I can honestly say that in 20 years of teaching, I have never,
ever, yelled at a class or individual student, and don't ever
intend to. I have received truly incredible letters of
recommendation (when I moved to a different state) and smile
every day when I am teaching. I don't think you have to come
across as not nice, but you do have to come across as
dedicated, professional, knowledgeable, fair, and in control of
everything. The "teacher stare" helps if it is not
intimidating, but a silent reminder of expectations. You will
develop your own style and skills at this over the course of
time, and depending on the age group you are teaching, may or
may not be completely effective during student teaching.
Student teaching is almost as tough as subbing, because the
students know it isn't your classroom, and that when it comes
down to it, they ultimately don't answer to you because you
will leave. So, your CT can be a great support by always
reminding students that he is still a presence in the building
and expects them to respect you, as they do him. Students may
not trust that you will do a good job, or really care about
their success, etc.
About getting nervous; I strongly recommend that every day on
your way to school, you mentally rehearse or envision the
lessons you will teach. Picture yourself standing up there,
writing on the board or whatever you will be doing. Timing the
lessons and activities, rehearsing them in your head, will
allow you to first of all work out any imaginable kinks, and
secondly, shake off some of the nervousness, since by the time
you really teach, you will kind of feel like you already taught
the lesson! I still do this when I am teaching a particularly
important lesson, like before an observation or whatever. It
does work, so please try it! Good luck!

On 9/17/09, New Student Teacher........ wrote:
> Hi everyone! I started my student teaching a few weeks ago.
> I had an observation period and now I am teaching 2 classes.
> I never thought I would get so nervous in front of the
> students but I do, unfortunately. I feel very inadequate and
> the fact that I was placed with a very popular teacher makes
> the situation worse for me. I feel like the students won't
> like me as much and then I get nervous. My cooperating
> teacher is great but at times he talks to me about my
> performance in front of the students and he looks very
> frustrated. He told me that he thought I was already losing
> some students because I look too nice. How can I fix this?
> How can I look less nice and have more authority?

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