Zuckergood

According Zukergood (2008) “Creating a powerful working relationship with your cooperating teacher is very important in having a successful student teacher relationship” (p. 189).

This is very important to remember when student teaching or doing a practicum assignment. The classroom that we’re in is not our classroom so we need to be respectful and not overstep our boundaries. Luckily I haven’t run into any problems with my cooperating teachers however I have heard plenty of horror stories from other students regarding their practicum teacher experience.

According to Zukergood (2008), “I am realizing that some of my best ideas come from the kids” (p. 196).

Yes, yes, yes!!! The kids are the reason that we have a job as teachers. Our job is to educate, inspire, and adapt. Educate kids on different subjects, inspire them to be better thinkers, and adapt to incoming students because they are different then the last ones and should be treated as such.

According to Zukergood (2008), “Pay attention to the difficult students” (p. 207.)

I don’t completely agree with this quote. I think that often times we as teachers pay too much attention to the problematic children and forget about the well behaved ones because they don’t require attention. It’s almost as if we’re rewarding the misbehaved children with the attention that they crave. Overall I think that like everything else in life, there must be a balance, meaning we should pay equal attention to all students in the classroom.

Higher order questions

1. What are your feelings on dealing with difficult students?

2. What are some things that you do if you were experiencing difficulties with your cooperating teacher?