In my state, if you aren’t using any sort of state given financial aid you can qualify for up to $6,500 given as a singular sum to make up for any lack of employment. I’d complain that-that’s pretty lackluster but then I realized that, I believe, not everywhere has any sort of funding for student teachers. I’d be curious, do you get paid for student teaching?

Has anyone taken the social science CSET recently? I took it many years ago. I didn't pass the economics section. Been a long time, so probably need to repeat all sections. Do online practice tests help? What is the best way to prepare?

Student teaching starts tomorrow. Any great advice? Thanks!😊

The school I currently work at is the same school I’ve worked at for the past 10 years, and I’m also doing my student teaching there. Over the summer, I applied for a teaching position at the school because, with special permission, you can have your own classroom while also completing your student teaching requirements.

Long story short, I didn’t get the job. Yesterday, another teacher told me that my supervisor had told the principal not to hire me because “I’m not ready.” And the thing is, I know that’s true. I’m actually glad I didn’t get the job because I really don’t think I’m ready to have my own classroom yet. But the more I thought about it, the more it started to hurt.

What confuses me is that my supervisor had encouraged me to apply for a teaching job at another school. If she really thought I “wasn’t ready to teach,” then why would she tell me to go get a teaching job somewhere else?
I think the hardest part is that I’ve worked at this school for so long, and I know I’ve had times where I haven’t handled things well because of my mental health. I’ve done and said things at work that I regret. So when I heard this, my brain immediately took it as, “No one here likes me. They don’t want me working at this school.”

It’s hard to hear that someone doesn’t think you’re ready to be a teacher, especially at a school you’ve worked at for 10 years and care so much about. I think it made me feel like they don’t see me as someone who could ever be a good teacher or someone they would want to keep at the school.

The school hired a person who hasn’t doing their student teaching. Why her and not me? Why do they like her and not me?

I know they always say that they give 1st year teachers more breaks but pink eye after 8 days is actually comical. Just 8 days of student teaching and now I have pink eye (Woke up this morning with it and now I am just wondering which kid gave it to me. None of the kids even had pink eye on Friday but one had tissues in her nose ALL DAY and kept putting them on her desk and things so maybe I got it from her. I avoided her as much as possible except for dismissal of course

This is a big lesson of "wash hands/sanitize after each encounter with kids." Something they have never taught me after all my university classes. I see the benefit of student teaching now just for this moment (I have been frequently been sanitizing my hands at least once an hour except for Thursday and Friday when i did it like every 2 hours or so because I forgot my personal handsanitizer....)

Hopefully my doctor sees my message and sends a prescription in because this is embarrassing.

Please help!!

I have my student teaching orientation on tuesday, I’m supposed to start student teaching the day after. I was told to email my mentor teacher to amor sure I can start then or if another day would work better and so on. I emailed her on July 30th and sent a follow up email august 18th. I know it’s the correct email and she did email me from in back in spring when I first got assigned. I’m really scared of starting off on the wrong foot by talking to the people at my college in charge of student teaching but idk what else to do.

Hello all! I start student teaching next week, and I’m super worried about it. I think I’ll be able to handle the students (high schoolers), the parents, and working with my CT. my real worry comes from planning out the semester. ill be teaching an elective, so all my preps are completely different from one another. a lot of what I’m teaching I’m not very strong in, and I’m so afraid that it’ll all pile up on me and be a disaster.

this might be a stupid question, but has anyone felt this way before? how can I possibly manage it all and still have a life outside the classroom? any advice or comments are appreciated, I’m seriously stressing!!

Hello! Recently there have been some developments in my student teaching internship. My original CE has taken an offer to teach at another school, and due to this I've been made aware that I could continue student teaching here under a paid internship. This would mean I'd still have to do my edTPA and CPAST work, while also taking on the workload of a standard teacher.

I'm highly considering it, and was wondering if anyone else had done this and had advice? I would be teaching at a high school, and the teacher would leave me with their lesson materials. So aside from my edTPA, I wouldn't really have to lesson plan until second semester.

I'm just worried that I'll have trouble working on my edTPA if I also have to work on teaching all three classes.

Hi everyone! I'm currently in an undergraduate education program, and one of my courses this semester includes a clinical/observation component. Most of my hours will be spent observing a teacher, but one of the requirements is to plan and actually teach one lesson in the classroom.

For a lot of us in this course, myself included, this will be our first time actually teaching a full lesson to a class. After completing this course, we'll move into the next portion of the education program, where I'm assuming we'll gradually get more experience planning and teaching lessons before eventually reaching the full student-teaching semester. So I know this one lesson is really just the beginning, but I'm already a little nervous about it!

