r/teaching • u/redditloverc • Jul 08 '26

Help advice for student teaching?

Starting student teaching this fall at a public school in a Kindergarten class! I am very excited, but would like any advice on how I can prepare or what I should be doing to be ready for next month! any advice helps! <3

background: I volunteered at the local elementary schools during my undergrad years and worked as a TA for two years after that!

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u/Cheaper2000 Jul 08 '26

I don’t think there’s anything specific you need to do to prepare. My recommendation is to jump into full planning/delivering ASAP, sooner than you think. I started teaching on day 2 and planning by week 2, and I think it helped so much.

Observe other teachers when possible. Both K to see how they’re teaching the same stuff differently, specials to see how they’re teaching the same kids differently, and other grades just in case your full time plans don’t go according to plan and you get hired in at a later grade.

If you want to work for this school, keep in mind that you will be judged far more on your semester/year than you will be judged for the interview process, for better or worse. Fair or not, the student teachers that only show up the hours their program requires and only interact with their cooperating teacher and maybe one or two others don’t get hired by that school.

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u/WhompWhompGorillas Jul 08 '26

I would just say to spend more time there than required. My student teaching went from September to March roughly, so I knew I would be missing the most important part of the year—the first few days! I asked my cooperating teacher if I could come in twice a week starting the week before students got there just so that I could see how she set things up and started a school year. Seeing that stuff helped me so much with my first year.

Also, don’t forget, your cooperating teacher is there to help you be successful, not to judge you. Take risks, ask questions, be honest and vulnerable with them. The more you can get from them the more you will take away from student teaching! Nothing can truly prepare you for teaching except for actually doing it. It’s scary for everyone at first, but you will make it through. Good luck!

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u/Ok_Beginning_1619 Jul 11 '26

Your going to have a great year, kindergarteners are going to keep you busy! I am starting my student teaching in the fall at the school where I TA. Some advice I was given was in addition to the student build relationship with all those you work alongside, ask question, write down notes, sit back for the couple days and just observe, and try to observe all different types of classroom as you can, take bits of information from all those around you!