continued...Collegiate

think and to be ready. It gives CTs and USs time to help you to learn how to plan and avoid pitfalls.

• If your US demands that you teach something other than what the CT has requested, candidly and calmly tell the US that there is a difference of opinion. “How do you recommend that I respond to the pedagogical differences between your recommendations and those of my CT?” This shouldn’t be a big deal. There are many different methods of teaching, and they sometimes contradict one another. It is my opinion that if the CT and US disagree, the reconciliation of their difference of opinion should not be for the student teacher to resolve. When there is clearly a conflict, request a three-way conference, or ask the CT and the US to come to an agreement about how you are to work. Two directives the student teacher should always remember are: stay calm and be humble.

• Use your conferences with your US and your CT to analyze your own teaching. What was good about it? What fell short? What did you miss? What might have yielded better or different results? Considering alternatives helps you to build your “bag of strategic pedagogical tricks” with which to work at a moment’s notice, when what you are doing is not working as you had planned.

• Do not think more highly of yourself than you ought. Respond to your CT and your US with humility and with readiness to accept your own limitations. Perhaps you have worked as a song leader at a camp or church school, or maybe you have three grown children of your own. You still have much to learn; we all do. If you are a good teacher, your learning process is never complete. Each of us learns from one another.

Student teaching is a special time to put into practice all that you have learned so far. You won’t be perfect—ever. But your practice begins here, and it can be rich and rewarding. That is my hope for you. Also, to build my “bag of strategic pedagogical tricks,” I would love to hear from those of you who are involved in the process. Please feel free to send me tips or recommendations that have been especially valuable to you. Contact me at grimlanf@sou.edu.

Good luck and happy teaching!