Expanding Roles

Tuesday I had my first two student teachers join my classes. They'll be coming once a week for a few hours at a time and I'm really excited for the experience of working with new teachers.

It felt weird stepping into the role of educating future educators, even on a small scale for the time being. It's something I've always wanted to do. Without others being willing to take me on as a student teacher, I wouldn't be in the career I've always wanted.

Having someone in the room taking notes on how I plan lessons, conduct, and work with students who isn't officially evaluating me in some way is a new experience. They're not watching me to help make me a better teacher (though working with them will absolutely help me grow), they're watching me to develop their own teaching and suddenly I feel a new (but good!) kind of pressure to be on my game even more than usual.

They're coming from pretty different backgrounds and types of experiences, so we worked out a plan for each of them to get them in front of the groups to varying degrees this coming week. I was appreciative of the fact that both were honest about what they feel is their current comfort zone and some things they want to do to get outside of that. Once we see how this Tuesday goes, we'll take it from there.

I hope that I'll be able to give them the experience they need to prepare them for the next part of their education and career, but I'm also excited about what I'll learn from them as we work together.

What are some favorite things you've done with student teachers? Suggestions? They're only with us three hours a week, but I'm open to ideas!