Northwest Missouri State University - Tower Yearbook (Maryville, MO)

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' . . the students know you ' re only there for awhile, and kind of take you with a grain of salt ' Q: Do you think the college ' s teacher training program prepared you well? A: Well, I think it ' s hard to say ex- actly what you can prepare a stu- dent teacher for because a lot of the differences are so individual. You are taught that you need lesson plans, you must have objec- tives, and basically theoretical things. You need to get out and teach your subject. Q: Did you think you were getting a sterotype idea of students and classes? A: The main thing is that here at the school it is so radically different. You can tell someone what you may run into — the problems. But you can ' t tell someone how to han- dle problems because every situa- tion is individual. I feel we talk too much about what we are going to do, and less about, say, how we can make things better; for exam- ple, how to motivate students. The problem doesn ' t seem to be how to prepare lessons as much as how to present them in a good way. Some kids are going to get the material — they ' re into the school thing, but others have low motivation. This is where the real skill of teaching comes in. Q: Then you feel that it ' s more a question of why students should be in a place that may not hold any interest or relevancy from their point of view? A: Let me put it this way — Tm young and I haven ' t done much or had much experience at this. But I feel I ' m really lacking in prepara- tion in knowing how to motivate kids. Sure, I use things like positive reinforcement and all, but it doesn ' t seem to get to the heart of the matter. Q: What have you found that is usable in your situation? A: We talked a lot about testing, but we never went about actually preparing a test, how we thought we ' d give one. We talked about how people thought they maybe wouldn ' t want to use tests and that they aren ' t really effective means of evaluating people, but that we must have some way to evaluate a student ' s progress. And my co-op teacher has asked me to test the students . . . I ' m not prepared to construct a test, so the only thing I can do is to go through the material and pick out what I think is good or what students should know. I never had a chance to see how effective my tests were before I came here. Why not ex- pose the student teacher to this before he starts his student teaching? Why not have me prepare a test out of some material, let ' s say from a text be- ing used, and have some high school students take the test? Q: What did you get in the education block that you ' ve found helped? A: I thought micro-teaching was great. But the problem in it was all the questioning you had to do, which was good, but the students were college students pretending to be high school kids. Student teaching is supposed to be your first level of actually getting out to teach, and then you take over really teaching. I know a lot of people who, even after they ' ve done student teaching and are out on a job, are still bridging a lot of gaps and having a lot of trouble. Maybe that will always be the case, but perhaps if we expose them a little earlier, and then stu- dent teaching becomes like the se- cond experience, when they get into actual teaching it would be like the third experience and they ' d probably be better at it. Otherwise, while the teacher ' s learning, the students may be suf- fering. Q: How are you looked upon at your student teaching school? A: They have a good deal of respect for student teachers here; I was worried about that when I came, that I would be treated as some kind of outsider. In one sense that ' s true, because the students know you ' re only there for a while and kind of take you with a grain of salt; and the cooperating teacher takes you with about ten grains of salt. But cooperating teachers probably would not have been given student teachers if they hadn ' t had pretty good ex- periences as teachers and good relationships with people. Q: What do they expect of you as a student teacher? A: I may be selfish, but I think there should be some restrictions in the amount of work a student teacher should have to do. Like I have to be here all day and back at night. I think I ' m asked to work (free) so I can get a grasp of what theater work will be like; but I ' ve been in drama for four years and I know what it is like. 19

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TUDcnr T60 llinC . . . most students feel that student teaching is the most valuable portion of their education The student teaching requirement is probably one of the best known courses offered for an education degree, yet most students do not have any idea what to expect from it until they get into their assigned schools. We have attempted, in these interviews with student teachers and their campus supervisors, to present the expectations and actual experiences of the student teaching assignment. The student teachers interviewed were all in their fifth week of teaching in a large suburban district. Dr. Frank Grispino is the coordinator for all student teaching assignments. He views the experience as a chance for the would-be teacher to meet and work with his professional counterparts and to test his ability to perform in an actual classroom situation. Although most students have had simulated teaching experiences through micro- teaching or practicums, Dr. Grispino stresses that most students feel that student teaching is the most valuable portion of their education. Here they are given a chance to learn through experience and by discussing problems with a cooperating teacher who has tested various methods over years of actual teaching. As chairman of the Department of Secondary Educa- tion, Dr. Roger Epley coordinates the education courses of all secondary majors. He views student teaching not as a final grooming to be a teacher, but as a preview into the life and work of a teacher. He points out that the student teacher is a guest in the building for a short time, and should not try to drastically alter the policy of the school, but rather live with it and sort out the things he would do the same or differently in a classroom of his own. Although the school with which a student may eventually sign a con- tract may be vastly different from the one in which he did his student teaching. Dr. Epley feels that this experience, as well as all education courses, can predict the success of a future teacher to a large degree. Dr. Dean Savage, chairman of the Department of Elementary Education, views student teaching as an op- portunity for the student to make final adjustments before he goes into his own classroom. Over the past three years the elementary education department has added several practicums to required courses, enabling the students to teach a variety of subjects to elementary children in Horace Mann before the student assignment. Dr. Savage feels that this makes the students feel more confident when they go into their student teaching; he also feels justified in expec- ting a good performance from students who have had these teaching experiences. Both the elementary and secondary education departments meet regularly with students who have completed their student teaching to discern what kinds of improvements are needed in the program and preparation for it. The role of the campus coordinator is often mis- understood, even after the student teacher is in his school. The campus coordinator acts as a liaison between the stu- dent teacher and the University, which may involve taking messages or equipment from Maryville to the student or offering constructive criticism and assistance to the student teacher. It is important that the student trust his coor- dinator, who is there to observe and be of service. The coor- dinator observes the student teacher several times, and, with the recommendation of the cooperating teacher, awards the final grade for the student assignment. In the following interviews with three students we hope to convey the mood of the student teacher and his job. They have commented on how well prepared they were for the assignment as well as on the assignment itself. Although they believed they knew the theories of education fairly well, all three, as well as many others who were consulted, stressed the need for more practical experience with students in the age group of those whom they will be teaching. They felt an aspiring teacher should know what high school, jvnior high, and elementary students are like before their last semester in college; to know what to expect and to be sure teaching is the occupation he wants before he has spent four years preparing for it. 18 -