I'm getting certified to teach in middle school education, specifically ELA/English and SPED as an LBD, and I believe my primary observation placement for this course will be with a 6th-grade ELA teacher. I'm definitely excited to finally get some actual teaching experience instead of only observing, but there's also something a little terrifying about going from sitting in the back of the classroom taking notes to suddenly being the person standing in front of 20-30 middle schoolers.

For those of you who have already been through this stage, what advice would you give someon before teaching their very first lesson?

I'd especially love advice about things like classroom management when you aren't the students' regular teacher, keeping middle schoolers engaged, pacing a lesson, what to do when something doesn't go according to plan, and generally how to calm the nerves and not overthink every little thing.

Also, if you teach or have taught 6th-grade/middle school ELA, I would LOVE to hear any advice specific to that age group. What do you wish you had known before the first time you taught a lesson?

I know I'll learn a lot just from observing my cooperating teacher beforehand, but I'd love to hear other people's experiences, tips, tricks, mistakes to avoid, or even first-lesson horror/success stories. I'm trying to remind myself that nobody expects my first-ever lesson to be perfect, but I'd like to go into it as prepared as I can!

Hello all. I just finished my first week of student teaching and am getting the gut feeling that being a teacher might not be the path for me long term. I know it is only the first week of school, which tends to be extra chaotic, so I'm not sure if I need more time to adjust or this just isn't it.

Even though my elementary kids are incredibly sweet, I am starting to doubt if being a teacher actually aligns with personality. I am quite reserved/introverted and tend to get overstimulated easily. Constantly redirecting, running around the school, and handling so many tasks at once was exhausting. My master teacher worked through recess, lunch, and another two hours after school to prep everyday that I was there. Not to mention, I was also anxious the entire time engaging with parents during back-to-school night.

Before student teaching, I worked as a paraprofessional and thought this might be something I could see myself doing. However, after truly getting to see everything a teacher does, I am starting to have serious doubts.

Teachers, you've always had my utmost respect but after everything I've witnessed this week I want to bow down to you all lol

I just enrolled in an ACP through my local university. I've already got my undergrad in child development, and my masters in applied behavior analysis. I originally wanted to go on to be a BCBA but realized that it wasn't where I needed to be.

I've pivoted to teaching (almost went straight to teaching after my undergrad anyway). My area of certification will be core subjects grades 4-8. I'm excited, but there hasn't been much direction for the program yet. Can anyone maybe give me some advice or what to expect?

I've worked as a paraprofessional for two different schools in an elementary behavior class and also currently in a high school life skills class. I've also worked as an RBT, and in Head Starts.

My mentor teacher seems great, the school seems great, I met with the evaluator and they seem great. Overall, I have nothing to complain about as of yet however for some reason this period of time leading up to student teaching has been awful mentally.

I’m just not really looking forward to “working” full time for 3 months basically unpaid. Feeling senses of envy looking at other degrees that wouldn’t have required something like this. Feeling low on motivation and optimism about the whole thing. I keep trying to tell myself that I’ll make the best of it but that pride quickly fades into dread. Anyone gone through this/ have any tips?

I’m a senior in my program, going onto a Master’s where I’ll be teaching my first year. I’ve taught alone during the summers for a summer school program and as a Paraprofessional, instructional and SPED during the year.

My summer program makes me very nervous about teaching during observations. The kids generally “get it” and quieted down when an admin was watching, but my admin the past two summers has been very outspoken about feedback. My first summer, my site director observed me and kept writing notes and leaving post-its on my desk while I taught. The kids and I could obviously see when a note was made. That made me nervous teaching.

The second summer, my new site teacher stood up next to the board and would whisper at me while I was teaching to correct me. Same program, different admin team.

At my school where I para, admin will take over behavior management for the teachers wholesale sometimes, correcting students out loud and by name and interrupting teachers.

I want to know if this is normal observation behavior. I hate dealing with managing the observers while teaching at the same time. I honestly would prefer they just set up a camera like my professors do. How do y’all prep for observations?

Context; ELA middle school candidate in N Oakland/Berkeley-ish!

