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My MAT program's policy for student teachers is: 2 strikes (2 failed placements) and you're done. That's what I'm going through right now because my mentor teacher decided I wasn't a good student teacher in her eyes.
Teachers' jobs are difficult, but I think student teachers have it far worse. Last semester I got 2s and 3s on all of my formal evaluations (my student teaching was split to 7 weeks in a high school last fall and 7 weeks in a middle school this spring...but I only was able to complete 2 of the 7 weeks before I got pulled).
What really frustrates me is that even my teaching advisor observed my mentor teacher's unwillingness to mentor me when she came out to do her first formal observation. I was in tears afterward because I'm exhausted from lack of sleep due to taking my final course while student teaching 8 hours a day. It's a lot to handle.
The straw that broke the camel's back was the way my mentor teacher contradicted herself in front of me to my advisor when she had negative comments about one of my lesson plan activities. I previewed my lesson plan activities with my mentor teacher, right? Well, common sense says, if the mentor teacher thinks there's a problem with the lesson plan activity, it's her job to offer her feedback ahead of time. Well, my mentor teacher didn't say anything negative at the time I previewed the lesson plan activity. But after school when my advisor and mentor teacher and I sat down together to talk about my teaching performance, that's when my mentor teacher came out with guns blazing about the lesson plan activity that she claims she had no idea ahead of time that I was going to do. Basically, she totally lied to my advisor in front of me! Instead of remaining silent, I reminded my mentor teacher in front of my advisor that I previewed my lesson plan with her before I taught it and she didn't have any negative feedback for me at the time. Then I followed it up with a question, "Why would you let me teach something you don't approve of?" This prompted my advisor to ask the mentor teacher the same question, which made the mentor teacher uncomfortable because, well, I called her out on her obvious lie.
Next thing I know, I get a call from my program director who tells me that my mentor teacher doesn't want me to return to my placement in her classroom. And because my graduate program's policy is 2 strikes and you're out, I have no recourse except to submit a typed statement to my program's committee and my university's dean and academic chancellor, in defense of myself. And I'm two months away from my spring graduation. What's even worse, is that I may not even be given my masters degree in education because again, my graduate program's policy is that student teachers have to complete all 14 weeks of student teaching to be awarded the masters degree (which is just one capstone course that I'm currently taking right now). So, 3 years of my life invested in coursework, field experiences and half of my student teaching passed for nothing?
My advise? Why continue in the teaching program? This will not be the last time you have problems in education. Not to say it is because you are a bad teacher. I am willing to bet you are probably a veryt good teacher--perhaps even outside the box kind of teacher?
If so, it is going to be extremely difficult to find a school that will allow you to be successful in the classroom. Education is a white elephant and eventually will be eliminated from the community.
I would change majors IMMEDIATELY and look at some human service field if you really love working with people and want to influence change.
I wish I would have done this 20 years ago.
I have been fighting the system hoping to change it. EPIC FAILURE. What I have been able to do in those 20 years is influence change is MANY of my students' lives. But at what cost to me? I have never been in any one school longer than 3 years (tenure is 4). The first two years are "great" with pretty good reviews; by the middle of the 3rd year I am suddenly scum and rated below 2?
I go off to another school with stellar experience and techniques for the first 3 years and then---the cycle continues. If you are a students' teacher and not a cookie-cut teacher from some institution, PLEASE find a career where you will be RESPECTED, APPRECIATED and a VALUED TEAM MEMBER by administration--because this will not happen in education.
I also had a very similar experience with my first student teaching (general education). That should have been the my notice.
Well, I'm at the tail end of my teaching program so I won't continue in it after this semester. You see, I'm supposed to graduate from it this spring.
And I am a very good teacher - a teacher who definitely isn't cookie cutter but one who teaches outside the box. Even my advisor commented that I was using advanced teaching techniques at this middle school, which invalidated the mentor teacher's petty comments about me not being innately connected to the middle school students.
As far as work in human services, no way. That would be worse than teaching. There is a high burnout rate for people who work in human services and the politics are way worse than the politics in education (which I've already figured out that I'm not good at).
The difference with your student teaching experience (which you didn't share) is that you passed it. I've only passed half of my student teaching and my university's policy on the amount of times you can student teach, prevents me from getting a new placement to try for a 3rd time.
There's politics in every job. I don't think there was any way I could have pleased this recent mentor teacher. When personalities and communication styles clash the way ours did, I knew it was a doomed failure. Also, my university's MAT program staff aren't interested in helping students pass. If they were, they'd see the bigger picture here and place me one last time so that I could just finish and be done, once and for all.
I've been noticing this with my current intern teachers. In some cases it's warranted, but in other cases it doesn't seem to be (the interns are doing as well as anyone just learning the profession). One of the problems (at least in my state) is that they are starting to tie teacher salaries with student performance. So naturally the mentor teachers are getting very reluctant to give their interns a chance!
Eresh I'm not sure that's what happened. My MAT program paid the mentor teacher over $1K to take me on as a student teacher. After she gets the check, what does she care if I do well in her classroom or not. She already has her license. I don't have mine yet.