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' . . their philosophy was, if a kid steps out of line, swat him ' ' Q: Do you feel that the education you received at Maryville prepared you for student teaching? A: I think the biggest thing was that I had not seen a junior high kid for several years. You can always think back to how you reacted to a situation when you were younger, but these kids are doing about the same things I was doing when I was a senior in high school. They act so mature, but then turn 180 degrees and do the most juvenile things. A: It was all gym classes, every day. It is a lot different situation than the classroom. They were all boys and when they came to class it was a chance for them to let off steam. They ' d go crazy; all they wanted to do was play. Q: Did you find this created a dis- cipline problem? A: They kept the kids in line .... their philosophy was if the kid steps out of line, swat him. Q: A real swat? A: Yes, I mean hard. If they didn ' t dress out for any excuse except a written note from the parents, they received a swat. A written note was good for only one day. And when you blew the whistle, if anyone shot a basket after the whistle they got a swat. They used aerial tennis paddles, pretty good size boards. And the kids take it, there was never any repercussion from the parents. Q: How did you react to this teaching philosophy? A: I had to go along pretty much with everything they did. If students were late and I didn ' t give out a swat, which I didn ' t right at first, then half the class would be late. Because they expected to get this punishment. They train these kids to expect it, and it was usually their own doing that brought it on themselves. One of the big things I found from teaching PE was that I don ' t want to teach it. I think I would rather be in the guidance or counseling field. Q: Did you see any of your own ef- forts leading to a philosophy? A: We had to tell them every minute what to do. If they were supposed to be sitting down after they ran the 200 yard dash, then they had better be sitting down, and that ' s the way my cooperating teacher put it. So I put it that way and as long as I played the role, it worked fine. But there were times I could see myself off at the side shaking my head because that ' s not the kind of thing I like to do. Q: Do you suppose there was a reason the teacher was so restrictive? A: I think one of the big problems was that there were all these different levels of physical ability in one class. He was forced to push them through. Q: Do you feel your courses at college prepared you for student teaching? A: I think they got me as well prepared as they could, but there ' s always room for improve- ment. I think they should make it quite clear that there is no set situation that you ' re going to go into. I didn ' t know what to expect, so I coasted along at first. Q: What about the efforts of your department or the education department? A: I think the physical education department should work much more closely with the psychology department because the threat of a swat isn ' t what I call using your head. Seeing the students happy made me happy; when they en- joyed themselves I felt that I ac- complished something. Even if I didn ' t get records written up on the wall, as long as they enjoyed the class . . . Q: Do you think student teachers need more experience with the kids? Is micro-teaching enough? A: I don ' t think Maryville is in the geographic location to get the stu- dent teacher prospects out as freshmen or sophomores. That ' s what ' s needed. If a sophomore were put in charge of a seventh grade P.E. class, he just might either get on or get off right there. Q: After this eight weeks, have you come to any decisions about your future as a teacher? A: I almost know for sure I ' m not go- ing to teach in a classroom. Q: You mentioned guidance. A: That might be the eighteenth choice on what I ' d like to do in the next ten years. I ' ve tried to do my best, but mostly I think I ' m get- ting experience in the total educa- tion of my life. I think it ' s going to have helped me regardless of what I want to become. Right now I ' m just getting as many different ex- periences as I can and this is part of it, a big part . . . a big chapter. Q: Some of the other student teachers felt that preparation courses could lean more toward the practical than the theoretical. What are your feelings? A: I was in secondary education first, a history major, and it was all lec- 30