Not everyone is 18 and starting college in another city; Yours Truly is also headed back to college...but not as a student. This time I will supervise students during their student-teaching experiences. This week, we firmed up the plan to pick up a couple of these students who are working in nearby schools, with the hopes of putting more on my roster in the spring.
That means putting on a coaching hat and helping these students improve in their respective schools before they head out to sign their own contracts for next year. My hope is to do good. The teaching program at Pittsburg State University is tops in the area. They try to give their students more real experiences. They encourage students to maintain a cycle of improvement and not just tick the boxes. They try not to give them too much government-red-tape-busy-work just to claim to have a more difficult program. In short, they're there to help and not overwhelm.
Several years ago, I sat in a student-teacher orientation meeting where professors told their teacher candidates not to have any kind of a life outside of their student-teaching experience. They were told to tell their families they would be out of commission for the duration of the semester. They were advised to quit any other jobs they had. And that, my friends is a program that think making things strenuous will get their student-teachers ready for their own classrooms in the future.
That is not the purpose of a college. A college should not be in the business of making things difficult and stressful for its students. Students are there to learn, not break their backs with an overbearing system. That's why I'm happy to start this additional side job with PSU. It just seems like the people there understand that as supervisors we're here to help the students learn and improve. When I went through the Master's program at PSU, I really appreciated the professors telling us, "You're teachers. You have real jobs. Our goal is not to kill you with endless assignments that distract you from your families and your jobs. We will treat you professionally and help you get better." It is the same message that I received when learning how the system works from the side of a supervisor, and I'm eager to get started. Hopefully, I can be a part of bridging any gaps these future teachers may have, and it allows me to connect with some of the schools in the area.
Several years ago, I sat in a student-teacher orientation meeting where professors told their teacher candidates not to have any kind of a life outside of their student-teaching experience. They were told to tell their families they would be out of commission for the duration of the semester. They were advised to quit any other jobs they had. And that, my friends is a program that think making things strenuous will get their student-teachers ready for their own classrooms in the future.
That is not the purpose of a college. A college should not be in the business of making things difficult and stressful for its students. Students are there to learn, not break their backs with an overbearing system. That's why I'm happy to start this additional side job with PSU. It just seems like the people there understand that as supervisors we're here to help the students learn and improve. When I went through the Master's program at PSU, I really appreciated the professors telling us, "You're teachers. You have real jobs. Our goal is not to kill you with endless assignments that distract you from your families and your jobs. We will treat you professionally and help you get better." It is the same message that I received when learning how the system works from the side of a supervisor, and I'm eager to get started. Hopefully, I can be a part of bridging any gaps these future teachers may have, and it allows me to connect with some of the schools in the area.
