Spring Break
Loads of work, little pay: student teacher make the grade
Manuella Rogers, Contributing Writer
Issue date: 6/9/09 Section: NEWS
Every year about 800 UNT students apply for student teaching positions. Placed at many different school districts, they learn from mentor teachers fundamentals of classroom management, teaching strategies and ways to handle real classroom situations.
"A student teacher day is exactly like a teacher day," said Jo Murphy, coordinator of Field Experience Program at UNT's department of teacher education and administration.
"We expect student teachers to do everything exactly like a teacher does, because that is how they are going to learn what teaching is about," she said.
Through the hands-on experience, student teachers learn the frustrations - and the joys - of teaching. They must learn to prepare and present lessons, to keep order and to appear fearless in a real classroom full of children.
"The biggest challenge of a student teacher is to enforce discipline," said Theresa Barrera, a seventh-grade reading teacher at Strickland Middle School in Denton.
"Students can smell fear, they can sense when someone isn't comfortable and confident in what they're doing," said Barrera, who has been a teacher for nine years and has mentored 12 student teachers.
The requirements
Admission requirements to UNT's student teaching program are many and vary depending on the field of study.
Basic requirements for the College of Education include having a 2.7 cumulative GPA, and a 2.7 field of study GPA, Murphy said.
Because student teachers are required to work as regular teachers, they must fulfill a 40-hour-a- week work load - with no pay. Before starting their student-teaching semester, they must have taken all courses required for graduation.
"There is no time for a student teacher to be on campus during the day because all the work, planning and preparation take up most of their time," Murphy said.
In front of the class
After being accepted to the program, students are required to complete 16 weeks of field experience being guided by a mentor teacher.
"A student teacher day is exactly like a teacher day," said Jo Murphy, coordinator of Field Experience Program at UNT's department of teacher education and administration.
"We expect student teachers to do everything exactly like a teacher does, because that is how they are going to learn what teaching is about," she said.
Through the hands-on experience, student teachers learn the frustrations - and the joys - of teaching. They must learn to prepare and present lessons, to keep order and to appear fearless in a real classroom full of children.
"The biggest challenge of a student teacher is to enforce discipline," said Theresa Barrera, a seventh-grade reading teacher at Strickland Middle School in Denton.
"Students can smell fear, they can sense when someone isn't comfortable and confident in what they're doing," said Barrera, who has been a teacher for nine years and has mentored 12 student teachers.
The requirements
Admission requirements to UNT's student teaching program are many and vary depending on the field of study.
Basic requirements for the College of Education include having a 2.7 cumulative GPA, and a 2.7 field of study GPA, Murphy said.
Because student teachers are required to work as regular teachers, they must fulfill a 40-hour-a- week work load - with no pay. Before starting their student-teaching semester, they must have taken all courses required for graduation.
"There is no time for a student teacher to be on campus during the day because all the work, planning and preparation take up most of their time," Murphy said.
In front of the class
After being accepted to the program, students are required to complete 16 weeks of field experience being guided by a mentor teacher.
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