The following components are sequential in the student teacher’s development.
Orientation to the school community is critical to the clinical teacher’s confidence and ultimate success in clinical teaching. Ongoing communication through orientation and observation establishes the foundation for success in the clinical teaching experience.
Much of the first week of clinical teaching will be spent in observation of the classroom environment, instructional strategies, and interpersonal communications and relationships. As the student teacher observes, it is helpful to take reflective notes for the purpose of asking questions of the cooperating teacher regarding reasons for his/her interactions and instructional methods. Frequently asking questions of “why” and “how” will provide the student teacher with a knowledge base for choosing methods for instruction and management.
After a short period of observation time, the student teacher will be ready to become more involved with the students. The student teacher will begin working collaboratively with the cooperating teacher. The cooperating teacher may give specific suggestions for activities that will help you to become involved. For example:
To initiate the teaching experience in the class, the student teacher may begin by co-planning and co-teaching a selected lesson. This may be done in any number of ways.
After the cooperating teacher models the preparation for and teaching of the lesson plans, the student teacher will assume some of the responsibility for planning and teaching. Initially, the lesson plan should be written and submitted to the cooperating teacher at least two days prior to teaching the lesson in order to gain constructive feedback for revisions and ultimate success.
Full instructional responsibility demands total commitment on the part of both the clinical teacher and cooperating teacher. This means that for 10 consecutive days, the clinical teacher has the full responsibility of planning and teaching the whole school day as if he/she were the regular classroom teacher. All other responsibilities that the teacher has during this time will also be assumed by the clinical teacher. The determination of full responsibility is at the discretion of the cooperating teacher.