In the late fall of 2021, I was contacted by a former English colleague from North who was working in the Department of Teaching and Learning at The Ohio State University. She was working with students who wanted to become teachers and were enrolled in the Student Teacher program. She worked with a cohort of juniors in the ILA section (Integrated Language Arts), and she was wondering if I would be willing to work with them for the Spring Semester of 2022.
At that time, I had improved quite a bit after my surgery, but I explained to her that I wasn't going to be able to travel to the main campus. She said that was fine - everything I would be asked to do would be done online through Zoom and email. At that time, OSU was still working mostly remotely due to the Covid Pandemic. (Btw, I had been vaccinated in January or February of 2021 when I was still employed at my school, before my brain surgery.)
Starting in January of 2022, I met with my group of juniors in Zoom meetings. I think I had about 30 students, so we did Zoom meetings in smaller groups. During those meetings (called "Recitations"), I discussed various topics related to Student Teaching which they would be doing in the following school year. I found these meetings to be very rewarding, and I looked forward to each one.
As those meeting were ending in March/April, I had an interesting conversation with my colleague about what happens next when the juniors move into their senior year and start doing student teaching. She explained to me about how the STs get Supervisors who observe and evaluate them. She told me more about that, and I asked if maybe I could try that. She indicated that there would be 3 seniors doing their Student Teaching at North, and I could Supervise them if I wanted to give it a try.....
That was the beginning of what would become my DREAM JOB!
For 3 school years ('22-'23, '23-'24, '24-'25) I have been employed by OSU as a Student Teacher Supervisor. In August of each year, I am given a group of Student Teachers assigned to schools in my general area. I try to stick with Westerville, Olentangy, and Worthington - I have indicated that I don't want to have to drive to Dublin or Hilliard or go to Columbus City Schools. I can take English Student Teachers (STs) in grades 7-12. I am asked to work with the STs and their Mentor Teachers (MTs). My specific job is to observe their work in their classroom and then meet with both of them to discuss their activity. During semester 1, I will observe 3 times (Sept, Oct, Nov), and during semester 2, I will observe 4 times (Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr).
I am also asked to meet with my cohort of STs in Recitations every other week. Sometimes, I can do that in person with a small group in one district or building, but usually we meet as a larger group in a Zoom meeting.
The ST program is governed or "graded" based on a CPAST document (Candidate Preservice Assessment of Student Teaching) which provides a list of skills that need to be demonstrated and observed. During semester 1, the STs are given a Pre-CPAST form which has a partial list of skills, and for semester 2, they get a complete CPAST form. At the start of the school year, we spend some time discussing each skill on the list. They are also given a master document that gives detailed information about what is expected with each skill on the list. During each semester, the STs get their grade based partly on attendance, but more largely on how they are doing with the skills on the CPAST form.
In Dec or Jan of each year, I write Letters of Recommendation for my STs to use as they begin to apply for jobs. Often I am contacted by school administrators to discuss my STs before they are hired.
This "Dream Job" has been very rewarding for me. I love being able to share my 36 years of knowledge with future teachers. When I was teaching, I was lucky to have had 10 STs of my own, and I got to see what that was like for them. I feel very fortunate to get to work in the program at OSU. The fact that they send STs out into their classrooms for a whole school year is an incredible asset to their program, and I feel honored to get to be a part of that.
Thanks for reading! Enjoy your July day! I hope to see you again, soonly!
😎 Amy
What a busy girl you are! :-)
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