Musings on the observation of a student teacher, one semester later...
So today I had the opportunity to sub for a high school math class that had a student teacher. This, of course, lead to some thoughtful musings as someone who was recently a student teacher, and had a few mixed experiences when a sub was in the classroom as opposed to my co-op.
So this student teacher had an awful day. I feel for him, I really do... Because I remember how frustrating it was to have subs while student teaching. However, despite my best efforts to be friendly with this younger trench mate, I believe he was more than happy to see me out of the classroom because I did not provide enough support. Or he was just a cranky-pants in general. It was hard to tell.
I was incredibly passive during the entire day. I helped when asked, but did not butt in otherwise. The problem is the student teacher did not handle the behavior of his students well at all -- Which is common for student teaching. Classroom management was the bane of my existence last year, and it is scary how subbing has given me a better hold over it. Guess you over compensate when you walk in expecting nothing but disrespect. But regardless, I remember the worst days occurred when my co-op was absent. Either I was frustrated to almost tears because the sub would offer no help what-so-ever in an obvious out of control situation, or they did too much and stepped on my toes as the teacher in charge. It did not help that student behavior would follow a crazy pattern when a sub was in the room. Regardless of how well behaved students were for me with the co-op in the room, they would fall under the substitute allure regardless of my presence, thus resulting in chaos. Discipline became a much larger problem on those days and it was awful having another adult in the room who did too much or too little.
So I felt guilty when I left. Didn't help that the poor guy had his supervisor observing during one of the worst periods. I think I made the right decision not stepping in at all -- I may be good at getting a class under control, but I am just a sub, so respect isn't exactly something I get from students. And I didn't want the student teacher to feel resentful, as I did with one particular sub who did nothing but undermine me in my classroom (Roomies heard plenty about crazy conservative "real teachers wear skirts" lady. Hoo boy was she a hoot.) But still... Part of me wonders if he would have appreciated a few comments to the class about their abhorrent behavior towards their teacher. I know there were moments where I would have loved that last semester...
But still, I had crazy conservative "real teachers wear skirts" lady too. So better safe than sorry? Oh well. I wished him a good semester and the very best with his student teaching before I left.
So this student teacher had an awful day. I feel for him, I really do... Because I remember how frustrating it was to have subs while student teaching. However, despite my best efforts to be friendly with this younger trench mate, I believe he was more than happy to see me out of the classroom because I did not provide enough support. Or he was just a cranky-pants in general. It was hard to tell.
I was incredibly passive during the entire day. I helped when asked, but did not butt in otherwise. The problem is the student teacher did not handle the behavior of his students well at all -- Which is common for student teaching. Classroom management was the bane of my existence last year, and it is scary how subbing has given me a better hold over it. Guess you over compensate when you walk in expecting nothing but disrespect. But regardless, I remember the worst days occurred when my co-op was absent. Either I was frustrated to almost tears because the sub would offer no help what-so-ever in an obvious out of control situation, or they did too much and stepped on my toes as the teacher in charge. It did not help that student behavior would follow a crazy pattern when a sub was in the room. Regardless of how well behaved students were for me with the co-op in the room, they would fall under the substitute allure regardless of my presence, thus resulting in chaos. Discipline became a much larger problem on those days and it was awful having another adult in the room who did too much or too little.
So I felt guilty when I left. Didn't help that the poor guy had his supervisor observing during one of the worst periods. I think I made the right decision not stepping in at all -- I may be good at getting a class under control, but I am just a sub, so respect isn't exactly something I get from students. And I didn't want the student teacher to feel resentful, as I did with one particular sub who did nothing but undermine me in my classroom (Roomies heard plenty about crazy conservative "real teachers wear skirts" lady. Hoo boy was she a hoot.) But still... Part of me wonders if he would have appreciated a few comments to the class about their abhorrent behavior towards their teacher. I know there were moments where I would have loved that last semester...
But still, I had crazy conservative "real teachers wear skirts" lady too. So better safe than sorry? Oh well. I wished him a good semester and the very best with his student teaching before I left.