My Advice to the Next Student Teacher

My 15 week student teaching experience is over (tomorrow)...

What?! How?!?

I feel like it was just yesterday when I thought that January would never end. Now I'm packing up my things and preparing to head back to Penn State to finish out and get my degree.

Here is my advice for those who come after me...

• When choosing your cooperating center visit as many places as possible! One of the things that lead me to choose Manheim Central High School was the way that it felt while I was there visiting. The connection between you and the teachers that make up the ag department will be vital for success. Believe me, by visiting you will be able to see if there is "chemistry" between you and the potential cooperating teacher. 
• Work like crazy in the Fall. Listening to your professors and completing every task that is asked of you will significantly make your life more simple during student teaching. 
• The SAME goes for while you are student teaching. It will be super hectic and the days will be a blur. Do the work. Write lessons BEFORE you teach them no matter how much of a pain that is. This will make you feel 3,000x better when you need to collect all of your plans to turn in when you head back to college. I feel successful because I started the binders when I started teaching and just kept throwing the lesson plans into the binders as I taught them. It was a great tactic to ensure success!
• ASK AS MANY QUESTIONS AS POSSIBLE. Your cooperating teacher will not get mad at you. They will not be annoyed at you. They will be so incredibly happy that you are interested in learning and taking the job seriously. You might even get an unexpected gem when they answer you! So please, for my sake and your sake and your students' sake...just ask the darn question.
• Do not be in a hurry to get home. Your cooperating teacher is investing their time into you and their students. You should do the same. Plus, cool things happen after the bell rings. This is the time where reflecting on the day and having "teacher talk" is a blessing. Students are there from bell to bell. Don't just be a student.
• Share a piece of yourself with your students. Obviously don't tell them the nitty-gritty details of your personal life but it is totally okay to share that you have siblings. That you have a dog, a car, parents, etc. This makes the students view you as a real human being that they can relate to and confide in. If you act like cold reserved individual then they will treat you as such. Trust me on this one.

May the force be with you while you start out in the classroom and may you always provide your students with information that will one day help them win Jeopardy. :)

-Angela (aka. Ms. Becker)