Student Teaching - Professional Field Experiences

About student teaching

Student Teaching is the capstone field experience of the ASU student's professional preparation for a teaching career. It is a full-time apprenticeship as an ASU student that encourages and supports pre-service teachers as they grow and evolve developmentally to become competent and qualified professionals. This means that a student teacher will be required to register for full-time status at ASU and to be in the field for a minimum of 15 weeks, 5 days a week, all day. Student teachers work one-to-one with a veteran teacher who will serve as a mentor. Student teachers will also be assigned to a university supervisor who will observe instruction and provide specific staff development seminars to meet the changing needs of the student teaching semester.

Qualifications to student teach

Student teachers are ready to student teach after all professional coursework is completed. A student should attend the Planning to Student Teach meeting the semester before planning to student teach. At this meeting, students will complete the Application to Student Teach form which begins the formal process of screening for eligibility to enter the student teaching semester. To be eligible to student teach, a student must have:

  • a minimum 2.5 GPA
  • no grades of I, E or D in program coursework
  • positive evaluations in all field placements
  • completed appropriate ASU coursework and receive final approval from the Professional Field Experiences office

During the application process,a student can recommend a veteran teacher who will be willing to serve as their mentor. Because the mentor is critical to the success of a student teacher, the mentor needs to have completed, or be willing to complete, the Assessment and Supervision of Instruction (ASI) Course prior to serving as a mentor. In addition to excellent teaching techniques and content knowledge, a mentor needs exceptional interpersonal skills, and be willing to take time to coach throughout the student teaching semester.

Placement

Student teachers are encouraged to choose their placements carefully and select a school environment that reflects their personal philosophy of education and provides excellent modeling and careful coaching.

Mentor teachers

Mentor teachers play a significant role in a teacher preparation program. The primary task of the mentor teacher is to assist the student teacher in understanding and assuming the role of the classroom teacher. Visit the mentor teacher webpage for complete information.

University supervision

The University Supervisor provides support to both mentor and student teacher. The University Supervisor is always available to the mentor via telephone should questions or concerns emerge during the semester. During the semester the University Supervisor visits/observes each student teacher a minimum of five times. After each observation the University Supervisor offers feedback and instructional guidance. The University Supervisor also conducts three professional seminars during the semester. The University Supervisor is also required to have weekly E-mails from their student teacher.

Textbooks

Student teachers are required to purchase the following textbook:

  • Goethals, Howard and Sanders. Student Teaching; a process approach to Reflection Practice, Third Edition.

Mandatory pre-service professional days

Student teachers are required to attend professional conferences/ workshops offered by the Office of Professional Field Experiences. One of the professional days is a half-day orientation to apprise student teachers of requirements and information critical to their success. Orientation is held prior to the student teaching semester. Another full-day conference is held during the spring semester to provide critical information on topics that prepare pre-service teachers for employment. Specific topics include panel discussions by local administrators, guidance on completing applications, writing a philosophy of education statement, interviewing tips, portfolio development, and education career fair. A half-day conference, held the last day of the student teaching semester, provides closure to the student teaching experience. This professional conference includes a motivational keynote speaker, outstanding student teacher awards ceremony and checkout procedures.

Professional seminars

Student teachers are required to attend a minimum of three PFE Saturday seminars in addition to the two university supervisor seminars.

PFE Seminars include an array of relevant topics developed to support and expand the professional development of the student teacher. Student teachers can choose to attend any number of seminars, but must select at least three from the following (topics may vary each semester):

  • Interactive Teacher - Offers ways to be a dynamic teacher.
  • Communicating with Clarity -Offers proactive communication strategies.
  • Lesson Planning - Offers guided step-by-step process of lesson planning.
  • EEI-Actively Engaging Students - Offers an overview of the Essential Elements of Instruction with an emphasis on active participation by all students.
  • Substitute Teaching - Offers tips, resources and strategies for substitute assignments.
  • Aligning AZ Academic Standards to Curriculum - Offers framework for alignment.
  • Proactive Classroom Management - Offers proactive strategies.
  • Corrective Classroom Management - Offers corrective strategies.
  • Guns, Gangs & Graffiti - Offers awareness and behavior strategies.
  • No Time--Too Much Stress - Offers ways to reduce stress.
  • Survival: Day One - Offers beginning of the year procedures.
  • Communicating with Parents - Offers ways to build/strengthen communication links.
  • Still Writing the Philosophy Statement - Offers guidance on writing statement.
  • Interviewing with the Philosophy Statement - Offers mock interviewing opportunity.

Supervisor Seminars are scheduled and conducted by individual university supervisors for their assigned student teachers to provide highly interactive meetings relevant to the needs and concerns of the group.

Evaluations

Student teachers can be formally assessed by their mentor teachers each week. The mentor teacher will formally evaluate and document progress at the end of each of second, eighth, and fifteenth weeks. The mentor teacher uses the Evaluation Assessments (Initial Behavioral Assessment, Developing Assessement and Final Assessement) to assess progress. The final student teacher evaluation is used for employment purposes and to detail the completion of student teaching. The first 2 evaluations are submitted by the university supervisors to the Professional Field Experiences office. The final evaluation is submitted by the student teacher.

Student teachers who receive poor evaluations or experience difficulty of any type are referred to the director of the Teacher Learning Center (TLC). Each situation is unique and dealt with on an individual basis.

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