Visiting Master Teachers
- Review the list of potential master teachers in your discipline. Select three (3) or more master teachers.
- Email and/or call them to ask if you can observe them teach. You may use the following words when composing an email.
Dear __________(teacher name). My name is _________ and I am a student in Dr. Norm Herr's Methods of Teaching Science course at CSUN. One of our course assignments is to observe exemplary ___________ (science, physics, chemistry, biology, earth science, health) teachers in local secondary schools. I was wondering if it would be OK for me to visit on __________ (date). Please let me know if that would be OK or if there is a better time to visit. Thank you for your time. Sincerely ____________(your name)"
- Call the school ahead of your visit and let them know that you will be coming to visit a teacher on campus.
- Check in with the office before entering the teacher's classroom. Allow extra time to make sure that you can enter the class before instruction begins.
- Discussion of potential placements- The subject coordinator makes placements after dialoguing with the student teacher, master teacher, and administrator. You may express your interest in student teaching with a master teacher and see if he or she is available to serve. Master teachers are not always able to supervise each semester, so please do not take offense if a master teacher declines.