“The way it works is that I teach in the morning … my focal periods are first and second … and then I leave Berkeley High (School) and go to UC Berkeley to take classes. Classes usually happen in the afternoon, anywhere from 2 to 8 p.m.,” Samuel Yee, a student teacher at BHS, said, “It is pretty brutal, to be honest, that schedule of teaching and then taking classes.”
Yee is now in his second semester of the University of California, Berkeley student teaching program, along with three other student teachers that are all completing the program by working at BHS.
The Berkeley Teacher Education Program (BTEP) has students collaborate with a working teacher, called their cooperating teacher, over the course of one school year. In the first semester of the program, UC Berkeley students are mostly observing their cooperating teacher while gaining teaching experience through leading warm-ups or parts of lessons in class. Student teachers in the program have a busy schedule, balancing teaching and observing classes at a K-12 school while also having to attend university classes themselves. It can be hard to juggle planning and teaching lessons while also working to manage one’s own homework and class schedule.
“The professors I have are really understanding when it comes to not being able to turn in work on time all the time,” Miko Santos, a BHS student teacher also in the BTEP program, said.
Once students make it to the second semester of teaching, they begin to take more responsibility by leading one or two class periods.
“For second and third (periods), I am observing. I often will lead teach third now, and then fourth period is the period I’m responsible for, and I assume the role of a lead teacher,” Adrian Arnold, a UC Berkeley student teacher at BHS, said.
The second semester also begins to bring more benefits for the cooperating teachers. “In the beginning of the school year, for the cooperating teacher you’re doing some extra work because you’re kind of mentoring this new teacher. But then the payoff for us is in the spring, then they’re teaching one of our classes,” Kelly Boylan, Yee’s BHS cooperating history teacher, said. “I actually have a lot of extra time … it’s really nice,” Boylan added.
One of Boylan’s favorite things about being a cooperating teacher is the creative ideas student teachers bring to the classroom. “(Yee has) had some really great creative ideas for simulations in class. He has fresh ideas for how to teach something that’s really fun and I wouldn’t have thought of them myself,” Boylan said.
Arnold decided to become a teacher because her earlier profession as a woodworker was lacking in interpersonal contact, so she started guest-teaching shop classes to get the feel for the teaching career.
“After guest instructing and coaching (high school lacrosse) for several years, I realized I really love working with this age group … and went back to school after being out of school for several years,” Arnold said, “I was looking for a career that would not have me give up the creative side of it. It’s just a different type of creativity, which I like.”
Yee’s inspiration to become a teacher and go through the BTEP program is partly due to his family. “I come from a family of educators. My mom was a teacher, she was an English teacher for almost 20 years,” Yee said, “I really look up to her. She’s one of my great inspirations in life, and in order to honor her legacy as a teacher, I’m also becoming a teacher.”
One pitfall of student teaching is that these teachers are not allowed to be paid for their work due to the fact that they don’t have a license that allows them to teach K-12 students. In fact, student teachers are paying for the opportunity to get field experience.
“There are professions, like if you were apprenticing to be an electrician or something, you would get paid while you’re apprenticing. What student teachers are doing is essentially apprenticing, but unpaid,” Boylan said.
“It’s tricky, especially being in a program where tuition costs money and then you’re also working … in a perfect ideal scenario, there would be some form of compensation,” Arnold added.
BTEP does help student teachers find their place in the teaching world soon after their year in the program is over. During their second semester student teaching, students start the job application process.
“I think a very strong point for UC Berkeley is that … they have a good track record with setting student teachers up with jobs,” Yee said, “Ideally I’ll be in a classroom sometime next year as a full fleshed teacher.”
Arnold earns some additional money through substitute teaching, which is another way for student teachers to earn some money while going through the program. “For example, when I substitute for my cooperating teacher, I am paid for those hours, but it’s the exact same thing I would be doing even if I was student teaching,” Arnold said.
“Part of why I’m here is because I used to work as a substitute teacher, and that was when I was having trouble finding corporate jobs right after I graduated college ... Interacting with students was my favorite part of the job, and so I want to keep doing that,” Santos said.
Reflecting on his time as a student teacher, Yee said, “Student teaching is hard, but it’s also very fulfilling. I think I’ve learned a lot while being here in this classroom … I hope that students can recognize the amount of effort teachers put into creating the curriculum, instructing, and making sure they can support their students as much as possible.”