How to Be a Mentor to Your Student Teacher

By Jessica Painter, Elementary Teacher

So, you’re thinking of taking on a student teacher? In the course of my career, I have taken on over a dozen student teachers and all were valuable experiences for one reason or another. I have experienced the bottom of the barrel, the cream of the crop, and everything in between when it comes to student teachers. Here are some helpful tips to maximize your mentoring experience.

Meet with Your Student Teacher Ahead of Time

Many universities require their student teachers to meet with their mentors ahead of time. This is an incredibly valuable time for them, but also for you. During this time, I have been able to get a feel for my student teacher as a person. I always ask them what they feel most excited and most nervous about their upcoming placement. This helps me to best know how I can support them during their time with me. Additionally, these meetings are a great time to get a feel for the student teacher as a person which also helps you to be able to strategize how to best communicate information to them, as well as play to their strengths and weaknesses while they are with you. Obviously, an initial meeting is only a snapshot of who they are, but it still offers a great starting point.

Establishing your expectations for their time with you is also a critical part of this meeting. It is during this meeting that I offer them insights into the curriculum and classroom management techniques I use. I send them home with plenty of literature on the classroom and the school to look over in preparation for their time here. We also establish a timeline during this meeting of when and how I expect them to slowly take over the responsibilities of the classroom. Together, we map out what this will look like on a calendar and discuss time ranges for when they will need to be observed by their supervisor.

Make Your Student Teacher Feel at Home

Before my student teacher’s placement begins, I arrange what I can in the classroom to make them feel comfortable and like they belong there, because they do belong there! I start by setting up a desk space for them that is either attached to or near my desk. This is usually in the form of a student desk that has been raised to match the height of my desk and made complete with a cup filled with various colored pens, pencils, highlighters, and Sharpies. My room is Charlie Brown/Peanuts themed so I also supply them with all the theme stickers and stamps they will need as they correct student work. In my view, no desk space is complete without a little snack cup so I supply them with a container of chocolates and almonds, or some easy, handy snack. Finally, I always have the students write a little note for the student teacher to welcome them and tell them a little something about themselves or about our classroom.

The last thing I do is add their name to the classroom door. To go with my theme, all of my students and I have a “Woodstock” on the door with our name on it. The student teacher gets one too. These may seem like small things, but as we know, the small things are actually the big things. Not only does setting up a teacher space help them to feel welcome and comfortable, but it also establishes for the students that this is an authority figure in the classroom that belongs here, which in turn goes a long way in terms of classroom management.

Set Clear Expectations

You have already established the expectations with the student teacher during their initial meeting, but at the very beginning of their first school day, I establish the expectations with the whole class. It is important for the students to know that the student teacher is an authority figure and that they should treat him/her the same way they treat you. In my experience, it can sometimes be more difficult for the student teacher to grasp this truth than it can be for the students.

One of the biggest struggles I see in student teachers is their ability to give behavioral directives and uphold expectations. As the mentor, the sooner that you are able to nip that in the bud, the better the overall student teaching experience will be for everyone. Don’t hold back in giving your student teacher direct feedback on what they should do to best take charge in the classroom. I always tell them that it’s better for them to start off too strict because they can always scale it back.

On the other hand, if they start off too soft or behave too much like a “friend,” it always makes it harder for them to seize control during lessons once they start teaching. One of the most common things I have seen is that students want to hold hands with, be carried by, or sit on the student teacher’s lap. I never allow this! The student-teacher relationship is a very special one, but it’s not a friendship. If you allow it to get too “chummy,” it tends to blur the lines very quickly for everyone and the overall experience becomes tainted.

On a rare occasion, I have had a student teacher who began her placement right off the bat extremely strict. You don’t want that either. In a lack of judgment, I allowed it to go on too long and it turned into a scenario that we will discuss in the The Nitty-Gritty section. Ultimately, the student-teaching relationship isn’t one in which we are our student’s best buds, but it also isn’t one in which they should be scared of us. Balance is the key to expectations.

The Nitty-Gritty

With the initial meeting and the first day all set, you are now into the Nitty-Gritty which is the bulk of the time with the student teacher. During this time, you will follow that Gradual Release of Responsibility method that you use with your students so much (and love) and apply it to your mentoring experience. Model for your student teacher what and how you want them to teach, and slowly release the various subjects/periods over to them. When observing your student teacher, be present for lessons, offering honest and constructive feedback.

The feedback piece can be hard at times because you don’t want to discourage them. But at the same time, if they are doing something that needs improving, you really do not have a ton of time for correction. Feedback needs to be direct and concise so that there is no question as to what you want them to fix as well as how you want them to fix it. Don’t leave them guessing. For their sake, as well as for the sake of your students, just be direct. Back to my strict student teacher, failing to be direct about how she needed to tone down the harshness with which she was talking to my students resulted in her not only trying to override my knowledge as the cooperating teacher but also in her blaming my students for their struggles with learning and following directions. In reality, her directions to them were unclear. Once I was able to be clear and direct with her, the placement took a turn for the better.

This is a two-sided coin. While you want to be clear, you also do not want to stifle their creativity. Allow your student teacher to try new and fun things! Because student teachers are coming in with fresh knowledge on current trends and technology, this is a great time to learn a few new things yourself! Some of my most fun ideas that I still implement in my classroom have come from my student teachers.

Being present for lessons and offering constructive feedback is of course key, but after all of that, you need to let some of the lessons go how they will go, and let your student teacher work through whatever fallout may happen. While during their initial lessons, you will step in, there comes a time, rather quickly, when you should stop stepping in and save your comments for the end of the lesson. As educators, we know that mistakes often make for the best teaching experiences. Let that be the case with your student teacher as well.

I have had countless times when a student teacher was in the middle of a lesson and something got away from them, whether it be time, behavior management, or the instruction itself. Let them squirm through it and figure it out, and then debrief with them afterward. This can be hard to do, but keep it in perspective: one lesson is not going to derail your students to the point that they’re ruined; however, one lesson could make all of the difference in the world for that student teacher who is needing hands-on experience about the realities of teaching. We’ve all been there and it’s shaped us into the teachers we are. Don’t deprive them of those experiences.

At some point during the placement, your student teacher will likely need to be observed by their university. Prior to that happening, have them teach a mock lesson to you so that together, you can go over what they need to do to make the lesson successful. Help them to make sure that they have something in the lesson that will really “wow” their supervisor. This experience is a big deal to them, so do what you can to set them off on the right foot. If you find that your student teacher is particularly noteworthy, invite your school principal and/or administrator to come in and observe them too. I have had this experience and we ended up hiring this girl who later became my own son’s first-grade teacher. It was awesome how it all came full circle.

Saying good-bye

Inevitably, the placement will need to end at some point. No matter what kind of student teacher you had, I think that it’s always good practice to have a little “send-off” for them with your students. My student teacher send-offs usually include some kind of fun snack, games, and gifts.

Having a student teacher can be a lot of work, but whether the student teacher is a pro or a novice, there are a lot of positive elements to taking them on. Like anything else, you want to go in with eyes and mind wide open to all of the possibilities. I personally find it to be an incredibly rewarding element of my career and I hope you do too with these helpful tips I have shared. Happy mentoring!

Jessica has 12 years of experience as a classroom teacher. Over the years, she has enjoyed many funny “kid quotes,” mentoring student teachers, and leading up educational initiatives. In her free time, Jessica enjoys spending time with her husband and 3 children, taking her collie for walks, connecting with other educators, and enjoying large cups of coffee.

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