Forums

Omg! Yes! I always learn new technology tricks and just seeing a fresh approach from a brand new teacher is exciting. When I work with student teachers, they remind me of the passion that we all possess in order to be in the field of education. I usually give my student teacher a lesson that I am tired of doing and give them free reign to be creative with it and it is always much more exciting!

Hello Ryan,

On a few occasions I did learn some new activities or labs which I would gladly discuss with the student teacher and look at employing myself.   I think because I dedicated myself to keeping current to new ways of teaching and tried many techniques throughout my career there weren’t really too many times that a student teacher came up with a completely new way to teach something.  In fact, many student teachers start in a teacher-centered manner, much in way they themselves had been subjected! Hence the axiom, “You teach as you were taught.” It took me a few years before I could let go of a class and switch to more student-centered approaches.  I also happened to have worked in the computer industry and had considerable technology experience prior to teaching - so I was somewhat ahead of most teachers in that regard.  For many years I taught more technology courses than science.  

It was quite a blow to my ego when the students preferred my student teacher and moaned when I took over the class again! I would brush it off, justifying it as their attraction to someone younger (and better looking).  If I only had to teach for 5 weeks with a reduced workload I could be a rock star, too, I told myself.  However, I just had to face up to the fact that they were better than me and that there will always be teachers better than me.  And that’s a good thing for everyone.  If teachers don’t improve then our education doesn’t move forward.  And that means that we stop progressing as a species.

Hope this helps!

- Gabe Kraljevic