16-Week Timeline (Two Placements)
Students completing one field endorsement are required to complete 16 weeks of clinical practice. The 16 weeks could be with one cooperating teacher or multiple cooperating teachers. To gain experience and exposure to the various subjects within a field endorsement, students are often placed with more than one teacher. Some examples of placements that may have multiple cooperating teachers include but are not limited to the following:
- Elementary that is departmentalized (teachers specialize in one or more subject areas and instruct different groups of students throughout the day).
- Music requires students to gain experience with vocal and instrumental, so this is often multiple teachers in bigger schools.
- Secondary field endorsements such as math or science will often include two placements in larger schools where teachers may only teach one or two disciplines within the endorsement (e.g. geometry, biology).
- PK-12 placements in larger schools will entail a placement within grades K-6 and a placement within grades 7-12.
- Two secondary subject endorsements such as Biology and Spanish.
Roughly Week 1: Orientation Phase for First Placement
Teacher Candidate
- Reads through the Clinical Practice Handbook, all materials in Canvas, and completes all required tasks as directed by the clinical practice course instructor.
- Becomes familiar with rules, regulations, and procedures of classroom and the building; develops skill in communicating rules to students.
- Becomes familiar with physical features of the building and where things are located.
- Learns names and becomes acquainted with students; becomes aware of friendships and sub-groups; becomes acquainted with unique needs of individual students.
- Observes instruction and becomes familiar with lesson/unit plans and routines established by cooperating teacher. Makes notes of ideas in weekly journal; asks questions.
- Participates in classroom routine (taking roll, recording grades, handing out/collecting materials, daily calendar, etc.), and learns daily schedule.
- By the end of Week 2 should be assisting in daily activities (administering tests, tutoring, conducting short, informal segments of the lesson or conducting mini-lessons).
- Participates in related activities within the school (staff meetings, athletic events, etc.).
- Constructs teaching aids and contributes materials for an attractive learning environment.
- Become familiar with curriculum expectations and content to be taught later in the semester.
- Assumes greater teaching role and responsibilities as soon as competency is displayed.
Note: For students completing an Elementary Education and then a Special Education degree program, usually the Elementary Education experience is completed first. During the time that the student is becoming familiar with the school environment in general, they should also be communicating with the special education teacher to prepare for the second half of the placement.
Cooperating Teacher
- Maintains responsibility for planning and conducting class but involves teacher candidate in planning; shares long-range plans for semester; provides teacher candidate a work area.
- Involves teacher candidate in observation, routine procedures, preparation of materials, and interaction with students; works to make teacher candidate feel comfortable.
- Sets aside time to discuss the rationale behind what the teacher candidate is observing.
- Establishes standard and expectation for excellence in teacher candidate’s lesson planning.
- Increases responsibilities for teaching as competency is displayed by the teacher candidate.
- Conducts weekly formal conferences with the teacher candidate to discuss ongoing progress.
College Supervisor
- Schedules introductory meeting (first week) with cooperating teacher and teacher candidate.
- Reads the weekly journal entries and provides feedback to the teacher candidate regarding their progress each week.
Roughly Weeks 2-3: Increasing Responsibility Phase
Teacher Candidate
- Increases efforts to identify any special class characteristics and to relate instruction to individual students (meets with individual students having problems, determines utilization of special student talents).
- Manages all daily and /or routine tasks for the classroom (i.e., lunch count, calendar, etc.)
- Assumes full instructional responsibility for part of the school day. Gradually assumes a larger responsibility for instruction by accumulating teaching responsibilities - adding one subject, period, or preparation, etc. - every one to two weeks as teaching proficiency increases.
- Continues to develop instructional materials to support lessons.
- Continues to participate in staff meetings, parent-teacher conferences, PTA meetings, etc.
- Continues to make at least weekly entries in reflection journal.
- Asks cooperating teacher, college supervisor for specific feedback on instructional performance
Cooperating Teacher
- Plans cooperatively with the teacher candidate to deliver instruction, starting the teacher candidate with small tasks such as: directing cooperative learning groups, jointly developing evaluation instruments, reteaching concepts to small groups, providing enrichment activities.
- Continuously assesses and provides feedback on the teacher candidate’s level of competency in instruction and classroom management so that the teacher candidate can gain confidence before assuming additional responsibilities.
- Conducts weekly conferences (Weekly Conference Form is found in Appendix B) to discuss progress and areas where growth is needed.
