My top number one best ever tip for student teachers

My absolute top tip is to be helpful.

This particularly applies to working with your supervising teacher.

Think about it this way: this is your professional placement. But this is your supervising teacher’s job. 

There may be a range of goals you’ve got as a student teacher. You might want to teach a senior Modern History class, practice certain literacy techniques or observe a particular teacher and so on.

You have goals. Your supervising teacher has a job. They will likely do whatever they can to accommodate your goals. But they have to weigh this against the various responsibilities and requirements of their ongoing job.

If you think about it, your time at this school, in this role, is time limited. Your supervising teaching will still be there after you’ve left (at least for a period of time).

So while you’ve got your goals in mind, your supervising teacher has to take a bigger picture view.

Given this, my top piece of advice to student teachers is to be helpful. 

Do your best to help your supervising teacher do their job. When you’re a qualified teacher, you’ll be in control and able to do things as you’d like. Here, someone else is in control so you should focus on ways that you can assist.

An example in point. Let’s say you’re really keen on teaching that senior Modern History class. But your supervising teacher has asked you to teach a junior Geography class instead. What do you do?

Let’s say you insist on teaching the Modern History class. How might the supervising teacher respond? 

Or let’s say you agree to do the junior class, but you’re very reluctant to do it. How might the supervising teacher respond to this?

It’s no guarantee but when you’re helpful, others may be inclined to be helpful to you too. It’s worth thinking about. 

Rather than going into your prac placement with a checklist of goals to hit, go in with one super objective — to be helpful.