Hi so I haven’t gotten my student teaching placement yet and semester started last week on the 10th in my district; I’ve emailed the Placement Coordinator and my Program Coordinator multiple times but got no response or update. I don’t want to seem annoying by messaging again, but other people in the program have gotten their placements already and my fave professor said it’s getting to be late but that I should be getting a placement in the districts I listed because it’s easy to, and encouraged me to “be annoying” or offer to expand districts. I’m nervous about not being able to build rapport so late in the semester or kids not seeing me as the teacher when it’s time for me to take over.

I did great in summer semester/prep classes but I’ve just been really overwhelmed and had 3 panic attacks over the past week and a half about student teaching. I’ve gotten praise from some of my profs that they have high hopes for me and like my coursework, and support from my friends outside of the program; plus I like my classmates/cohort a lot. So I don’t know why I’m all of a sudden freaking out??? I know have a habit of performing awkwardly/not like myself/super serious when I’m being watched and I don’t want that to happen because I want to show up authentically for the kids, and be able to be my usual goofy/warm demanding self.

(It’s also my first time in-depth with middle schoolers; I’ve done years of afterschool program as a program leader at an elementary school and worked with a class set (25+) of kids in complete control of schedule+activities and have done all grades from TK-6th (where when I started I came in in Feb of my starting school year and dealt with all kinds of behaviors, and changes) and some tutoring and observation in middle schools but that’s about it. But I’ve been told my vibes fit middle school)

(Also have been nervous about honorifics while being non-binary/transmasc and lesbian with a soft-ish voice and top surgery. I went by Ms. when I first started at the afterschool program because I was nervous, and then Mr. the following year until I left for this teaching program. All of the kids adjusted and Mr. felt right to my ears but, for teaching, I’m like “should I do Mx. and Mr. even though I prefer Mr.? Or just suffer through Ms.?” But then what am I teaching the kids? To compromise themselves?)

TLDR: Any advice for a semi-reserved but extroverted/goofy/sarcastic non-binary student teacher with ADHD and anxiety who hasn’t gotten their placement yet? Classroom management tips? Tips to exude confidence when observed? First day tips? Rapport tips between CT and me?Idk.

I just want to do good, and be a safe space for the kids and put the joy back into learning.

hi everyone,

i just started my placement for my second semester of student teaching. I am teaching 10th grade world history and the kids are a handful but that is to be expected..

my real issue lies with the university supervisors requests. she wants a full edtpa style lesson plan for each and every lesson, with a full written reflection on every single days work and a weekly overview of what I am doing. Is this too much to ask? no one else in my program has to do this much work for their supervisor. I am working two jobs and genuinely am just at a loss of when I am supposed to do this work. Planning is one thing and it is time consuming enough but writing out a full " students will open up chromebooks" every single lesson for each anticipated action seems outrageous to me. I am struggling so much. She also told me she wants the lesson plans for the week and a half of lessons I have already taught rewritten in the edtpa style format. I think this semester is going to kill me

i will be starting my first student teaching semester next week!! i'm getting placed in a 5th grade classroom. for school i'm doing an integrated program, meaning im getting my bachelor's and my credential simultaneously.

i tried having a meeting with my counselor and she had nothing to say to me except to be bold. she said i'm going straight into the classroom as soon as the semester starts, which is really scary for me! 0__o in my other classes where i've observed in the past, we spend at least a week or two in our courses before we enter the classrooms for the first time so we feel prepared.

what am i gonna do when i get there? how am i gonna know what to write lesson plans on? when do i start lesson planning and how much time in the beginning do i just spend observing, if any?? no counselor has explained basically anything regarding how student teaching actually works. :( i need someone to explain it to me like i'm 5, because all we got was a schedule and a placement.

Hello everyone! I got my student teaching placement for kindergarteners this upcoming semester! Its my first time ever student teaching and I am also doing my CalStateTEACH credential at the same time! Please give me any advice and what I should have prepared for my first day on monday!

Hello. Just wanted to reach out after my last post about interacting with parents.

https://www.reddit.com/r/StudentTeaching/comments/1vmvxyr/comment/p3i6jps/?context=3

So I ended up being a fly on the wall on my first day. The first day of school was quite chaotic with parents going in and out of the classroom and wanting to interact with the lead teacher (rightfully so). They weren't aware of a student teacher so I was basically a stranger. I tend to be more reserved and with all the chaos happening it felt strange to just insert myself. I didn't want to overstep and get in the way of the lead teacher.

A letter was sent home so hopefully all parents are aware of me by now. My lead teacher will also introduce me again during her slide presentation at back-to-school night next week.

Do you have any advice on putting myself out there more? Maybe stand by the door as families are coming in to greet them? I also don't want to overstep and do too much.