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I do think the mentor teacher may have felt insecure because she expected me to be green, and I'm not. I gave her my education bio via an email which outlined my previous community college teaching experience (I got laid off because I was part-time and was stupid not to pursue a masters degree afterward. But hindsight is 20/20). And so she knew that I had my own teaching experiences.
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I think I see the problem here. You were supposed to be learning, but didn't think you had anything to learn. Maybe I'm totally wrong, but if that's what the mentor teachers said about you, then you might think on it before trying to get a third placement. If I was supposed to be your mentor and you came into my classroom with that know-it-all attitude, I'd want to get rid of you too. I don't think this is just bad luck. Teaching is as much politics as anything else, and if you had this much trouble as a student teacher then I think you'd have even more as a real teacher.
If you are so stressed that you are crying from student teaching or from comments like the one above than you really need to re-think teaching as a profession.
Maybe this is a blessing in disguise. Teaching requires a very tough mind, high stress tolerance, and plain old grit. If you are lacking those, even all the training will not make it a good fit for your professionally.
I think you're correct lkb0714. Student teaching (and teaching in general as you pointed out) is tough and requires high stress tolerance that I know I don't have. I just don't have it. But I don't have a high stress tolerance for any stressful situation, so it's not just to do with teaching. My previous work included producing a radio show (which was highly stressful but I excelled at it anyway, but the pay was HORRIBLE and there was no career advancement for me at the station where I was employed. I didn't want to be stuck in a booth alone for the next 20 years), and teaching community college which I loved, but like I said earlier got laid off when a new ed dean laid off all the adjuncts like me who weren't enrolled part-time in an MA program.
And it may well be a blessing in disguise as you noted. What that silver lining is, I have yet to realize. Any thoughts? What's a good career for someone with low stress tolerance? I love facilitating learning and discussions. Perhaps I can do that in another career if being a licensed teacher isn't the right path for me. So that's what I need to really self-reflect on.
I think I see the problem here. You were supposed to be learning, but didn't think you had anything to learn. Maybe I'm totally wrong, but if that's what the mentor teachers said about you, then you might think on it before trying to get a third placement. If I was supposed to be your mentor and you came into my classroom with that know-it-all attitude, I'd want to get rid of you too. I don't think this is just bad luck. Teaching is as much politics as anything else, and if you had this much trouble as a student teacher then I think you'd have even more as a real teacher.
Hi marie5v, I think that's definitely part of my issues as a student teacher, I'll agree with you there. But by this time, student teachers are expected to be independent and have confidence. So maybe my overconfidence contributed to both the fall and spring placements not being successful. I can certainly bring this up with the MAT staff when I meet with them. I think it's a very valid observation and one that maybe I've ignored out of insecurity at being judged. But the other part is bad luck too when it comes to the politics and knowing when to stay quiet and when to speak up. I haven't mastered that part of the political game yet. I tend to speak up when I should be quiet, and be quiet when I should speak up. I'll reflect on what you've written because if that's the core of my problem then you're correct: teaching would not be the best profession for me because it's a profession that has a large interpersonal component; about cultivating interpersonal relationships with students, their parents, coworkers, administrators.
Hi marie5v, I think that's definitely part of my issues as a student teacher, I'll agree with you there. But by this time, student teachers are expected to be independent and have confidence. So maybe my overconfidence contributed to both the fall and spring placements not being successful. I can certainly bring this up with the MAT staff when I meet with them. I think it's a very valid observation and one that maybe I've ignored out of insecurity at being judged. But the other part is bad luck too when it comes to the politics and knowing when to stay quiet and when to speak up. I haven't mastered that part of the political game yet. I tend to speak up when I should be quiet, and be quiet when I should speak up. I'll reflect on what you've written because if that's the core of my problem then you're correct: teaching would not be the best profession for me because it's a profession that has a large interpersonal component; about cultivating interpersonal relationships with students, their parents, coworkers, administrators.
Being a teacher was what taught me when to speak up and when to shut up (which is most of the time when you're a teacher). It was less about cultivating relationships than about getting into cliques and kissing the principal's behind. I cannot see you enjoying that environment. But it is a solid job with benefits.
Yes. Our district had a class. The best thing for student teachers is to be quiet, come to work on time, dress very conservatively, and praise the mentor teacher. A semester of "kizz azz", probably the best skill to have for any job. Say nothing personal. Yoir life is perfect, everything is perfect.
Mentor teachers are judging you, in the classroom. As they should. And the one issue I have with some mentor teaxhers is that the ones who want to do it, are probably the ones who should not be doing it, in many cases.
Being a teacher was what taught me when to speak up and when to shut up (which is most of the time when you're a teacher). It was less about cultivating relationships than about getting into cliques and kissing the principal's behind. I cannot see you enjoying that environment. But it is a solid job with benefits.