- Models a variety of instructional techniques so that the teacher candidate develops a comfort level for a broad spectrum of teaching activities.
College Supervisor
- Conducts at least 1-2 observations of teacher candidate using Observation Form (Formative Assessment)
- Conferences with teacher candidate and cooperating teacher about mid-term evaluations.
- Is readily available (via phone, email, or in person) for advice, ideas, suggestions, support.
- Continues to read weekly journal entries and provide feedback.
Roughly Weeks 4-7: Full Responsibility Phase
Teacher Candidate
- Assumes primary responsibility for all planning, preparation of materials and delivering instruction, monitoring student progress and evaluation.
- Implements the discipline plan effectively, including contacting parents if necessary.
- Recommends student grades to cooperating teacher.
- Works on refinement of specific instructional techniques.
- Continues to maintain reflection journal.
- Asks the school principal and/or assistant principal to observe a lesson and provide feedback.
Cooperating Teacher
- Examines, critiques and provides necessary approval of teacher candidate’s plans for instruction and evaluation.
- Continues to observe and assess the teacher candidate’s lessons and provide appropriate evaluation and feedback.
- Contributes to the class instruction in ways that are complementary to the general class presentation under the direction of the teacher candidate.
- Reviews experience with teacher candidate and college supervisor during final observation and evaluation.
- Completes the midterm Evaluation Rubric (Summative Evaluation) on-line; discusses with teacher candidate.
College Supervisor
- Conducts one observation of teacher candidate (total of three at this point).
- Conferences with teacher candidate and cooperating teacher about final evaluation.
- Is readily available (via email, phone, or in person) for advice, ideas, suggestions, and support.
- Completes Midterm Evaluation Rubric (Summative Evaluation) online.
- Continues to read weekly journal entries and provide feedback.
- Completes the midterm Evaluation Rubric (Summative Evaluation) online.
Week 8: Phase-out for First Placement
(This should not occur until the last week.)
Teacher Candidate
- Return all primary teaching to the cooperating teacher. Teacher candidate can still provide assistance and co-teaching of lessons is still encouraged. However, the goal for the final week is to help the students to transition back to having the cooperating teacher be the primary instructor after the week ends.
- Return all materials, resources, and school property that was borrowed.
- Observe other grade levels and specialists as interested.
- Complete their journal entries to the college supervisor.
Cooperating Teacher
- If cooperating teacher is comfortable doing so, writes a letter of recommendation for teacher candidate’s file. This is completely up to the discretion of the cooperating teacher.
- Takes over the responsibility for planning and teaching.
- Helps to have an appropriate “send-off” for the teacher candidate for the students to say, “Thank you” and for cooperating teacher to explain what the teacher candidate will be doing next.
College Supervisor
- Summarizes first half of experience with teacher candidate and discusses key skills and concepts to focus on in second experience.
Roughly Week 9: Orientation Phase for Second Placement
Teacher Candidate
- Meets with second teacher and focuses on any specific rule, regulations and procedures that are different compared to first placement. For those completing a degree in Special Education, this would entail learning the necessary policies and practices for this placement.
- Becomes familiar with physical features of the new classroom (or building if second placement is in a different building) and where things are located.
- Learns names and becomes acquainted with students; becomes aware of friendships and sub-groups; becomes acquainted with unique needs of individual students.
- Observes instruction and becomes familiar with lesson/unit plans and routines established by cooperating teacher. Makes notes of ideas in weekly journal; asks questions.
- Participates in classroom routine (taking roll, recording grades, handing out/collecting materials, daily calendar, etc.), and learns daily schedule.
- By end of Week 11 (second week in this placement) should be assisting in daily activities (administering tests, tutoring, conducting short, informal segments of the lesson or conducting mini lessons).
- Participates in related activities within the school (staff meetings, athletic events, etc.).
- Constructs teaching aids and contributes materials for an attractive learning environment.
- Become familiar with curriculum expectations and content to be taught later in the semester.
- Assumes greater teaching role and responsibilities as soon as competency is displayed.
(New) Cooperating Teacher
- Maintains responsibility for planning and conducting class but involves teacher candidate in planning; shares long-range plans for semester; provides teacher candidate a work area.
- Involves teacher candidate in observation, routine procedures, preparation of materials, and interaction with students; works to make teacher candidate feel comfortable.
- Sets aside time to discuss the rationale behind what the teacher candidate is observing.
- Establishes standard and expectation for excellence in teacher candidate’s lesson planning.
