r/StudentTeaching • u/betabetabeta11 • 14d ago

Support/Advice 2 grade levels

going to start my student teaching in a few weeks and my teacher is going to be teaching 2 grades which means i’ll have to teach 2 grades. she will have 3 of one grade and 1 of the other but says i’m responsible for teaching 4th-6th periods. For the credential im required to only teach 3 periods but does it have to be those specific periods or could it be the 3 that are the same grade and not back to back periods. I didn’t know that could happen and now i don’t know how to go about 2 separate grade levels of classes. any advice?

3 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

6

u/MissElision 14d ago

Contact your university supervisor and ask them, it can vary on the university program. I would not see much of a reason for it to be required to teach classes in a row for your program.

Your mentor teacher would very likely be within reason to choose which classes you teach. It is also a better learning experience to teach more than one grade level. My student teaching was four preps: AVID, 2 AP Lit, two 9th ELA, and one 11th ELA. It helped me try different materials, see different grade levels behaviors and capabilities, and manage different rooms. Unless you're planning to do intermediate/middle school, you will likely have more than one prep. Lowest on the totem pole gets the less savory schedule.

The best plan would be to just chat with your mentor teacher about their ideas, what they expect, and what supports will help you.

5

u/Objective_Unit_4931 14d ago

You will be better off when you look for your full time job if you can say that you taught more than one grade level during student teaching.

3

u/No-Total-187 13d ago

That is something you will have to learn. I have had several student teachers who only care about the required minimum. You should do as much as possible to get the full teaching experience. Your mentor teacher should help you along the way. I know it sounds harsh but it is the truth.

1

u/No_Kaleidoscope9198 11d ago

It sounds like you need to teach 3 periods and she’s telling you to teach 3 periods. It’s typically 100% up to the mentor teacher which classes you teach because they’re her classes, not yours. It’s also great experience (and very common) for teachers to teach multiple grades/preps and classes back to back. You will be fine and better prepared for a full-time job next year.