[mr.lewis]

I am currently planning on when to do my actual student teaching, most take it in their fall semester here is what I know so far;

Fall - (Good) Most common, you are there from the start (Bad) You have the spring semester with other courses

Spring - (Good) Schools hire in February/March and you will be in the school when they begin to hire (Bed) You enter a classroom halfway through the year and have to teach that class a few weeks later

So what do you think is better? I like spring because of the chance to get hired easier but it seems really bad to enter halfway through the year...

[teachrsmeaton]

I have heard student teaching is bad in the Spring. Unfortunately, that is when I am scheduled to do it, as I graduate with my Masters this May. The way my program works is I have no other choice but to student teach in the Spring. All of our professors are against it. I guess I will know why after I begin, but I'm hoping it's not that bad!

[teach smiles]

You should do your student teaching in the fall.

Pro's:
-You're there from the beg. of the school year
-students view you as being their 2nd teacher
-you can help set up the classroom with your cooperating teacher and this experience you will not get in the spring time
-get to establish rules and procedures at the beginning of the school year with the class
-you get to participate in conferences (same as spring), but also back to school night which is key to put on your resume and discuss at interviews
-you're fresh after having the summer off from classes and can give your best effort.
-You can interview in the spring time and not have to worry about missing student teaching time if you were to do it in the spring.

As you can see, I'm a big advocate of student teaching in the fall. As someone who did this 3 years ago, these are some of the most valuable things I took away from the experience.

[fredflintston]

Some schools will not hire until you have your license. If they are hiring in the spring and you still need to do student teaching they may look right over you because you do not have your license yet. And if you student teach in fall and do a great job then your name will be brought up when teachers talk about retiring which happens before jobs are posted. It can give you a little heads up and more prep time.

[teachz2]

I did mine in the fall and was hired right after.

[mr.lewis]

I'm not sure if it matter but if I do student teach in the fall I will still have to take 4 classes in the spring in order to graduate, they aren't education classes, but rather for my concentration.

[Yaz]

I have to do mine in the Spring, because of the way my schedule worked out. I do agree that doing it in the Fall would be nice, because you are there from the beginning. I am a bit worried about going to a classroom in the middle of the year, which I will be doing in January. I hope it goes well. I know many other people who have done it in the Spring and it was great, so I am not too worried.
I am more worried about who I will get as a cooperating teacher! I hope we get along and she is a good teacher!

I would recommend choosing the fall semester if you have a choice. I did my student teaching in the spring, and I had no idea what I was missing out on. You really need to see a teacher set up the classroom, establish rules and procedures with the children and model those things. I had never seen a beginning of the year and I had a very hard time as a new teacher, especially with classroom management. I had no idea how important it was to take time teaching the children how to follow procedures and that it was necessary to have a procedure for everything! When you student teach in the spring, you miss all of this. The class already knows all of the procedures and things seem to run smoothly. What a shock when you start a new year on your own.