While I was student teaching a few years ago, I used the school
pool to swim laps in the mornings. A few teachers and a lot of
students on athletic teams would work out in the mornings too.

It was a large high school and I may have encountered a student or
two in the community shower who were in the class I student taught,
but that was never an issue. I was only 20 years old at the time,
and relatively young looking, and it was just generally assumed
that I was a student. There were some fairly strict rules enforced
by the coaches concerning leaving your basket out, disposing of
towels, etc.

One morning I left my basket out and didn't put my towel in the
correct laundry bag--both apparently no, no's! This was at a high
school in Arkansas where corporal punishment is both allowed and
used frequently. One of the coaches watching from her office came
out and informed me I had earned three swats with the paddle.

It didn't immediately occur to me that as a student teacher I had
some senority over generic students that would have immunized me
from typical discipline. To make a long story short, I did receive
a paddling, and have never since broken any locker room rules!

On 7/14/09, anonymous wrote:
> Yea I had a very similar situation when it came to showers during
> my student teaching. Many of the teachers would meet at the
> school very early in the morning to play pickup basketball before
> the students arrived. While student teaching, I was
approached
> by many of the teachers and asked to play. The principals would
> play, and I thought it would be a great way to meet people and
> make the appropriate connections that could help me later on. I
> would get to the school at 6am and the teachers would play until
> 7am.
>
> I never thought about the shower situation until it was actually
> time to shower, and I was very uncomfortable with it. I don't
> mind showering in a large shower with other teachers, but we were
> in the student locker room which was not locked, and I realized
> that some of the students would walk in before class started to
> put things away, or to shower themselves after working out in the
> morning. In one instance I just finished showering and getting
> dressed when a student I actually had in class walked in to
> shower. If that student were to have walked in 5 minutes
> earlier, it would have been a very awkward and in my opinion a
> very strange situation.
>
> Due to the fact that the teachers working there had jobs and
> didn't really fear anything, they were fine with this. I
called
> my advisor and I decided to stop playing basketball in the
> morning because of how innappropriate I felt the situation was.
> As a student teacher, you need to make sure you cover all of
> your bases. Many of the teachers you are working with might not
> think the way you do because they may already be established.
> But you are still unemployed and you don't want there to be any
> chance of a misunderstanding when it comes to one of your
> students. I also think it is just strange for teachers and
> students to be using the same shower facilities...especially at
> the same time
>
>
>
> On 7/01/09, Michele wrote:
>> I can't figure out why they won't build some facilites with
>> privacy in mind. I teach at a big suburban high school in
>> Texas where they recently spent millions of dollars on
>> rennovations. However, the new girls' locker room has one
>> giant gang shower. I coach volleyball and track and the
>> athletes seem to have no problem with using it, but many
>> students in PE seem uncomfortable with the lack of privacy.
>>
>>
>>
>> On 6/23/09, Lauren wrote:
>>> Hi--
>>>
>>> I am student teaching PE at a Texas high school this
>>> summer and one of my assignments is to supervise "open
>>> gym" for basketball games. My supervisor has encouraged
>>> me to join in the games, which is fine with me as a former
>>> basketball player.
>>>
>>> The only problem is, I get extremely hot and sweaty by the
>>> time the afternoon is over and have an evening class right
>>> after that to attend. There is no locker room for the
>>> teachers/coaches and my supervisor has said feel free to
>>> uses the student facility which is a large community
>>> shower and locker room.
>>>
>>> I am 19 and no one seems to care or notice as at the end
>>> of the session there are usually 10 to 25 students
>>> showering and changing. I would rather not got to class
>>> soaked in sweat, but am not sure what the most appropriate
>>> way to handle this may be. BTW, my supervisor is the
>>> assistant basketbal coach and in her late 20's and also
>>> uses the student shower. Doesn't seem to be a
>>> problem . . .

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