Student Teaching

As I think about what I'm gaining from my student teaching, I've come to appreciate two things.

First is the obvious - I have practice, trial, and error within a real classroom with real students and a real curriculum, all with the observation, help, and guidance of a teacher who's been there and done that.  I'm very glad

However, I feel that I have the experience to learn something more profound and beneficial and that I could only get from an exceptional mentor: I am learning how to think about my teaching and evaluate it.  It's not simply the idea of what I should do, how to do it, and how to identify things that can be done differently and better - that falls under the first item that I feel I'm gaining with the trial and error.  Rather, I'm thinking critically about my entire philosophy of teaching, what it means to be a successful teacher, and to think outside the box to meet my goals.  For example, I've been critically evaluating the ideas of an inverted classroom or grading based on proficiency rather than the traditional homework and tests.  While these things are not currently in place with my participating teacher, we are constantly brainstorming and developing ideas that we could implement in the classroom to provide a better education.  It seems that everyone is calling for education reform.  While I don't have a universal solution to fix the system, I do have the power to reform my own classroom and figure out what works.  And that often requires breaking tradition and forging the way with my classroom for a better education.  My participating teacher is helping me to do just that.  And it is a lesson that will influence my teaching continuously in the future.