At McNeil High School, we have the opportunity to have both student teachers and interns in some of our classrooms. The majority of upper-level college students come from Texas State University and The University of Texas at Austin. However, the occasional Texas Tech or Baylor student comes through the door looking to become a public school teacher.
High school students can take different approaches to the situation of having a student teacher in their classroom. There are two types of students, those who like change, and those who don’t like change. Those who like change will like the idea of having a student teacher because it brings change to the learning environment from time to time. The students who oppose change in the learning environment would not generally like the concept of having a student teacher or intern teach their class.
The fact of the matter is, there are times where students may just learn better from the student teachers than they do the actual teachers. This can come due to many reasons, one of them being the type of learner the student may be. For example, if a science teacher teaches in the perspective of visual learners and you are an auditory learner then you may not learn well in that type of classroom environment. When the student teacher comes around and she teaches by speaking, that student can then better relate to that type of classroom environment.
Not only do some of the students enjoy having a student teacher or intern, but it is also a tremendous opportunity for those upper-level college students. Student teachers experience a high school classroom learning environment first hand with some pretty good cooperating teachers. In addition, they are able to teach one or multiple lessons, sometimes an entire semester if they are a student teacher. Those hands-on experiences they get by teaching the material and observing the classroom, and observing the regular teacher, could help them on their journey to become a certified teacher.
Student teachers and interns are a great addition to any school. They provide extra help to the students when needed and aid the cooperating teachers by learning all the jobs a classroom teacher does – grading, morning or lunch duty, attending meetings. They can help the students because if a student does not feel comfortable going to the teacher for help, they may feel comfortable going to the student teacher instead.
It is a great idea for the school to have both student teachers and interns because it not only benefits themselves, but students at high school as well.
