Loads of work, little pay: student teacher make the grade

By: Manuella Rogers, Contributing Writer

Posted: 6/9/09

Every year about 800 UNT students apply for student teaching positions. Placed at many different school districts, they learn from mentor teachers fundamentals of classroom management, teaching strategies and ways to handle real classroom situations.

"A student teacher day is exactly like a teacher day," said Jo Murphy, coordinator of Field Experience Program at UNT's department of teacher education and administration.

"We expect student teachers to do everything exactly like a teacher does, because that is how they are going to learn what teaching is about," she said.
Through the hands-on experience, student teachers learn the frustrations - and the joys - of teaching. They must learn to prepare and present lessons, to keep order and to appear fearless in a real classroom full of children.

"The biggest challenge of a student teacher is to enforce discipline," said Theresa Barrera, a seventh-grade reading teacher at Strickland Middle School in Denton.

"Students can smell fear, they can sense when someone isn't comfortable and confident in what they're doing," said Barrera, who has been a teacher for nine years and has mentored 12 student teachers.

The requirements

Admission requirements to UNT's student teaching program are many and vary depending on the field of study.
Basic requirements for the College of Education include having a 2.7 cumulative GPA, and a 2.7 field of study GPA, Murphy said.

Because student teachers are required to work as regular teachers, they must fulfill a 40-hour-a- week work load - with no pay. Before starting their student-teaching semester, they must have taken all courses required for graduation.
"There is no time for a student teacher to be on campus during the day because all the work, planning and preparation take up most of their time," Murphy said.

In front of the class

After being accepted to the program, students are required to complete 16 weeks of field experience being guided by a mentor teacher.

Student teachers learn how to deal with common day-to-day classroom situations, such as classroom management, lesson planning and emphasizing discipline.
It usually doesn't take long for an experienced teacher to see whether a student teacher is going to be a good teacher, Barrera said.

"Some student teachers are very natural teachers," she said. "They feel completely comfortable in front of the class, they have no problems being a disciplinarian, and they are very organized and efficient."

Others, of course, have to learn to be that way, and the job is not easy.
But the need for new teachers is great, Texas education officials said. Each year, thousands of teachers leave the profession or retire, while at the same time a growing school-age population means even more teachers are needed, according to research by Ed Fuller, co-director of research of the State Board for Educator Certification.

In 2002, for example, 37,000 Texas educators - about 13 percent - left the classroom, Fuller said. Each year, an additional 5,000 teachers are needed, according to a report by the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.
During student teaching, the potential teachers learn to design plans and to find out whether the plans work. They also learn about the rewarding and frustrating aspects of teaching, including how to manage a classroom.

"I believe the hardest thing for a student teacher to learn is how to effectively manage a classroom," Barrera said.

"Sometimes it's hard for student teachers to be up in front of middle school kids, especially if they're not used to being in front of others," she said. "Sometimes it's difficult trying to actively engage them in what you're doing."

Showing the ropes

Mentor teachers play a big role on the student teaching process. Through them, student teachers learn teaching tools useful when they are hired as a full-time teacher.

"My role is to be a model," said Jacqueline San Miguel, a Spanish teacher at John H. Guyer High School in Denton. She has taught for six years and now mentors a student teacher.

"I think of myself as a facilitator, giving ideas and showing examples of what would best work," San Miguel said.
Christal Delgado, a UNT Spanish senior and student teacher in San Miguel's classroom, said that hands-on activity is essential to learn how to become a good teacher.
"There was an activity in one of my classes at UNT where students used a computer game to simulate a classroom," she said, "but it did not work because we knew that was not real."

Getting everything done was Delgado's biggest challenge.

"I had to learn how to manage my time really well so I would not get caught up on all the planning and preparation of classes." she said.

Beverly Langford, a UNT graduate student and biology student teacher at John H. Guyer High School, said that time management and learning how to be flexible were her biggest challenges.

"Planning and staying really well-organized from the minute the students walk in until the minute they walk out is extremely important," she said.
"Flexibility is also essential because sometimes I plan a lesson or an activity, and I think it will take an hour but it only takes 30 minutes," she said.

Langford has a bachelor's degree in biology and a minor in chemistry. She worked for the U.S. Postal Service for 22 years and in 2007 decided to get a master's degree and become a teacher.

On their own

No matter how much information student teachers get through student teaching, they will never learn everything during the 16-weeks practice, San Miguel said.

"There are some things you only learn with experience," she said, "The responsibility is different when you are a certified teacher teaching your students by yourself, but experience will teach you how to deal with a situation before it arrives."

San Miguel said every day of as classroom teacher is always a different day, because there is always something new.

"This is what makes this job so enjoyable and unique," she said.

Tips for surviving student teaching, according to the National Education Agency
-Be aware of the dress code
-Find out as much as possible about your mentor teacher
-Always be professional
-Do not make physical contact with students
-Project confidence
-Be flexible
-Keep a journal
-Forget the know-it-all attitude