With the switch to a new semester, many student teachers have already started their student teaching experience or will begin soon. It is an exciting time for them as they start the last step of their pre-service studies and shift their focus to finding a job of their own. Considering the current nationwide teacher shortage, student teachers are worth their weight in gold, and districts are rushing to hire them. Education has its version of a Gold Rush, and communities and educators may want to notice the lessons learned from the original in the late 1800s.
In early 1848, miners found gold in the Sierra Nevada foothills in California. Soon, hundreds of thousands of people flocked to the area to strike it rich. Although a few walked away with incredible profits, most did not. There was money to be made during the rush, but it wasn’t all from gold. Some made their fortune by providing miners with goods and services instead of mining themselves.
While most focused on competing to find gold, these new merchants noticed an opportunity others did not. You’ll likely recognize one of the names, Levi Strauss, who started selling rugged, durable work pants.
One lesson learned is there was an incredible amount of value in providing support for those mining. When the Gold Rush came to an end, the people stayed, and so did their need for goods and services. The talent competition is heating up in education, and many ideas presented as solutions for improving the teacher shortage are just ways to out-compete others. This approach may help individual districts in the short term but does little to help the situation as a whole and, more importantly, does little to help our student teachers. It’s easy to predict a national teacher shortage is here to stay, but history tells us this is unlikely to be true. As in the Gold Rush, focusing on providing support instead of competition is a more conservative and effective strategy for long-term success.
The student teaching experience is an excellent leverage point in education. There is no better way to improve and build confidence than practice teaching! It reminds me of a recent quote from Green Bay Packers wide receiver Davante Adams.
Here is his advice to fellow players that have asked him for his secrets in becoming one of the NFL’s best players:
“Go run routes. And run full-speed routes. I don’t want you out there doing stuff that ain’t gonna translate to the game and help you as a football player. We play football. We don’t go put a bunch of drills on Instagram. We play football.”
My advice to student teachers and those supporting them this semester is to look for, supply, and take advantage of meaningful repetitions in the classroom and the work surrounding it. It can be easy to overlook, especially as the hiring process has crept earlier and earlier in the semester, with some having a contract in hand before their first day of student teaching.
In a previous post, I mentioned the power of building self-efficacy. One of the building blocks of self-efficacy is mastery experiences. Student teaching presents these mastery experiences while also supplying ample opportunities for celebrating success, observing others, and receiving positive affirmations.
During my own student teaching experience, failure opportunities were crucial to building my confidence as an educator. I was fortunate to have a cooperating teacher that let me take the wheel and provided me space to grow. Serving as a cooperating teacher is a true act of paying it forward in education and one that pays compound interest over time. Anyone that has hosted a student teacher knows it’s not as simple as handing over the keys and taking an 8–16 week break. Not only are cooperating teachers trying to support the student teacher, but they are also ultimately responsible for the learning and well-being of their students. For this reason, it can be easy for a student teaching experience to start resembling a job shadow. While this may be more comfortable for all parties involved we know it’s not what is best for our students long term.
Providing interview questions to student teachers should become standard practice. Some schools send out questions ahead of the interview. Far fewer share them with student teachers in and outside their building at the beginning of their placement. Interview questions don’t have to be top-secret documents locked in a vault. Providing interview questions has many benefits.
First, and most importantly, providing interview questions to student teachers at the beginning of their placement helps them align and seek out experiences they can reference in an interview. Providing questions will help them interview better and lead to them getting repetitions that will help them become better, more confident educators. It can also encourage student teachers and their cooperating teachers to seek out opportunities within the building if they aren’t feasible in that particular classroom.
Next, providing interview questions ahead of time removes, or at least drastically lessens, one huge barrier for those entering the field: anxiety over the interview process. The desire to see if candidates can “think on their feet” should not outweigh the desire to get an accurate picture of what they can do and have done as educators. Educators, trying to recall past experiences in a room full of people with jotting down notes, often leave out some of the best examples of their work. Leaders should be asking, “are we looking to hire the best interviewer or the best educator?”
I wasn’t sure I wanted to go down the “Hunger Games” path, but there is one additional benefit to providing first-class support to student teachers. It makes you a more desirable district and building. Prospective educators are more likely to be excited for an interview at your school while apprehensive at best for the interview roulette they may experience elsewhere. I saved this point for last, not because it is most important, but because it shouldn’t be the sole purpose of providing mastery experiences and support for student teachers. As Liz Wiseman outlined in Multipliers, the best leaders are multipliers, not talent hoarders, and look for opportunities to help everyone grow.
Yes, the incredible support you give them, including interview questions, may help them get a job in another district or at another school, but it’s still time well spent. A rising tide lifts all ships. If all leaders focus on providing exceptional support for our student teachers, the result would be an influx of competent and confident educators entering the field and staying in it longer, which is excellent for all kids.
Student teachers may not experience everything they hoped or felt they needed. Gaps in experience can leave them feeling inadequate as they prepare for interviews thinking about what they would do, not what they have done. We know mastery experiences build self-efficacy, but they don’t all have to fall within the classroom walls. One place they can go to seek out more experiences is SchoolSims.
SchoolSims has a rapidly expanding library of simulations for prospective teachers, veteran teachers, and education leaders on various important topics. These simulations can be a valuable resource for orchestrating teacher education programs with student teacher cohorts, and there are options to purchase simulations individually. I enjoy the nostalgia they bring me, as they remind me of the choose-your-own-adventure books I used to read as a kid. Going through these simulations can give student teacher examples to use during the interview, but more importantly, experiences to carry into the start of their teaching career.
Student teachers are as valuable as ever, often securing interviews and jobs early in their placement. Let’s not forget the opportunity for growth and the long-term effects of an authentic student teaching experience. Districts and schools can help strengthen the education system while making their buildings more marketable by supporting all student teachers. Lessons learned from the Gold Rush tell us the real innovation wasn’t finding ways to outduel the competition for valuable resources but by focusing on providing support.
Here are several interview questions student teachers could use to guide their experiences during their placement.
Describe how you would establish high expectations and a positive learning environment.
What strategies might you use with a student who is not following your classroom expectations?
How do you respond when a student is not making progress?
How do you establish a positive rapport and relationship with parents?
Give an example of how you communicate with hard-to-reach parents.
Who is responsible when a kid fails?
What does it mean to you to be an anti-racist educator?
How would you structure a 90-minute reading block?
How do you meet the needs of the diverse cognitive abilities in your classroom?
What experiences do you have supporting students with IEP and 504 plans?
What does collaboration look like and sound like to you?
Tell us about a time you received feedback you disagreed with. How did you respond? What was the result?
What does a student-centered classroom look like to you?
Providing specific details and examples will help during the interview process and build self-efficacy for those entering the field when they need it most.
If you are an aspiring educator looking to enter the field and have questions regarding the process, ask them! Your cooperating teacher, building administrators, and instructional coaches are great resources. I am here to help as well.
You can send me a message on Twitter (@AustinJMeeks) or LinkedIn (Austin Meeks).
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