Congrats! I am just finishing up my masters program! I defend my thesis on Tuesday!
My advice: don’t take yourself too seriously during student teaching. I wanted to quit every single day after about week 4 (in my 16 week semester). I drove to the school in tears and I left in tears everyday because it was just so. damn. hard. There is so much to think about, but I had a mentor teacher who super micromanaged me and did not give me the freedom to do what I wanted in the class. She wanted me to be a mini her and thought that anything she wouldn’t do was wrong. I felt so much pressure everyday. The anxiety was horrible. I guess what I am trying to say is: don’t quit if you get to student teaching and you kind of have a mental break down. It happens to everyone at some point. Take it one day at a time and you will get through! Hands down I think that student teaching was the hardest thing about the program, and maybe the hardest thing that I have ever done. Talk to your university supervisor. Confide in friends I’m the program. Talk to your professors about your experiences. It really helps a lot.
Also: don’t stray away from middle school completely. I thought that I would HATE middle school. I went in saying that I would never teach it, but I actually loved it. A lot of the kids are still enthusiastic about school, and they are weird as hell. However, this is when you can really start to get them to have adult conversations in the class, which is so amazing to witness.
When you are finished you may consider subbing. I had a lot of people give me all kinds of advice on whether or not I should do it. I decided to do it and found that I LOVE subbing. I love not having to lesson plan for now. I don’t have to grade. If I loath a class (which you will), then I can choose to never go back there. And you learn really really quickly how to manage a class. But it’s really not scary. I found that I was able to just get in there and do what I needed to do to make things run smoothly. I am usually soft spoke and shy, so this was something that surprised me about myself.
Sorry this was long, but having just gone through a program, I feel like I have a lot to say. You will do great!! Feel free to DM me if you have questions or if you need to talk!