Student Teaching

Student teaching is the capstone experience of a preservice teacher's preparation program. Student teaching is intended to provide preservice teachers with supervised, extended experiences in real classroom settings and the opportunity to be assessed in relation to their strengths and weaknesses as prospective teachers. While student teaching has traditionally been viewed as a capstone experience, it is increasingly seen as an initial rather than a terminal learning opportunity with schools, districts, and state departments of education looking at the role of induction and mentoring as a much-needed, job-embedded extension of the student teaching experience.

The nature of the student teaching experience varies greatly among teacher education programs. The length of a student teaching placement can vary from 5 weeks to 2 semesters. Typically, a student teacher is assigned a cooperating or supervising teacher at a school site, and a university supervisor makes periodic visits to observe the student teacher in practice. The typical student teaching assignment requires the student teacher to spend about half of the student teaching placement teaching, with the remaining time spent observing and participating in classroom or school-level activities with experienced teachers.

Typically, the student teacher's responsibility in the classroom increases during the course of the student's placement in the school. The student teacher sometimes has the opportunity to participate in all aspects of a teacher's work in a school (e.g., parent conferences, supervisory duties, committee or grade-level teamwork) and to meet and confer with other school personnel that support the teacher in the classroom (e.g., counselors, administrators, academic area curriculum and instructional specialists, special education teachers).

Traditionally, preservice teachers had little real experience with schools until the student teaching experience [Page 972]in their senior year. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, some universities experimented with the concept of a professional development school where the research knowledge of the university was integrated with the practical knowledge of K–12 classroom teachers to enhance the preservice teacher's preparation for the real world of the classroom. In some cases, student teaching was increased from one semester to two and included intensive supervision and guided reflection by public school teachers or clinical faculty rather than faculty from the university. The student teaching experience sometimes involved working with two different cooperating teachers at two different grade levels.

The role of the cooperating teacher cannot be underestimated in the development of the preservice teacher. The ability of the cooperating teacher to observe instruction, communicate with preservice teachers about strengths and weaknesses observed, and guide the novice teacher in selecting teaching, learning, management, and assessment approaches to address problems that may surface is key to the preservice teacher's progress. For this reason, some universities have required cooperating teachers to take training in clinical supervision to strengthen their ability to observe instruction, communicate their observations, and help the preservice teacher explore and reflect on experiences using appropriate adult learning principles.

To better prepare preservice teachers for the student teaching experience, teacher education programs are requiring field experiences in school sites early and throughout preservice teachers' preparation programs. Disparities between preservice teacher preparation and the reality of the requirements of the actual job of teaching are key contributors to novice teachers' leaving the profession. Early field experiences that increase preservice teachers' responsibilities in the classroom are seen as possible ways to reduce the effects of these disparities. Early in the preservice teacher's introduction to real classrooms, the preservice teacher may take the role of observer or paraprofessional. Then the preservice teacher may work as a tutor or classroom monitor. Next, the preservice teacher may work as a teaching assistant. Such early and sustained field experiences aid preservice teachers in making a final decision about entering the teaching field and increase the likelihood of their successful transition to the student teaching experience.

...