginning as neophytes. Will Alice succeed in her observation? Does she form her own style of teaching and discipline? Since I recall the character appeared for all five years of the series, I imagine she did succeed.
The episode made me smile and think back to my own first time standing in front of a class with my heart beating so quickly that I still recall how nervous I was. With the proper support and guidance, student teaching can help turn a person with a desire to teach into a professional who can really educate and motivate, despite the nonsense like the Common Core and Charlotte Danielson rubric forced down many educators' throats today.
Now happily retired, I still enjoy talking shop and hearing about the changes my colleagues have to face, but as much as I enjoyed my teaching career, I am thrilled it is over!
I was fortunate to have had a wonderful student teacher experience way back in 1984 in Snyder, New York at Amherst Central Senior High. My cooperating teacher was like Pete Dixon: encouraging, helpful, informative, and positive. He corrected me when I needed it, and encouraged me when things didn't go well. For many years during my own high school teaching career teaching English, I used to write to him every year about my experiences.
Over my own teaching career from 1987-2016, I had the good fortune to mentor 16 student teachers of my own. Overall, they were all excellent, and two of them were even able to acquire jobs at the high school where they student taught. One even had gone to that particular high school himself only a few years earlier.
In this episode, Alice Johnson is faced with handling Pete Dixon's class one day alone and then the next day having to perform in front of her college student teacher supervisor. The episode does show what we teachers have to face when beginning as neophytes. Will Alice succeed in her observation? Does she form her own style of teaching and discipline? Since I recall the character appeared for all five years of the series, I imagine she did succeed.
The episode made me smile and think back to my own first time standing in front of a class with my heart beating so quickly that I still recall how nervous I was. With the proper support and guidance, student teaching can help turn a person with a desire to teach into a professional who can really educate and motivate, despite the nonsense like the Common Core and Charlotte Danielson rubric forced down many educators' throats today.
Now happily retired, I still enjoy talking shop and hearing about the changes my colleagues have to face, but as much as I enjoyed my teaching career, I am thrilled it is over!
