Student teaching is a unique opportunity to practice your craft with support from a cooperating teacher. Some people quit during or after student teaching. They realize the classroom is not for them. Others know it's exactly where they want to be. I remember being scared to death when I did my student teaching. I also remember crying a lot when I came home from school. I hope your experience won't be as traumatic as mine was. Maybe some of these tips will help you create a better experience for yourself.

After you've been student teaching on your own for a couple of weeks you will likely find that you are exhausted, working day and night and still behind. Practicing some good time management skills can help you maintain some balance in your life.

First of all, realize and accept that you simply can't do it all. Prioritize what absolutely must be done and concentrate on those things. The rest will have to take care of itself. This is very important. You will sink into a quicksand of paper work if you try to do everything with equal priority.

In terms of lesson planning, your lessons need to be well-planned but keep them simple, using few materials. A rough guide is that you should spend approximately 1 hour planning for each hour you teach. It's tempting to try to make your lessons and slide presentations, and handouts as "Wow" as possible. This, however, is not a good use of your time. Decide what is "good enough" and stop when you reach that point.

Again, it's important to decide how much time you are going to spend on lesson planning. Lesson planning expands to fit the time you give it. It's easy to get into the habit of spending your entire evening working on lesson plans and grading papers. Start off your career keeping a strict balance between school and your home life. If you have to choose between the two, always pick home.

Strive during each class to have some movement by the students. They don't need to do much. It can be turning around in their chairs, or coming up to you to get a handout. If they get a little exercise they will perform better. Again, keep it small and simple. Large, ambitious activities may be too much for you at the moment. You are looking for small successes to boost your confidence.

Before you leave school for the weekend, plan out your next week. Organize the materials you will be using, the handouts you need, etc. At the very least have a list of what will be required for each class. This gives you a good starting place when you come into school on Monday.

Good luck, don't be too hard on yourself and get enough sleep every night. A zombie teacher can't do a good job!

Barbara is a professional speaker, seminar/workshop presenter, staff development trainer with 32 years of classroom experience.

Her book, A Teacher's Book of 10s: Best ways to Do Everything in Your Classroom, will be published in the summer of 2011.

Contact Barbara at http://www.barbaratoney.com