The Cooperating Teacher
Cooperating Teachers are teaching professionals who mentor, guide, and support Student Teachers on their path to becoming credentialed teachers. The school placement and Cooperating Teacher assignment aims to provide the credential candidate with in-depth fieldwork experiences designed to meaningfully practice and hone their instructional planning and development skills, instructional strategies, student assessment, and classroom management.
Cooperating Teachers are extremely important for the development of an effective practicum environment. Cooperating Teachers serve as models for dynamic teaching and effective classroom management. Cooperating Teachers need to allocate time accordingly to provide guidance and support to Student Teachers. Conferring regularly with the candidate is especially important to provide immediate feedback and the necessary coaching to master authentic classroom practices. Coaching and discussion can occur before and/or after school or during a preparation period.
Student teaching is a learning journey with both successes and challenges. A Student Teacher will experience moments of trial and error, achievements, and occasional frustrations. The role of the Cooperating Teacher is to be there to guide the Student Teacher by modeling effective teaching, offering support, and providing helpful feedback. The Cooperating Teacher should be encouraging the Student Teacher to try new approaches and step outside their comfort zone. The Cooperating Teacher’s support will help the Student Teacher gain the skills and confidence needed to succeed as a teacher.
Cooperating Teacher Roles and Responsibilities
- Provides a teaching model for the Student Teacher to observe and adapt to their teaching style.
- Supports, models, and encourages the implementation of the Teacher Performance Expectations.
- Provides the Student Teacher an opportunity to observe, ask questions, and become familiar with the classroom management plan, including routines, procedures, and overall organization.
- Assists the Student Teacher as they write and develop lesson plans and various class activities related to the course/grade level curriculum.
- Ensures the Student Teacher writes measurable objectives to assess their lessons effectively.
- Empowers the Student Teacher by delegating and sharing authority as the teacher and classroom manager.
- Assists the Student Teacher in establishing methods of classroom control appropriate to the age and grade level of the students thereby ensuring that the candidate inspires the respect of students through effective classroom management techniques.
- Provides the Student Teacher the opportunity to assess student work.
- Provides the Student Teacher with constructive criticism, suggestions, and ideas.
- Models and provides the Student Teacher with a variety of methods and styles of teaching.
- Assists the Student Teacher in identifying available instructional materials.
- Review and provide feedback comments on three observations per 8-week session in Sibme.
- Participates in three-way conferences with the Student Teacher and the University Supervisor to calibrate observations and ongoing progress.
- Completes and submits the Student Teacher Evaluation Forms in Sibme at the end of each 8-week course period.
- Completes and submits an evaluation of the University Supervisor and program.