Reflections on Student Teaching

Reflections on Student Teaching

Student teaching - the culminating experience before finishing your teaching degree and getting ahold of that precious teaching certificate. It is a time to put all of your content and pedagogical knowledge into practice. It may very well be your first group of "my kids." Entering the classroom as a student teacher is both exciting and nerve-wracking. I sometimes look back to my own student teaching experience in 2013 and think "whew, I'm glad I don't have to do that again!"

My name is Hillary Rose, and I have just finished my 7th year as a high school history and biology teacher. Here at Amped Up Learning, I am known as "Rosie the History Teacher" - a play on my last name and one of my favorite historical figures. Though my student teaching experience was almost a decade ago, I still think about it often and have fond memories of the unique learning experiences I had.

I spent the first half of the semester teaching World History in a rural public school in my home state of Michigan. I had a wonderful host teacher who let me run with my creativity and try new things as often as I wanted. The freedom was amazing - if not a bit daunting at times! The second half of the semester was spent on a student teaching abroad experience in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. There, I taught all grade 8-12 social studies classes at an urban private school. Learning about education abroad and being immersed in another culture was life-changing!

Throughout both parts of my student teaching, I tried hard to stay organized and to make the most of the opportunities to grow as an educator. I bought a fancy personalized planner, had a big accordion file to store lesson plans, was always super early to school get everything prepared, and attended school events as often as possible. I was also desperately searching for a job to start once I graduated, which was tough since my graduation was in December and I would be living in another country for several weeks leading up to that.

Juggling this variety of teaching experiences with a job search and other responsibilities was not without challenges. Using what I learned both during student teaching, and now as an experienced educator, I have created a Student Teacher Binder with pages upon pages of organizers, templates, and ideas to help you have a smooth student teaching adventure. You can find it in my Amped Up Learning shop here: https://ampeduplearning.com/student-teacher-binder-the-ultimate-organizer-for-student-teaching/ Also, if you are reading this and have already finished student teaching, but are about to embark on your first year as an official teacher, I also have a version of this binder for you! I hope that all of the new teachers embarking on this exciting adventure have a great learning experience - you are so important in shaping the lives of our next generation!

My graduation in December 2013. I was able to wear the Dominican Republic's flag as a sash due to my student teaching abroad experience.

Teaching high school World History in Michigan.

My 12th Grade American Government class in the Dominican Republic.