Clinical Practice Information for Cooperating Teachers

Welcome! Thank you for your willingness to serve as a cooperating teacher this semester. As educators, we know the significant level of trust it takes to allow a teacher candidate to step into your classroom and work with your students for the semester. The goal is that we can have teacher candidates be seen as an asset to the overall learning environment and a benefit to your students and meeting their education needs. Below are some recommendations for success this semester in meeting these goals.

Overall, the cooperating teacher has three primary responsibilities: to act as a role model, to pass on wisdom of practice, and to encourage the emerging professional to reflect on educational processes. These responsibilities are carried out in many ways but primarily seen as actions done before the teaching experience begins, during the teaching experience, and after the teaching experience has ended.

 

Video for Roles and Responsibilities for Cooperating Teachers - Supporting

 

Video for Roles and Responsibilities for Coooperating Teachers - Preparing

 

Video for Roles and Responsiblities for Cooperating Teachers - Q&A

 

Before You Meet

• Please read all sections of the WSC Clinical Practice Handbook
• Review your teacher candidate’s profile information (dealing with his/her background and college preparation), so that you can be better acquainted with your teacher candidate.
• Post the teacher candidate’s name along with your name in the classroom.
• Provide a desk or designated work area for the teacher candidate with supplies and copies of necessary materials and textbooks.
• Communicate to all families to let them know you will have a teacher candidate
• Arrange to meet with your teacher candidate before the official start of the experience. During this meeting you will be discussing many items on this list.

The First Meeting

• Review all essential safety and emergency procedures.
• Make available a daily schedule which includes, for example, Title I, speech and resource room schedules, specials, etc.
• Provide the teacher candidate with curriculum guides, school calendar, handbooks, policies, necessary teaching manuals, and any available professional materials from your school. Discuss what has already been taught and what needs to be taught for students to be successful.
• Communicate to the teacher candidate the school policy on student discipline; also include your guidelines/management plan for your classroom.
• Explain record keeping, grading, attendance, and classroom management procedures (seating chart, discipline.)
• Introduce the teacher candidate to other staff members and students.
• Assist the teacher candidate with locating the media center and operating audio-visual equipment (including email and Internet if available to teacher candidates.)
• Inform the teacher candidate of professional organizations/meetings that they may want to join.
• Acquaint the teacher candidate with budget and ordering procedures.
• Inform the teacher candidate of individual needs of students, and discuss ways the teacher candidate can establish rapport with students.

Discuss your vision for the teacher candidate’s role in the classroom and various duties, responsibilities, and classes that will be taught. Begin to work on the timeline activity.

Rules Regarding Lesson Planning

• All lesson plans during the initial weeks should be carefully written out and detailed using the template used by the school district or one of the candidate’s choosing (with cooperating teacher approval). A teacher candidate simply MUST plan in more detail than a veteran teacher.
• If the teacher candidate is using the cooperating teacher’s plans or is required to use a scripted curriculum lesson, then it is not necessary to write a plan for those lessons; that work has already been done.
• The cooperating teacher will review all written plans and he/she will assess the teacher candidate’s overall level of competency in planning for instruction. The cooperating teacher will then use his/her professional judgment to determine when the teacher candidate is ready for more autonomy in planning for any given subject. Autonomy means the teacher candidate can choose his/her own format/template for lesson planning. However, it is the expectation of faculty at Wayne State that evidence of adequate planning remains a priority throughout the Clinical Practice semester.
• At no point in the semester should the teacher candidate be allowed to stop writing plans altogether, but he/she may be allowed to shift to a less detailed and less time-consuming format. Note: Throughout the semester, planning must always meet whatever requirements have been established by the building administrator for all teachers in the building
• When the college supervisor comes to observe, there should always be a detailed plan prepared for the college supervisor when he/she comes to observe – even after the teacher candidate shifts to a less-detailed format most of the time.