Gabbi McArtor is in her first year teaching. She student taught with me in the Spring of 2015 and graduated in May 2016 with a certificate to teach K-8 from Illinois State University.
This is post four of six in a series about student teaching, mentoring, and how we are always becoming teachers: “The Coaching Tree for Teachers.” In this post, Gabbi reflects on our time working together, what she is discovering as a teacher in her own classroom, and how she might support her future student teachers.
1) What ideas, beliefs, lessons did you take away from our time together that seem helpful in your own teaching now?
Reflecting back to my student teaching placement with you, there are several things that I took away from my experience and being in your classroom. One of the greatest and most valuable things I took away was being able to see how powerful learning can be for the students when you show that you genuinely care about them as a person.
The insight the students provide allow teachers to see what is important to the student. For instance, I remember I was conferring with a student and I asked her why she enjoyed the book she was reading. In the 2 minutes we spoke, I learned that she felt a connection with the protagonist because her mother left her when she was little and the student experienced something very similar when she was younger. This moment really stuck with me because I learned so much about this student in 2 minutes and she trusted me as a student teacher because of the environment she was in. She was safe and she was comfortable.
This made me wonder, how do I ensure that my students feel safe and comfortable like they do in this classroom? It was clear to me that your ability to connect students to books based on what you knew about each kid and book helped build a positive rapport in your classroom.
Since then, I have been determined to incorporate my students interests in the content we learn everyday. I know it will take more experience and a lot of reading to get there, but I am glad that I got to witness several students in that environment.
2) What are you struggling with or working through now and is there something we could have done during student teaching to help?
Being a first year teacher, I knew that this year was going to be a challenge. Right now, my biggest struggle would have to be finding a classroom management system that focuses on positive behaviors and provides intrinsic motivation. I’ve realized that a lot of my own systems include physical things such as raffle tickets and points. Because of this, I feel that this takes away from students taking ownership of their work and being proud of what they truly accomplish in the classroom. I believe that as I gain more experience, I will be able to find more ways to gain autonomy.
3) When you are ready for a student teacher, what do you think you can most help with and what do you think new teachers just have to figure out on their own?
Down the road, I would love to have a student teacher. Being a student teacher of yours, I loved that you valued my opinions, ideas, beliefs. It provided me with confidence. My favorite moments were being able to reflect on what happened in the classroom and our deep conversations about the amazing things students revealed that day.When I have a student teacher, I want to do exactly what you did for me. To guide them and allow them to see my thinking and my process of teaching, but giving them the freedom to pave their own way and use their own ideas so they can find their own style of teaching.
I’ve taken so much from student teaching for an entire year, but there is just so much that I have learned by having my own classroom. Because all experiences are different for every teacher, it is impossible for a mentor teacher to give any black and white answers on how to handle a situation or go about a certain lesson. I’ve learned that experience is everything.