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What I Learned From My First Student Teacher

By Sarah Henchey

I hate saying goodbye—and found it downright impossible when it was time to part ways with my first student teacher. For the first five months of the school year, my student teacher joined me once per week in my daily lessons, meetings, joys, and frustrations. For the last four months, she has been with me every day, embracing the true teaching experience.

We left things at "see you later"—but that still felt inadequate, considering the influence that she has had on my teaching identity (and vice versa).

I learned so much from being a bystander in my own classroom, watching someone else teach lessons I designed, and reflecting on difficult situations from her point of view. We both worked hard to create a professional relationship that allowed us to comfortably seek each other’s guidance, input, and feedback. Most importantly, our students benefited from having two teachers in the classroom. The combination of our efforts allowed for increased differentiation through small...