Hello, I'd like some advice or guidance from anyone who has
had student teachers in the past. I have done this before,
and felt a good connection and rapport with the student
teachers that I worked with.

I am finding my current student teacher challenging. I feel
like we don't communicate well. On her observation days,
she stated that she wanted to teach right away...that she
was more than ready...that she had lots of experience
before teacher's college. Following the guidelines I was
given, I asked that she primarily observe on those days.

After working together with planning and giving her some
time to get used to the students (by assisting with
activities, working one-on-one with some students, reading
aloud, etc.) we agreed that she would teach the lesson we
planned this week.

On Tuesday she arrived, very angry and informed me that it
was unreasonable for me to ask her to teach the class so
soon. She felt that I was being too demanding and that my
expectations for her lesson and lesson planning were too
high. She said that she really had no teaching experience
and it was too much too soon.

Her lesson plans were outlines, and the things I asked her
were what are your expectations of the students for this
lesson? How will you know if they have completed the task?
I don't feel that these are unreasonable to ask in planning
lessons!

I told her that she didn't have to teach if she was not yet
comfortable, but that we had planned it because she seemed
very eager to work with the class. It took all day with me
placating her to calm her down. She often complains that
she can't use worksheets because I don't allow it. (This is
not true...I just don't use them often.)

She is very high maintenance! We agreed that she teach her
lesson on Friday. She has asked if there was anything to do
this in the evenings and I asked that she think ahead about
where she thought we'd go next after the lesson she was
teaching (I've basically given it all to her!). She has yet
to pursue this.

With the kids, she seems pretty good. We've had some chats
about classroom management and being aware of the students'
engagement, which she seemed to find positive. But I find a
lot of her behaviour odd. She will not walk next to me,
only behind me, even if I slow down. She was an English
major, but speaks with very poor grammar (I don't know if I
should be correcting her?) and waffles between
over-confidence and panic.

Any suggestions on the best way to help her and help
myself? She is "nice" but I find her difficult to connect
with. I am trying to be objective, but I am trying not to
be so concerned with "objectivity" that I overlook
something I should be noticing. (Does that make sense?)

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