Washburn Rural Middle School offers student teachers the opportunity to get hands-on experience in the classroom. A student teacher is a college student majoring in education, typically in their last semester of their program. College students who study education become student teachers to get firsthand teaching experience. This year, we have had a lot of student teachers working in our building.
Many teachers don’t plan on studying education. In college, Mr. Beck, one of the current student teachers for Mr. Heinritz, didn’t start in education, he began his college career studying business. Mr. Beck changed his major to education and now enjoys helping students. “I enjoy being able to give back to the community and help students learn the material in a fun and engaging way.”
Many teachers like Mrs. English, Eclipse math teacher at WRMS, enjoy having a student teacher in their classroom. English said, “It’s helpful to have another person in class to help the students.” Teachers can also get some work done while student teachers are teaching, but that’s not all they do. English also said, “I do have times where I can get things done but I also observe Mrs. Dick.”
Some of the students who are in Gibbons’ class, a student teacher for Mrs. McDonald’s ELA class, say that she’s an awesome student teacher, and they like the way she teaches differently. And they like having someone else teaching who’s not there every day. Seventh grader Emily Sommers says, “She does different things than Mrs. McDonald, it’s like her as a clone.” The students who have Ms. Gibbons as a student teacher love having her.
A student from Ms. Streeter’s class, a student teacher for Mrs. Armstrong’s art class, Eighth grader Sophia Wells, says, “It’s very helpful when the teacher is out of the room, she’s just very helpful.”
“Mr. Woolington has the responsibility of assisting with monitoring student attendance for the entire school to ensure they comply with the WRMS attendance policy.’’ The typical day for Mr. Woolington as an intern is sitting in on staff meetings, monitoring students, and meeting with students throughout the day.’’ he says
“A typical day for me as an intern usually involves three different activities. I typically sit in on teacher/staff meetings to stay informed on school activity, I would say each day is different and creates its agenda. That’s part of what I enjoy in interning.”
Overall, many teachers and students love having student teachers and interns in their classes, for extra help and more.
