Teaching isn’t easy, and teaching a new teacher really isn’t easy…so, what do you do as a mentor teacher when your student teacher is struggling? Whether they are struggling with classroom management, lesson planning, lesson delivery, or some other aspect of teaching, there are a few techniques you can try to strengthen their skills.
When I work with student teachers I try to always begin with few scaffolds and then add as needed. I don’t want to set a teacher up to struggle, but I also don’t want to limit them or impose too much of myself and my style on a fresh educator – I want them to find themselves. Depending on their credential program through their university or other higher education institution there may be supports in place, but as a mentor teacher here are a few things you can try yourself.
Coteach!
Coteaching is one of my favorite strategies to use with teachers in training. Plan a lesson with your student teacher and then teach the lesson together. I have found the best bang for my coteaching buck is the “tag out” method. Similar to team wrestling, each teacher takes a segment of the lesson to present, then tags out to the other. When not the central teacher, the other teacher can monitor student behavior and check for student understanding. When you are both in the lesson debriefing becomes something you can both learn from.
Send them out to observe!
Observing other teachers is one of the most important things a new (or experienced) teacher can do to add techniques to their toolkit. When a student-teacher works alongside their mentor teacher, they get to see one model of teaching. Sending the student-teacher out to observe other teachers can give a different perspective. Even observing a teacher of a different grade level or subject matter can spark ideas. The bonus to this is that the student-teacher can share with you what they saw, and you can both get a new perspective.
Have Your Student-Teacher Do a Detailed Observation of You!
Often times student teachers are required to be observed by supervisors and evaluated using a rubric or some other assessment tool. Ask your student teacher to be your observer/evaluator. They can give you feedback on particulars of your lesson, script what they see teachers doing and students doing (with timestamps), or they can complete a formal evaluation using the assessment tool that is used by their observers. Make sure to do a debrief of the observation, and listen to what your student teacher notices. You might learn something, too!
Being a mentor teacher to someone new to the field comes with a lot of responsibility. You help create the lasting impressions that will stick with your mentee throughout their career (and the idea is to support them so they flourish and STAY in teaching). Whichever strategy you try to guide your student teacher in the right direction, do it with positivity and intention. You may learn something new, too!