But yes, you are referring to the Common Core standards which is spreading like a plague to schools across the U.S. And it does tie teacher performance to student performance. Teachers basically will lose their jobs now if their students don't pass the MCAs, SATs, and the other state standardized tests.
I just can't believe I will never get another chance to become a licensed teacher. I can't transfer to another program just to student teach. I'd have to repeat courses in another MAT program which would be ridiculous.
That saying about mistakes comes to mind, "You can never make the same mistake twice; because the second time you make it, it's not a mistake, it's a choice." If I were to go to yet another MAT program that would be my choice, but it would be a HUGE mistake. Huge. There's no guarantee that if I were to reach the end of another MAT program that the mentor teacher I get placed with likes me. And that's what I don't like about being a student teacher. You may have excellent teaching skills but if your mentor teacher doesn't like you, you're out of luck, like what happened to me.
Eresh unfortunately in Minnesota, you can't get a education certificate if you don't have a teaching license first. Like, if I wanted to become a certified reading specialist here, I'd have to be a licensed teacher first. Maybe it's different for other states. I have no idea. But there aren't a lot of reading specialist jobs here either so it would be another 2 years wasted. And I'm not willing to waste any more time in higher ed because frankly, I can't financially afford to anymore.
I could become an ESL certified teacher but then I'd have to move abroad to use that. And I already lived abroad for a year when I taught English as a second language at a university in China. It's not feasible for me to go that route either.
Plus I may not graduate with the masters degree portion of my MAT degree (I emailed the license coordinator since this grad program doesn't have a registrar), so that would not help me much either.
I don't know what all the requirements are in your state....but is it possible for you to speak to the principal about your
situation? Is there any way that your college and adviser can help you by communicating with this school? Would you
be able to do the remaining time with another (more receptive) mentor?
Sounds as if your mentor felt threatened by you due to his/her insecurities. If teaching is something you really want to
do and makes you happy do what you have to. Sad but true, the profession is under attack & is driving many good
potential teachers away.
Well you won't believe what the mentor teacher's principal said to me when I went to speak with him. He said, "[my name], you're in a tough position. You're like a dead man walking." A middle school principal said this to a student teacher!?! What a weird and inappropriate comment to make to me. I ended up getting teary-eyed in his office due to lack of sleep and major stress. (My program director is waiting for the principal and mentor teacher's personal statements about their experience with me, which frankly isn't going to be good. I can submit a personal statement too, but it's just for the official record. Meanwhile, I'm still enrolled in my last course for the masters degree. So I have to also focus on finishing that, looking for a job, filing a formal grievance, and investigating other education related job paths. It's a lot for one person to deal with at once.)
The middle school principal basically said if I stayed in that mentor teacher's classroom I wouldn't be able to lead teach, but could only observe. When I told my program director what the principal said, he told me not to return to that school. In essence, he sabotaged me by telling me not to return because he has the power to place me again, despite the 2-placement policy for my MAT program. But he won't place me again. So that's what I have to consider. Do I want to finish this fight and file a formal grievance and work my way up the chain of command (first to the MAT dean, then to the entire university's academic chancellor who has the final say about awarding degrees). At the very least, I want to walk away with a masters in education if I can't or won't be allowed to finish 7 weeks of student teaching when there is 3 months left in the academic school year. Common sense says, yes, place me again so that I can finish. But unfortunately common sense means nothing to my MAT program staff.
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.
I do want to become a teacher. But at this point, all I can do is file the formal grievance to ask permission to finish (I've already drafted a 5 page statement about my perception of why this placement didn't work out...took me 3 hours to write last night because I edited it a lot).
My other option is to get trained as a corporate trainer. Corporate trainers make a nice salary and get to write their own training curriculum. So I could really flourish in that role.
So at this point I'm going to file a formal grievance with my grad program, while investigating the corporate training programs offered in my state. Might as well try to cover all of my bases so that I'm not working at a coffee shop for the rest of my life doing nothing that I enjoy.
Difficult situation. I have seen mentor teachers who really are not mentoring, they are judging. One placement was a very overweight young woman, placed with a fashionable, extremely thin teacher. They were polar opposites, and the mentor teacher gave her extremely bad and INMO, biased reviews. This gal was then placed with me, yes, she was immature, and had some social difficulties, but I felt in a structured environment, she would be an excellent special education teacher. I recommended her with my review, she was hired in our district, and doing a good job.
I also had a student who never should have been placed, she was a terrible teacher. No patience. No insight to her own deficits, which were significant. The school should have done their job in counseling her out of the program. Instead they left it to me. Thanks. She was also a second placement, I suppose was the "last chance destination", I gave her a very reserved, limited, stilted recommendation. I knew she would not last in a job. And told her to be a para for a few years. She ignored my advice. Fired without re hire, three months in.
So, I don't know you. But I do know teaching. Talk to your advisor at school, and be open and ready for information you may not want to hear. And request information on an improvement plan. Good luck.
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