UNSATISFACTORY PERFORMANCE
The College of Education is
responsible for assuring that our graduates are thoroughly prepared as
beginning practitioners. During student teaching the following three
areas need to be emphasized:
(A) continuing accumulation of knowledge
(B) ongoing refinement of skills, and
(C) development of professional attitudes
University supervisors will be emphasizing all three areas but will be
in a position to observe primarily the development of skills in planning
and teaching lessons. We are requesting that cooperating professionals
help us by giving regular feedback to students in all three categories.
The most important area to be emphasized is professional attitude.
No training program can provide a student with all the knowledge and skills
needed for a particular role. However, an individual who has a positive
attitude, and is committed and willing to continue to learn and grow has
the potential for success as a professional. We want our teacher
interns to learn more than how to teach. We want them to know
how to function as a professional.
If a teacher intern is doing unsatisfactory work at any point during
student teaching and fails to improve after intensive work by the mentor
teacher, he/she faces the prospect of not passing student teaching.
It is important to distinguish between the natural learning
process and true ineffectiveness of a teacher intern. If it is
determined that the teacher intern is ineffective, he/she must be provided
with specific feedback regarding their unsatisfactory performance.
If there are concerns the university supervisor needs to be contacted immediately.
The following are suggestions of ways to deal more effectively with
a teacher intern who is not progressing:
-
Identify the problem(s) and conduct a discussion with the teacher intern
and university supervisor in a three way conference.
-
Identify areas for growth, and create an action plan to remedy the problem.
-
Revise the take over schedule if necessary to accommodate the situation.
It may be helpful to reduce the teaching load so that the teacher intern
can focus on his/her problem areas.
-
Arrange for the teacher intern to observe you teaching a lesson
to a small group, and then have the teacher intern teach the same lesson
to another small group (micro-teaching).
-
Be sure that the teacher intern understands the performance expectations
of the student teaching internship
-
Increase observations of teacher intern and provide continuous written
and verbal feedback that includes specific examples for change.
-
Provide many opportunities for the teacher intern to reflect on the
instruction and assess their own performance. Use audio and video
taping.
-
Identify the teacher intern's strengths, and have him/her work in these
areas to enhance the possibility of success.
-
Keep accurate records of specific instances of difficulties, and discuss
with teacher intern.
-
Arrange for the principal or another teacher to observe the teacher intern,
and provide feedback.
If it appears that a teacher intern is headed toward an unsatisfactory
grade, it is crucial that you do the following:
-
Keep the university supervisor involved in the ongoing documentation and
monitoring of the teacher intern's performance.
-
Collect data that is relevant.
-
keep a log of dates, times, and places that are relevant to the situation
-
copies of feedback from observations
-
summarize conferences, formal and informal
-
notes from telephone calls
-
explanations of specific incidents
-
written feedback signed by the teacher intern
-
written feedback from other professional staff
-
any other documents that you deem appropriate
At some point during this time, a decision will need to be made regarding
the teacher intern's continuation of this experience. The decision will be made collaboratively by the mentor teacher, university supervisor, faculty liaison, faculty advisor and/or the chairperson of the teacher education program.
-
extend the student teaching experience
-
pass with poor evaluation
-
provide a new placement with a different cooperating teacher (only under
unique and compelling circumstances)
-
repeat the experience (reregister for student teaching in another semester)
-
withdraw from student teaching
-
counsel out of teaching
Additional Important Information
There may be problems or situations that occur during student teaching
that are not due to a deficiency in teaching performance. Such circumstances
as illness, personal crisis, etc., may require an extension of the student
teaching experience. When this occurs, an incomplete contract may
be arranged and an "I" grade assigned until the requirements of the contract
are met. However, the university specifies that certain conditions
be met for the issuance of an incomplete contract. Please refer
to the university catalog and/or The Office of Student Services for additional
information. The supervisor, mentor teacher, and departmental
faculty must all be involved in the decision regarding an incomplete contract. |
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Table of Contents | Introduction
| The Teacher Intern | Planning
For Effective Instruction |
The Mentor Teacher
| The Role of the University Supervisor |
Evaluating the Performance
of the Teacher Intern |
Policies, Procedures and
Professional Ethics
Return to Teacher Education Home Page
Please contact Dorothy McKnight, Placement Coordinator,
for questions or comments about this site.
Last updated on November 25, 2002