Well how exactly is middle school or high school teaching cliquey? Which grade level do you teach (if that's okay to ask)? If the school environment isn't a good one then no, I wouldn't enjoy the environment. I was raised in private schools but did some of my field experiences in good public schools so I've seen many different kinds of school environments; from the ones where everyone is working together and happy to ones where all the teachers hate their principal and the students and a lot in between those. I knew going into my license program that the kind of school I want to work at is one that has a lot of community connections, allows teachers to create their own curriculum, do service projects, field trips, and lead trips abroad for service learning, and also has a technology component to the teaching (like Smart Notes).
Yes. Our district had a class. The best thing for student teachers is to be quiet, come to work on time, dress very conservatively, and praise the mentor teacher. A semester of "kizz azz", probably the best skill to have for any job. Say nothing personal. Yoir life is perfect, everything is perfect.
Mentor teachers are judging you, in the classroom. As they should. And the one issue I have with some mentor teaxhers is that the ones who want to do it, are probably the ones who should not be doing it, in many cases.
I was drug into it, somewhat unwilling
Hi jasper12. Well I got some of those things right; i was always on time (even early), stayed late, dressed very professionally (no jeans, no open toe shoes) and I did praise both my mentor teachers. The "kizz azz" part however, I failed at. As I did with the "life is perfect. everything is perfect." I revealed personal information about myself that I now regret and that was used against me to my knowledge, by both of my mentor teachers. I wish my advisor would have given me this insightful advice before my fall placement.
And I agree with you that the mentor teachers who want to mentor aren't necessarily doing it for the student teacher's benefit, but probably for the extra money they'll get as well as the professional recognition for doing it. It is a resume builder.
How did you get dragged into mentoring student teachers? Aren't teachers allowed to say "no" to their principals when asked? Or do you have to do it once you're asked?
Say nothing personal. Yoir life is perfect, everything is perfect.
Just like being a teacher. When a student who throws a chair at you is "oppositional," and passing a state test with an IQ of 50 is "somewhat challenging."
Well how exactly is middle school or high school teaching cliquey? Which grade level do you teach (if that's okay to ask)? If the school environment isn't a good one then no, I wouldn't enjoy the environment. I was raised in private schools but did some of my field experiences in good public schools so I've seen many different kinds of school environments; from the ones where everyone is working together and happy to ones where all the teachers hate their principal and the students and a lot in between those. I knew going into my license program that the kind of school I want to work at is one that has a lot of community connections, allows teachers to create their own curriculum, do service projects, field trips, and lead trips abroad for service learning, and also has a technology component to the teaching (like Smart Notes).
I taught in elementary school, but it was no better in the local middle or high schools. Worse in some. There may be schools where it isn't like that, but I never saw one and didn't know anyone who worked in one. For a few years I worked in a school that was not like that, but that ended with NCLB. I'm kind of miffed by your attitude myself, and I'm only reading a message board. You keep talking about what you want ....but it's just not about you.
I taught in elementary school, but it was no better in the local middle or high schools. Worse in some. There may be schools where it isn't like that, but I never saw one and didn't know anyone who worked in one. For a few years I worked in a school that was not like that, but that ended with NCLB. I'm kind of miffed by your attitude myself, and I'm only reading a message board. You keep talking about what you want ....but it's just not about you.
Hi marie5v, well in the case of student teaching and finishing my program, I have to be a little focused on me. What I want is to be given the opportunity to finish my student teaching. So yeah.
But when it comes to actual teaching, I'm very much a student-centered teacher. My MAT program taught us student-centered teaching strategies like cooperative learning where the focus is on engaging students in their own learning process, teaching students how to do self-reflection, self-assessment, assess each other's work and really analyze what they're learning, why they're learning, and how they're learning and giving that feedback to the teacher, as well as doing a lot of collaborative work where students work with each other and as a teacher learn how to share the power with students by letting students make some of the decisions about their learning and how they receive the information from the teacher. I also learned about differentiated learning, understanding by design, and many other different methods of how to do plan my lesson plans so that they ask an essential question that is relevant to students' learning needs and to their lives. That essential question could be a response to literature, to teach appreciation of literature, refresh or teach reading strategies, build students knowledge of figurative language vocabulary, and teach students how to interpret and analyze literature and then write a thoughtful analysis (whether its a response paragraph or a 3 paragraph essay to an expository essay). For my poetry unit, one of the essential questions that I put on the students assignment calendar (and asked them to write a paragraph response to, as a reflection piece for their own viewing) addressed responses to literature, "how does recognizing figurative language in poetry help you understand it better?" I paraphrased the essential question in my own words of course. But I used it as the lesson plan's theme for the analyzing poetry section of my poetry unit, to frame students' understanding. Does that make any sense?
So I'm very much about the students. Always have been. Always will be. But first I have to get through my program's last hurdle of the 7 weeks of student teaching and so I need to focus on what I can do differently to convince my program to give me another chance.
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