I wanted to give those who are being to student teach some tips that will hopefully help them along on their journey.
1. Breathe
Take a deep breath. You are going to do fine at your internship. You will make mistakes, but you are suppose to. You will have a mentor there every step of the way to help and guide you through everything. And you will learn so much during you time there.
Also, Remember to have fun and to not stress about the little things. Before you not it this will all be over and you will be graduating.
2. Student Teaching Binder
This binder is similar to my To Do Binder, though once I began student teaching I made some adjustments to accommodate along with my student teaching schedule.
This helps me keep organized about all of the different assignments and lesson plans that I will have to do throughout the semester. I also like to take this with me to my classes and when I am at my placement school.
In this binder it holds lots of important information that I need:
- Grade Sheets
- To Do List
- Calendar
- Assignment's Schedule
- Class Syllabuses
To create this binder for yourself, you will need:
- To Do List
- Grade Sheets
- Calendar
- 1/2" Binder
- Dividers/ Sheet Protectors
* The Schedule and the Syllabus you will have to get on your own.
Also when printing out the To Do List and Grade Sheets I like to print on the back of them too, so that way I can use them again while saving paper.
Now, lets go through how I set up the whole binder from the cover to the back. I use a binder that has sleeves on the front and the back of the binder, so that way I have more places to put things.
On the front of the binder I have my To Do List, so I can pick up my binder and look to see right away what is I need to do. I like to go one to two weeks ahead of the time to write down what will be due on the list. I also write them down in order from what will be due first.
On the ringers of the binder, I use dividers for each of my class. For each class section, I have a divider that also is like a sheet protector where I have the syllabus on the front and then the grade sheet on the back.
3. Save Your Money
I can't even begin to tell you how many girls in my cohort spent lots of money during our student teaching semesters. Be wise and don't spend so much. It's important, as future educators, to learn how to create amazing lessons without spending all of our money in the process.
It's more about the content of what you created and not always just the looks. You can make things look amazing with just a little money. Don't worry about how over the top some of the other student might be doing. As long as you meet the requirements your teacher has given you then you both will get the same amount of points.
Also ask your mentor to see if she happens to have any of the things you need. Teachers are like secret hoarders and you will be amazed by what they have hiding in their storage closets. They also don't mind letting you use there things for your lessons.
4. Your a Student
Don't ever forget that you are a student and it is a privilege to even be at that school. One girl in my cohort became too comfortable in the school and the other teachers and even the principal did not like that (I talked more about this here). Remember you are going to need your mentor's recommendations when applying to jobs.
