Student teachers are students in their last semester of college, who get trained by their cooperating teacher and acclimate into teaching the classes while getting job experience and still being observed.
Kaysen Miner is a current student teacher this semester. He received his undergraduate from Evangel University, and is going to Missouri State University for his Masters of arts in teaching (MAT).
Miner explained what being a student teacher is like for him, “My job is to get experience as a teacher with the guidance of the regular classroom teacher. Student teaching is like a really long job interview, or an internship for a program you want to be a part of.”
Miner added, “First year teachers have a lot of things thrown at them in a short amount of time. Student teaching lets you get some experience with those things so your first year is not so incredibly overwhelming.”
Jeremy Faubion teaches American History to 8th and 9th graders at Fair Grove. He explained what having a student teacher is like from the head teachers’ perspective, “There definitely is a learning curve, because the young teacher has to find his or her style and way of doing things. Sometimes a new fresh perspective is just what our students need, and sometimes this needs the intervention of the veteran teacher to improve instruction and learning.”
Miner also talked about how one becomes a student teacher. “In my MAT program, student teaching is the last class each student takes. It is not optional. In Missouri, there’s the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) that’s in charge of making sure potential teachers are qualified for the job.”
Miner added, “Most of the time every future teacher is required to take some form of student teaching class, or an equivalent. There are some ways to get around this requirement but it’s safe to assume most teachers have done something similar to student teaching before they become full time teachers.”
He went on, “Student teachers fill out a job application that gets sent to their college, and the college is in charge of sending that application to schools that are seeking student teachers… This may be different depending on the school, but it’s at least how it works at MSU.”
Faubion went over how receiving a student teacher works, “Usually, our administrator forwards an email about the prospective teacher, trying to find a placement for him or her. As a department we discuss whether or not one of us wants a student teacher or not.”
Miner expressed his enthusiasm for what he does, “I do like student teaching. My favorite part is knowing that it’s truly helping me prepare for my first year of teaching. Student teaching in Fair Grove specifically has helped me with getting experience inside a school.”
Faubion said, “Hosting a student teacher is very important in my opinion. There are fewer people getting into the teaching profession these days, and the world needs great teachers. Fair Grove has great teachers, so it is a great place for a young teaching prospect to see veteran educators in action, and briefly become a part of the Purple Kingdom.”
