Text Results

There are 24 answers to this question.

24. To help with my professional development as a mentor teacher, I would like to get feedback from the TC once I have completed their evaluation. I would like to know how I can improve as a mentor teacher to help the next TC.

23. Attendance seem to be an issue with regards to some of the teacher candidates, and more information with regards to make-up days, or proper protocol with how to address accountability would be fantastic. Also, what the protocol is for acceptable amount of absences allowed for the TC's. Otherwise, it was a good experience!

22. Students should be in classrooms for 3 years instead of 2. omit community year

21. It is becoming more difficult to meet the needs of the T.C.s on a weekly basis. The new generation of T.C.s seem to require a great deal of time and energy, each week. As a result, many of our strongest and hardest working mentors are choosing not to accept T.C.s next year. Perhaps the placement of the EDII and EDIII students could be rotated each year, if the program is not revised.

20. My suggestion would be to ensure that first year Education students be placed in schools NOT community centers. I think they could benefit by observing/volunteering within a school setting. Maybe they can go to a community center once or twice during the year but the real focus should be on school and in class observational activity. TC's should observe a variety of classes in a school and have an opportunity to 'try' out and support some lessons of classroom teachers. I found that the Second year TC was not prepared because she was expected to 'teach' almost immediately and yet did not have classroom observational time from her first year.

19. The once a week drop in for TC's isnt nearly as effective as most Teacher's colleges who have more 4 week blocks. It is hard for the TC's to get to know the kids, get a flow to teaching, get involved with extra curriculars and feel apart of the school. York would benefit to taking on a similar structure to Queens, Damien and most other Teacher's colleges and I feel the TC's would get more out of it.

18. I would like to be e-mailed the link for the final practicum report, instead of being told to complete it by May 13, without being told where to access the information!

17. I would like to see the Concurrent progrm changed by seeing the Candidate at least 2 times per week in the beginning for four months; then start the 4 week block soon after. Once per week for 8 months is not conducive to my lesson planning schedule nor is it productive for the candidate to be exposed to the students only once per week.

16. more involvement from York throughout process in the form of in class observations. Spending only one day per week in the host class is not sufficient time for them to get to know a balanced program especially leading up to the block.

15. Teacher candidates at-risk need to be placed in specific schools/with teacher mentors who are made aware of their issues and who are prepared to take them on.

14. I had an Ed3 student who had NO IDEA how to make proper lesson plans or unit plans. She did not know anything about assessment, classroom management or anything really relevant to teaching for that matter. She was not my first student teacher from York in the ConEd program. The teachers at our school have been finding that the ConEd program at York has significantly decreased in quality over the years. It is NOT setting the students up for success and merely frustrates Mentor Teachers. When I asked the student teachers at our school what they learned in their classes at York, I was surprised to find out that the first few years of their ConEd program focused on social justice issues and equity. Yes, those are important issues to discuss in teaching, but if that is all you are focusing on or the only things TC's are taking away from those years, you are failing them as educators yourself. Many of the TC's I have spoken to told me that what they learn in their classes at York depends on the instructor. Some are great, others are lazy (as quoted by the TC's). Are you truly hiring teachers for secondment at York based on their experiences and true ability to teach TC's or are you hiring based on who knows who and whether or not they have a Masters degree? The students' experiences in their first practicum during their Ed2 year was terrible. That could be due to the school/Mentor Teacher but we had MANY TC's at our school this year and they ALL had the same story. My experiences with York TC's thus far has been quite negative and discourages me from wanting to take on another TC from York in the future. OISE seems to be putting together a much better program. The consecutive program seems to be one that sets up students for success far better than concurrent programs. I was also surprised to hear that not one TC had any classes on classroom management! At OISE, there is a whole entire class devoted to classroom management alone! I was also surprised to find out that some courses are online courses and the ones that were mentioned were even more surprising. Teaching lesson planning online?? No wonder their lesson plans are terrible!! Needless to say, it will take a LOT of convincing to have any teacher at our school take on another TC from York, which is unfortunate because in the end, it's the students in our schools and the future generation of students that suffer the consequences.

13. This was my second time as an MT. The first time was great because the candidate was very good - however, this time, having a candidate who struggled, I think it would have been better for her to have had more than one school or mentor. That way she could have multiple opportunities for feedback and the chance for a fresh start - after a whole year together and some difficult times, it's hard to keep going for both of us at this point ... My TC really didn't seem to know some of the basics of teaching (the difference between assessment and evaluation and how to prepare block plans) and it took a fair amount of time to support her, which made it somewhat of a strain at times when marks were due or near exams. Again, the change in mentor or school might have been to everyone's benefit. The Seminar Coordinator was very patient and helpful, which was great!

12. Being in the school only once a week is difficult for planning- many schedule changes and events can alter course timelines.

11. The one day-a-week format was very difficult for everyone to adjust to; teacher candidate, mentor teacher, and students. I prefer the model followed in the consecutive program and would prefer, in the future to mentor a teacher candidate in the consecutive stream as apposed to a candidate in the concurrent program.

10. That students in their last year of the program already have some previous knowledge of important and key duties such as lesson planning and classroom management strategies.

9. I think it's rather ineffective to have the TCs here only one day per week. While my TC was diligent in teaching each of those days she was in, the inconsistency provided little for both the class and the TC.

8. A more thorough screening process is needed. As a result of my experience with students teachers, especially this year, I will not host another one. Their work ethic as of late is seriously lacking and they do not appreciate the time rewuired to do this job well/effectively.

7. I found the timing (just once per week) to be dysfunctional and very unsatisfying. When I was a student teacher, I spent every Thurs observing and then Friday teaching. It was unpleasant and difficult to email regularly to let my TC know what we were doing so she would know what to do. In my case, I had an absolutely superb TC but I did not enjoy the process until we got to the final teaching block.

6. TCs should receive more instruction about lesson planning and block planning and relating that to the curriculum, using learning intentions and success criteria.

5. The one day per week visits are ineffective. Perhaps two, one-month blocks would be more beneficial in terms of exposing the TC to a more holistic teaching experience.

4. - some Ed2s just don't have enough background in their diciplines to act as experts in the classroom, especially in secondary teachable areas. Not sure how to adress that. - As site coordinator, it would help me to have subject specific idea banks about how to deploy TCs on a once-a-week basis. That is the number 1 reson for resistance to participation by potential MTs. In my own courses, I have developed "threads" that CTs can weave into the course once a week. If others have done the same in their courses, I would love to be able to present those to potential MTs to spark their imaginations.

3. More emphasis on participating in extracurricular activities would be beneficial to both the host school and the student teacher.

2. I thought Kim Carter did an excellent job of communicating with Mentor Teachers. I could used some help in the completion of TC reports.

1. Teacher candidiates who have an eye to teach Instrumental Music, especially I/S , need to have much more command of wind instruments. cosidering that most Music programmes in high school are predominantly band , your Music Dept at york could offer instruction in these instruments as part of the curriculum, so that TC's are MUCH better prepared for this type of classroom setting.