General Things to Think About
- Why you want to be a teacher.
- Your long-term career goals.
- Things you liked as a student.
- Things you did not like as a student.
- What it means to be “in charge.”
- Why you are taking student teaching (or becoming a teacher).
- How you can experiment with different ways to teach.
- How you can experiment with being a different “you.”
- What it means to be a responsible worker.
- What it means to be a responsible adult.
- What it means to be a professional teacher.
- How you want to be related to your colleagues, your students, your supervisors, the
community.
Being Prepared for Work
- How will I get up in the morning?
- What will I wear?
- How will I travel?
- What materials will I need?
- What will I need to learn?
- When will I prepare?
- How will I schedule my time at the school?
- How will I get my own class work completed?
- What is the layout of the school?
- Who “carries clout” at the school—principal, assistant principal, superintendent, chair-
person, school board, parents, colleagues, union, guidance counselor, dean? - When will I eat lunch? What will I eat?
- What is available in the library? the AV? the computer center?
Preparing to Observe a Class and Teacher
- Whom will I observe?
- When will I observe?
- Where do they want me to sit?
- Do they want me to participate in any way?
- What should I look for?
- What is the teacher doing?
- What are the students doing?
- Are the teacher and the students having the “same” lesson?
- What are the goals of the lesson?
- Are the goals being achieved? How?
- Do I want to teach this kind of lesson?
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