SPECIAL PROBLEMS FACING STUDENT TEACHERS

 

  1. Feeling overwhelmed
  2. Time management.
  3. Selection of course content from textbook, laboratory manual, syllabus, teacher guide, other. Understanding what should be taught.
  4. Need for involvement in many disciplines in science content and for more required mathematics.
  5. Need training in new science curricula.
  6. Need to know how to weld new studies into harmonious whole.
  7. Need breadth in subject matter background sufficient to enable new teachers to present "truths" of science as changing truth.
  8. Incompetence in skill of questioning.
  9. Incompetence in reacting to child's response (interpretation).
  10. Too many teachers say, "Yes, but...," to a wrong answer.
  11. Learning to allow pupils to differ with you. Acceptance that this must happen if you are teaching them to think.
  12. Need of training in using educational television programs, individualized instruction, and other new tools.
  13. Fear of performing experiments unless what should happen is known.
  14. Fear of open-ended experiments.
  15. Poor preparation in organizing work for single period, 5 days per week.
  16. Lack of training in conducting experiments for 30 or more in class. Dealing with mechanics of individual participation in laboratory work in limited space with limited equipment.
  17. Frustration when periods are cut short.
  18. Frustration of not knowing how to keep laboratory work moving.
  19. Need to know how to find equipment, how to improvise, how to meet emergencies.
  20. Need to know how to organize and manage an investigatory situation.
  21. Implementation of philosophy. (Because lack of practice they are often "telling" not arousing curiosity).
  22. Overwhelming with planning administrative (often think they are clerks, not teachers).
  23. Amazed at demands on time for activities besides teaching.
  24. Difficulty in finding suitable professional literature.
  25. Problems concerning evaluation: setting standards and assigning grades.
  26. Recognizing real understanding in pupils.
  27. Evaluation of questions for fairness and validity.
  28. Wondering what to do with pupils who just don't care - motivation.
  29. Assigning values to various classroom activities.
  30. Discipline in the science classroom and lab.
  31. Career opportunities.
  32. Local resources for physics teachers.
  33. Laws regarding teachers and teaching.
  34. Professional growth and development.
  35. Transition from student to teacher.
  36. Preparation of valid tests and quizzes.
  37. Writing original worksheets, reference handouts, and labs.
  38. Legal considerations regarding safety in physics teaching.
  39. How to deal with exceptional students - the very good, the disabled.
  40. How to deal with cultural differences.

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Return to PHY 353 Course Outline