Assignments During Student Teaching

 Developing a Professional Teaching Portfolio 
The culminating assignment during student teaching is the development of a professional teaching portfolio.  This portfolio is a purposeful collection of selected materials by and about the teacher intern that represents teaching competency.   It can provide a meaningful cumulative record of teaching performance which may assist in making decisions about successful program completion.  Most teacher interns use their portfolios as an enhancement to the job search process and continue to add to them throughout their teaching career.

In the portfolio process teacher interns assume ownership of and responsibility for selecting, assembling, and reassembling documents and artifacts representing learning over time.  The documents should be products that support growth toward the teaching performance standards as identified in this Handbook.  These documents are assembled in an organized notebook that becomes a come alive resume.  College supervisors and PDS coordinators will mentor and guide teacher interns through the process of portfolio development.
 
 

Supporting Activities and Assignments 
Most college supervisors will require teacher interns to engage in a number of activities that are directly related to the student teaching experience.  Due to the unique nature of specific teacher education programs, the diversity of field placements, and the preferred style of the university supervisor, assignments during student teaching will vary.  Some of these assignments will eventually become part of the teaching portfolio.  It is up to the teacher intern to select those products that best represent his/her performance when organizing a final portfolio.  Whatever the assignment, it should assist the teacher intern in learning how to teach and be appropriate for inclusion in a portfolio.  The following list represents the types of assignments that might be expected during student teaching:
 

Directed observations Reflection Logs/Journal  Bulletin Boards
Lesson Plans Sample I.E.P. Units of Instruction
Reflective analysis Audio tape Video tape 
Action research Assessment Report Case Study
Self evaluations Behavior Support Plan Activity Learning Centers

Attending Seminars

Throughout the student teaching experience teacher interns will be attending seminars which are an integral part of the student teaching semester.  The seminars are arranged by the university supervisor, PDS coordinators, and/or specialty area faculty.  The seminars may focus on topics such as:
 

Multicultural Education  Teaching Strategies  Inclusion 
Classroom Management Assessment Motivation
Portfolio Development Problem Solving/Inquiry  Reflection
Home/School Relations Dimensions of Learning MSPAP
Curriculum Modification 

Once again these seminars are intended to complement the student teaching experience and facilitate an understanding of the process of learning to teach by participating in reflective conversations with other teacher interns.  The number of seminars, dates and meeting times vary among the different programs and field placement arrangements.  This schedule will be made available to the teacher intern and mentor teachers at the onset of student teaching.  It is not uncommon for the seminars to be scheduled during the school day.  If this occurs, teacher interns are to be released from classroom duties during the time allotted for these sessions.
 

Special Education Projects

Undergraduate special education students begin their student teaching semester with a research seminar.  Part of that seminar includes a research topic which will be conducted with their student teaching population.

 This seminar fulfills the Undergraduate Core Capstone Course requirement necessary for graduation. It is taken in conjunction with student teaching and designed to have students develop an understanding of the relevance and importance of educational action research and the issues involved in gaining and reflecting on new knowledge by designing and implementing a capstone project. It offers students the opportunity to apply knowledge and skills gained from prior coursework to a specific area of inquiry and link this to specific student achievement in their classroom. Under the guidance of a faculty advisor, students develop and implement their project during their student teaching internship. Students then present their findings at a poster session open to all students and faculty in the College of Education, as well as invited guests from local school districts.

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The Mentor Teacher | The Role of the University Supervisor |
Evaluating the Performance of the Teacher Intern |
Policies, Procedures and Professional Ethics

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Please contact Dorothy McKnight, Placement Coordinator, for questions or comments about this site.

Last updated on November 25, 2002