In the education major experience, there is always something in the back of your mind…student teaching. Throughout my college experience, the stress of eventually student teaching was constantly weighing on me. I would watch TikToks of other students going through student teaching, and freaking myself out watching tears of others through the screen of how stressful and overwhelming it was.
While I had tons of field experiences through multiple classes during my years, student teaching seemed like a pit of anxiety and stress. This semester, I completed my student teaching in a middle school health classroom!
While my major is school health education, being in a classroom during the students’ most awkward years of their lives, teaching them life skills and uncomfortable topics seemed impossible to me. Looking back now, this experience was one of the most influential parts of my college career and made me feel ready to be in a classroom teaching. If you are like I was, stressing out over student teaching, here is what I learned during my student teaching to help you!
- Reach out to your Mentor Teacher as soon as you receive your placement
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I received my placement halfway through the semester before student teaching, and I immediately reached out to my mentor teacher. This lifted a ton of stress off my shoulders by being the first one to reach out. Try to find a time to meet them and see the classroom before you teach as well! This takes some pressure off coming to the school for the first day of student teaching.
- The first two weeks you will be exhausted
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My first week of student teaching was spent completely observing my mentor teacher. I sat in the back corner of class, noting the procedures and classroom management he did, and in the second week, I was slowly starting to fully teach. While these first two weeks will be learning the ropes, I was still exhausted!
Trying to adjust from my college sleeping schedule to the sleep schedule of a teacher waking up at 5:30 every morning was a slap in the face. I told my mentor teacher this, and he agreed. He described that experience as a teacher coming back from break. Just remember, this will pass. During these weeks, it is okay to sleep a lot. That first and second weekend, that is all I did. Your energy will come back, and you will get used to the schedule.
- Take one day at a time
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The student teaching semester has a lot of good days as well as bad. Some days I felt on top of the world, like I have been teaching for years. Other days were a disaster, where I felt like everything I did was wrong and I should give up and not return the next day.
There was one particular experience where I was teaching a very complex topic with a ton of new information I did not know fully. During the first period I was teaching, my college supervisor watched me teach and the lesson completely bombed. The students talked over me the entire time, and I was stuttering over my words. I felt like I wanted to give up. But the next day was perfect. I nailed every lesson. So when you have those bad days, remember it’s just one day, or just one lesson, and you will get better!
- Get to know the students
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On my first day and first week, I was so nervous to meet the students. I did not have a lot of experience in the middle school classroom, and the students seemed so intimidating. In the classroom, I taught six periods with 140 students total. Try your best to learn at least one thing about each student.
The bonds and relationships I ended up forming with my students are unforgettable. I have a connection with all of those students, and now that I am done student teaching, I miss them all dearly! Remember, at the end of the day, what you do in the classroom is for them.
- Plan your outfits and lunches the day before
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One of the biggest takeaways I can give is to plan your outfits and pack your lunch for the day before! As someone who is not an early bird, those 10 to 15 minutes of extra sleep I got from packing my things the night before were a saving grace! Plus, it’s something to look forward to if you make a delicious meal to eat halfway through your day.
- Stay on top of lesson plans
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In my student teaching experience, I had to plan three lessons each day for each grade. Somehow, I did that every week and never had a late lesson plan, despite the multiple nights I stayed up late to finish or the tears I shed, stressing over the workload.
It is crucial to not fall behind on lessons because you can quickly fall behind. With the workload if you are behind there is always more lessons and assignments coming and it gets tougher and tougher to catch up. Create a schedule when you get home to spend an hour or two on lessons every day to stay on top of it!
- Make intentional time to be with friends
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This is one of the busiest semesters of your college experience. Advice that my college professor gave was to plan one thing a week that you have to do with others. This could be a student organization meeting or just meeting up with your friends for dinner.
I loved doing lesson plans with my friends so we could both get school work done and spend time with each other. While the workload is very overwhelming, being able to spend time with my friends is a large factor in how I got through the semester with minimal tears!
Overall, I had an amazing experience teaching. You get what you put into student teaching. Take one day at a time, make mistakes and become the teacher you want to be!