- Increases responsibilities for teaching as competency is displayed by the teacher candidate.
- Conducts weekly formal conferences with the teacher candidate to discuss ongoing progress.
College Supervisor
- Has introductory (Zoom is fine) meeting with new cooperating teacher and teacher candidate. This meeting can be conducted during the first initial meeting if appropriate. Thus, college supervisor could meet with all teachers working with students at the beginning of the year or meet separately.
- Conducts fourth observation and conducts post-observation conference with teacher candidate.
- Continues to read the weekly journal entries and provides feedback to the teacher candidate regarding their progress each week.
Roughly Weeks 10-11: Increasing Responsibility Phase
Teacher Candidate
- Increases efforts to identify any special class characteristics and to relate instruction to individual students (meets with individual students having problems, determines utilization of special student talents).
- Manages all daily and /or routine tasks for the classroom (i.e., lunch count, calendar, etc.).
- Assumes full instructional responsibility for part of the school day. Gradually assumes a larger responsibility for instruction by accumulating teaching responsibilities - adding one subject, period, or preparation, etc. - every one to two weeks as teaching proficiency increases.
- Continues to develop instructional materials to support lessons.
- Continues to participate in staff meetings, parent-teacher conferences, PTA meetings, etc.
- Continues to make at least weekly entries in reflection journal.
- Asks cooperating teacher, college supervisor for specific feedback on instructional performance.
Cooperating Teacher
- Plans cooperatively with the teacher candidate to deliver instruction, starting the teacher candidate with small tasks such as: directing cooperative learning groups, jointly developing evaluation instruments, reteaching concepts to small groups, providing enrichment activities.
- Continuously assesses and provides feedback on the teacher candidate’s level of competency in instruction and classroom management so that the teacher candidate can gain confidence before assuming additional responsibilities.
- Conducts weekly conferences (Weekly Conference Form is found in Appendix B) to discuss progress and areas where growth is needed.
- Models a variety of instructional techniques so that the teacher candidate develops a comfort level for a broad spectrum of teaching activities.
College Supervisor
- Is readily available (via phone, email, or in person) for advice, ideas, suggestions, support.
- Continues to read weekly journal entries and provide feedback.
Roughly Weeks 12-15: Full Responsibility Phase
Teacher Candidate
- Assumes primary responsibility for all planning, preparation of materials and delivering instruction, monitoring student progress and evaluation.
- Implements the discipline plan effectively, including contacting parents if necessary.
- Recommends student grades to cooperating teacher.
- Works on refinement of specific instructional techniques.
- Continues to maintain reflection journal.
- Asks the school principal and/or assistant principal to observe a lesson and provide feedback.
Cooperating Teacher
- Examines, critiques and provides necessary approval of teacher candidate’s plans for instruction and evaluation.
- Continues to observe and assess the teacher candidate’s lessons and provide appropriate evaluation and feedback.
- Contributes to the class instruction in ways that are complementary to the general class presentation under the direction of the teacher candidate.
- Reviews experience with teacher candidate and college supervisor during final observation and evaluation.
- Completes final Evaluation Rubric (Summative Evaluation) online. If applicable, can conference with first cooperating teacher to discuss progress for entire clinical practice experience.
College Supervisor
- Conducts final observation of teacher candidate.
- Conferences with teacher candidate and cooperating teacher about final evaluation.
- Is readily available (via email, phone, or in person) for advice, ideas, suggestions, and support.
- Completes final Evaluation Rubric (Summative Evaluation) online.
- Continues to read weekly journal entries and provide feedback.
Week 16: Phase-out for First Placement
(This should not occur until the last week.)
Teacher Candidate
- Return all resources to the cooperating teacher. Teacher candidate can still provide assistance and co-teaching of lessons is still encouraged. However, the goal for the final week is to help the students to transition back to having the cooperating teacher be the primary instructor after the week ends.
- Return all materials, resources, and school property that was borrowed.
- Observe other grade levels and specialists as interested.
- Complete their journal entries to the college supervisor.
Cooperating Teacher
- If cooperating teacher is comfortable doing so, writes a letter of recommendation for teacher candidate’s file. This is completely up to the discretion of the cooperating teacher.
- Takes over the responsibility for planning and teaching.
- Helps to have an appropriate “send-off” for the teacher candidate for the students to say, “Thank you” and “Goodbye.”
College Supervisor
- If college supervisor is comfortable doing so, writes a letter of recommendation for teacher candidate’s file. This is completely up to the discretion of the college supervisor.