During the pandemic, remote and in-person, in schools and homes across America, school continued. Even though many students have experienced incalculable trauma, unfulfilled potential, and the loss of school itself, others experienced the rhythms of the school year, different in many ways, but felt deeply nonetheless. First-year teachers struggled through their work, while master teachers began their retirement year. Students nervously met new teachers while enthusiastically reunited with friends after a summer apart. And college students began the most important part of their teacher education: student teaching.
This year I took on a role as a student teaching mentor for the first time in my sixteen-year teaching career. One reason for this is that while there are student teachers at my school periodically, it's not very common. Also, I felt like I wanted to have a solid hold on my craft and my work at this school to allocate time and energy away from other responsibilities to being a good student teaching mentor. Last spring, when I agreed to take on a student-teacher, it seemed like 2020-2021 would be a great time to have a student-teacher. I wasn't planning on taking any leaves, I felt good about my position in my school, and I knew it was long overdue that I gave back and did right by my amazing student teaching mentors and pay it forwards.
When I interviewed the then prospective student teacher last February, I had no idea what the following months would bring. She came in for an interview, and it went really well, and I was happy to bring her on board. I submitted the paperwork to make it official on March 11th, two days before my school closed, and went remote on March 13th, which was the beginning of the pandemic experience for me.
I didn't really think too much about having a student-teacher that spring. Last spring, I was focused on the present, and maybe a week ahead. The next school year was not on my radar.
Knowing what I knew as things rolled out unpredictably, we just moved forward in the next couple of months. My student teacher and I had a couple of excellent phone meetings, and we were moving along.
On August 3rd, I got an email from one of the professors at my student teacher's university. Basically, they gave me an out. I always knew that having on a student-teacher was taking a chance. A great student teacher is a partner who teaches the mentor as well and enriches the educational experience for everyone involved. A bad student teacher is a burden that can create extra work and stress for the mentor teacher. I made a commitment to her, and no matter how difficult the fall was going to be, I didn't want to let her down. So I decided that I would let her decided how we would proceed. With all the uncertainty and lack of information I could give her, she said she wanted to move forward, so I emailed the professor that we would proceed as planned.
There's a lot I can about having a student-teacher. I may go into it more later; I may not. What I will say now is that this experience was one of the most rewarding I've had as a teacher. What originally was going to an eight-week placement became a sixteen-week placement because things were going so well. And I can't imagine making it through this past fall, one of the most challenging periods of my teaching career, without such a wonderful partner.
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