Practicum Advice: Dealing with Master Teachers

That leads me to dealing with Master Teachers. I had experience with some fantastic, innovative Master Teachers who challenged me and provided me with every opportunity to become the best possible teacher. For teachers like this I would advise taking on every task they offer you. These kinds of teachers won't ask you to do their photocopying but instead might ask you to transcribe an entire class worth of Spanish HSC trial spoken responses. This may seem worse for some, but they only ask you to do things that they know you will learn from. And I did learn from transcribing all those spoken responses - I now know the common errors HSC Beginner Spanish students make and the structure of HSC spoken exam. 

Now that I'm out in the workforce I'm so thankful for all these challenges because they have really given me an edge over other candidates. Gracia Dios for teachers like this!

I also trained with a fantastic, vetran Spanish Teacher whose rapport with the students astounds me even to this day. He really did make teaching look so easy! But he has been doing it for over 40 years so that should give us all some hope. After that long it will be second nature. Only 38.5 years to go then.....

Collaboration with other teachers is invaluable. As I trained in languages, my department was never one in it's own. I mean to say the language department was combined with another. At my first school with the music department. Observe these teachers too! They may cal you for casual days once you finish if you have shown a keen interest in their subjects. Plus they often have great advice about teaching and are more than willing to share it with you. I found that behaviour management skills can be learnt from a variety of subject areas. 

If you are unfortunate enough to be dealing with a difficult MT then I advise you to try and keep them happy as much as you can - as they will be writing your prac report. It is always a shame to work with a poor MT as you don't get to learn as much and it can be quite disheartening to see how unenthusiastic some teachers have become.Depending on what subject you are teaching, it may be possible to discuss a change of placement with your University if it is really that bad. My University was very understanding when I spoke to the Unit Convener about the issues but at the end of the day it was so difficult for me to get a placement (as I was teaching German) that it was deemed best for me to remain at the school. I also spoke with the Head Teacher because the majority of my issues were that the MT was disrupting the class herself (often walking around talking during class or handing out notes during my lessons). Therefore making my job much more strenuous as the class was particularly disruptive to begin with. In this case it can be better to do what the Head Teacher advises. For example my Master Teacher would tell me not to bother giving the misbehaving student detention as they would not bother coming so there was no point. However, the Head Teacher said this was an acceptable behaviour management strategy with this class and furthermore advised me on how to structure the detention to make it more meaningful. His suggestions included making sure the students had something to do during detention so it wasn't just sitting there. EG writing out school rules or completing class work. 

The Head Teacher was also receptive to my suggestion to discuss with the students what they themselves thought would help them to work better in class. This also actually produced some surprising and enlightening responses from the students. They asked not to sit with their friends! Something my MT then refused to do and reprimanded them for suggesting. So as you can tell, all teachers have varying ideas about how to deal with disruptive students. We don't just learn what to do on prac, but also what not to do. 

So in summary, to effectively deal with Master Teachers:

• Communicate - ask what they want you to prepare, ask what you can to do help them out (marking ect)., talk to Head Teachers and Uni Lecturers about any problems
• Play nice - be polite and professional as they will be writing your prac report
• Appreciate that they have taken you on - Master Teachers are very busy themselves especially around HSC and report time.And don't forget to say thank you!
• Get to know teachers in other subjects and observe their lessons.