Becoming a Better Teacher: An Analysis of the Student Teaching Experience

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Abstract
An analysis of student teaching was made to determine how student teachers defined becoming a better teacher based on their actual teaching experiences in the gymnasium. Specifically, two definitions were derived from experiences the subjects identified as indicative of either progress or no progress in becoming a better teacher. A critical incident technique was employed to collect and analyze data from 20 student teachers. Data were collected in the second, sixth, and ninth weeks of a 10-week experience. Reliability of data was established by comparing exact agreements between the investigator and five impartial judges. The results of this study suggested the student teachers defined a better teacher through experiences in which a teacher-planned lesson activity was felt to have worked due to the entire class responding to the teacher’s efforts with appropriate social behavior. Incidents not indicative of a better teacher were those whereby the student teachers felt an activity they tried did not work, resulting in wasted time and inappropriate social behavior by the entire class. Further, it was found these definitions did not change throughout the student teaching experience.

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