Advice for student teachers:
From: BuckBuck11@AOL.COM
Sender: FLTEACH@LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Foreign Language Teaching Forum)
Reply-to: FLTEACH@LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Foreign Language Teaching Forum)
To: FLTEACH@LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU
In a message dated 11/24/01 9:47:14 AM, ADPiAO@AOL.COM writes:
>Experienced teachers: I will be student teaching (Spanish) next semester
>and
>I want to be well prepared. What do you think are the weakest areas that
>student teachers perform in and/or what areas do they need more experience?
>Any suggestions and/or comments would be greatly appreciated.
What a good question!
While each student teacher comes with unique skills and talents, some
suggestions to circumvent common problems can be generalized.
Staying in the target language can be a problem for some students. This will
come with practice. Good preparation will help you anticipate and rehearse
your "script" The real trick, which takes thought and experience, is keeping
your talk comprehensible at what Krashen calls the i + 1 level. Listen
carefully to the commands and procedural words your coop teacher uses and
emulate her/his style to begin with. Eventually, you'll develop your own
style which will suit you. The students are accustomed to the coop teacher's
style and will go back to that style when you're long gone. Remember, it's
always about the students. It's not about you.
Transitions from one activity to another are always a challenge for the
novice teacher. Like the athlete who visualizes her/his performance, the
teacher needs to visualize the beginning, the transitions and the end of the
class when preparing the lesson plan. Eventually this will come naturally,
but at the beginning it will require considerable time, though, preparation
and a bit of trial and error - and maybe even writing out a script for
yourself.
When thinking through activities, think of how you can shorten or lengthen
the activity in a productive way as your lesson plan flows. The temptation to
"beat a dead horse" is strong in beginners. Keep the lesson moving. Don't
wait forever for students to volunteer - especially when you're doing a
follow up to a individual, pair or group activity. Wait time is good - but
can also be deadly, especially when the kids have already practiced or
written down the answers. I (being perhaps a bit more assertive than the
average teacher) encourage my kids to "Raise your hand when you have an
answer or I'll just call on you - the choice is yours."
Judging time and pacing takes lots of practice and experience. You'll
eventually get the "feel" for the length of time you have and how to adjust
your lesson plan "on the fly" to keep pacing and bring the class to a
conclusion at a logical place.
Plan to teach from bell to bell. It makes a good impression.
Check the FLTEACH archives for the key words "sponge" or "bell ringer" for
simple activities that can be used to start or end the class productively, or
which can be quickly used if you get through your entire lesson plan and find
you have 10 minutes left to fill with productive activity (which avoids
management problems.) Always plan an extra activity "just in case."
Don't make general announcements. "C'mon guys," doesn't command respect.
Don't talk over the noise of the students. Stand fixed. Cast your gaze like
a net over the students, giving the "evil eye" to those who aren't ready to
listen to your instruction. When all are ready, then speak. Make your
expectations clear.
Don't repeat yourself 100 times. If you explained something and a student
chose not to listen, don't repeat yourself - he can ask somebody else or just
"stew in his juices" a few minutes until he can figure out what's going on.
Remember, listening is a skill we wish to teach. The first element of
listening is attention to the message.
Don't become the "walking dictionary." Kids would rather ask you for a word
than to look in their books. I don't usually allow the kids to use words
that aren't in the textbook. Those are the words I want them to practice. I
also want them to practice the skill of circumlocution. If they ask me for
an outrageously idiomatic English expression, I usually tell ask them, "How
can you say the same idea using words you know?" or tell them, "Say
something different." OF course, you can supply words of special interest
as necessary if your textbook doesn't contain them (skateboarding,
cheerleading, etc.) Try and anticipate these words in advance, put them on
the board and include them as part of the preparation for the activity. The
other reason not to let kids overuse the dictionary is that when they speak
or report to the class, the other students will not understand what they say.
Don't worry - your coop teacher has accepted to work with you because s/he
wants to help you and make a contribution to the future of the profession.
No coop teachers that I've ever met expect their student teachers to "have
arrived" as a teacher on the first day. All they ask is a willingness to
work hard and a committment to continuous growth and attention to their
feedback.
Good luck! Welcome to the profession! Keep tuned to FLTEACH and use the
archives. We need you.
Bill Heller
Perry HS
Perry, NY 14530
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