My experience is amazing. My school, my students, administrators, everything is just really wonderful. I wake up in the morning ready to go, just ready to be there.
I walked into the situation where I didn't feel very welcome. I was sort of ignored a lot.
The best aspect for me was having genuine, authentic relationships with children and really just trying things out.
I think that the relationship you form with your cooperating teacher makes or breaks your student teaching placement without a doubt.
My supervisor is a nice person but I don't think she really provided me with many tools that I could take out into the world with me.
We would like to begin this report with a note of thanks and appreciation to the student teachers, who participated in our spring 2006 focus group study, for their time and for sharing their perspectives of their student teaching experiences.
Purpose of the Study
In fall 2005, the OAA responded to a request by the Office of Teacher Education and School Support Services (OTE/SSS) to design and implement a study of student teachers’ perspectives of their field experiences. The purpose was to evaluate the types and quality of services currently in place and to gather information on how to better serve students and faculty in teacher education programs.
The OAA designed a focus group study to determine the perceptions and feelings of student teachers about the information, support, and resources available to them, as well as to understand the phenomenon of student teaching as perceived from their lived experiences. The three key questions were:
- What dimensions or aspects of the student teaching experience did student teachers perceive to work well?
- What dimensions or aspects of the student teaching experience did student teachers perceive to not work well?
- What changes and improvements to the student teaching program would student teachers like to see?
In addition to the focus group interviews, an OTE/SSS survey of student teachers conducted in spring 2006, as well as printed and electronic materials from the OTE/SSS, the New York State Education Department, and the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education were used to provide the context for the study.
Participants
An invitation to participate was e-mailed to all teacher candidates who were both enrolled in teacher education programs in spring 2006 and completed at least one student teaching placement as of December 31, 2005. Fourteen student teachers from eight teacher education programs volunteered to participate in the interviews. The eight programs included Art and Art Education, Early Childhood Education, Elementary Education, Learning dis/Abilities, Mathematics Education, Mental Retardation/Autism, Teaching of English, and Teaching of Social Studies.
The focus group discussions were held in February and March 2006. Our student teacher participants fell into three focus groups of about equal size based on their availability on the scheduled interview dates. No group or program comparison was intended. Lasting about two hours, the focus group interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed. The transcripts were analyzed using a modified grounded theory approach. The identity of the participants is confidential.
Findings
The following main themes emerged from the focus group discussions: how programs structure student teaching and support student teachers in the field; how key participants—student teachers, supervisors, and cooperating teachers—work and communicate with each other; and how the broader program and school contexts contribute or impede student teachers’ learning. Both positive and negative comments were made about these themes and sub-themes.
Below is a sample of the comments focus group participants made about student teaching:
In sum, our focus group discussions revealed that student teaching experience is more likely to be successful if the following conditions are met:My supervisor was amazing. Even now I still talk to her. We are keeping in touch. She would give me new ideas about how to work with the kids and not just the way that I was taught, but new reading techniques and things like that. She’s always very supportive.
My cooperating teacher and I had a wonderful working relationship. Different philosophies, but we were able to work together well, and she did try to clue me in and really be guidance to me. So I did have a positive experience overall.
We were told what school we would be teaching at, and the name of the teacher and the email address so that we could contact that person in advance. They actually even gave us a map of how to get to the school. … Maybe we were hand- held a lot, but I appreciated it.
I think for me the most frustrating part was that I always felt like I had no support ... all around. I needed help with something and I asked one of my teachers at TC but she told me it was not her responsibility, it was the responsibility of my cooperating teacher. … It was always running around and trying to figure out who can help me and if they are supposed to help me and why they can’t help me. I really didn’t feel supported.
I was observed three times but two were in the last week I student taught due to her being unavailable. Therefore, her feedback, or lack thereof, was useless to me.
I think I would have liked last semester if I had more time to talk with my cooperating teacher. It was such a busy classroom … pulling our hair out every day. We did not have much time to communicate with each other until my midterm came up and I felt a lot like it was thrown at me and I did not know what the expectations were.
(1) Programs carefully set up, structure, and coordinate the placement process, and accompany the placement with support and services.
The more involved the programs are in setting up, structuring, and coordinating the placement process, the smoother and more successful the student teaching experience is for student teachers. When student teachers are expected to find their own placements, they are likely to have difficulties in establishing contact with schools and starting student teaching on time. The difficulties are particularly acute for the student teachers who are not from New York City.
(2) Programs clearly articulate and communicate the student teaching requirements and expectations to cooperating teachers and supervisors.
Student teachers want to see the requirements and expectations for student teaching clearly articulated and effectively communicated to all key players. This will reduce unnecessary anxieties and frustration as well as prevent potential conflicts.
(3) There is an office or a person whom student teachers can turn to, and/or there is a procedure they can use to express grievances, concerns, and complaints, as well as to obtain advice.
Student teachers see a need for an office or a person they can turn to, and/or an established procedure they can use to express grievances, concerns, and complaints, as well as to obtain advice. This is especially crucial when student teachers do not receive enough support from their college supervisors and/or cooperating teachers.
(4) College supervisors and cooperating teachers are experienced, well-prepared for their roles, and committed to student teachers’ professional development.
Student teachers want experienced college supervisors and cooperating teachers who are committed to their professional development and well-prepared for their roles. Selection of cooperating teachers is particularly critical. Student teachers feel their relationship with cooperating teachers can either “make or break” the student teaching experience.
(5) Coursework is aligned with the knowledge and skills required in the field. Assignments in courses, especially those taken simultaneously with field experience, are applicable to real-world educational problems, and reasonable in amount.
Student teachers want to acquire knowledge and skills, which they can apply to real-world educational problems. They want to learn how to create and implement lesson plans, how to teach subject matter, and how to identify and handle classroom management problems. Specifically for courses taken concomitantly with field experience, student teachers want to develop, renew, and upgrade skills that can be used in the real classrooms. Workload in these courses must be relevant and reasonable in amount.
Our focus group participants readily agreed that everyone deserves a quality student teaching experience. This can only be guaranteed if all programs adhere to a set of minimum college standards and regulations. Discovering differences between the programs in how the student teaching is designed, delivered, and supported, disappointed many participants who felt short-changed in the experience, if for no reason other than that all of them paid “top dollar” to attend TC.