Oh man - this is gonna be tougher than I thought

Well tomorrow is my first day back with the kids.

I have a student teacher for 8 weeks and in order to build her sense of ownership in the class, last monday I asked her to plan and make the bulletin board in the hallway with the students' names.

She e-mailed me the idea she had last Wed.
I took off Fri and yesterday from decorating my classroom and went in today for a.m. meetings.

She did nothing in all those days for the board- did not cut out or even draw one thing that we could hang today!

Then she goes to cover the board with backing paper only she runs out of red half way and finishes it with white only its crooked so it looks like a slanted Polish flag

She left with nothing but the horible paper covering it so I ripped it down and will go in tomorrow and rush a sunflower themed board before the kids and parents come in. I feel bad but it really was just hurting me to look at it.

I think I need to get tougher and be direct with her instructions or this could be horrible!

Re: Oh man - this is gonna be tougher than I thought

I would explain to her that's just not acceptable, give her some books to look at with ideas and have her help you do the board you want. I would not be too hard on her. I remember way back when I started student teaching I would have been overwhelmed and anxious if asked to complete a bulletin board before I even started. I honestly think its so important for mentoring teachers to be so supportive, encouraging and informative. Its not easy to become a teacher.

Hopefully you will have a good 8 weeks with her.