200:018 Field Experience

Course Syllabus

Unit II Team:

Nicole Geopfert:

nicole.geopfert@uni.edu

273-3305

Mary Stichter:

mary.stichter@uni.edu

273-2428

Denise Tallakson:

denise.tallakson@uni.edu

273-2540

Before the first day of your experience:

1. Read through your handbook. It can be found at www.uni.edu/stdteach. Click on Field Experiences and then Level II Handbook
2. Prepare a nametag using Ms., Mrs., Miss, or Mr. and your last name to wear during the experience. Our students meet many new faces. This helps them to call you by name and to learn your name.
3. Bring:

1. Your completed student background information sheet (Appendix A of Handbook)

2. Journal

3. OSHA blood-borne pathogens training certificate

4. Mandatory reporter child abuse training certificate

5. Copy of your DCI background check

During your field experience:

1. Keep a daily journal of your experiences in the classroom. This should include:

· Title page that includes your name, times, and dates of your field experience, and instructor’s name.

· Use a separate page for each day, being sure to head each entry with the appropriate date.

· Space following the entry for instructor’s responses.

· General observations about the day or about the curriculum, teaching, etc.

· Specific observations that are noteworthy with regard to a student, the class, curriculum, or teaching.

· Questions that occur to you about the classroom management, students, curriculum, or particular teaching strategies. Try to make connections with what you see happening with the students and the lessons to what you are learning in your education classes at U.N.I.

· Keep your journal a positive collection,

Your journal will be collected each Friday (or the last day of your week.)

2. Plan to implement two jointly planned lessons using the current theme. This usually occurs during the third and/or fourth week of your experience. Use the first 2 – 3 weeks to really get involved with the students and the theme.

3. Prepare parts for a bulletin board and a center outside of the regular hours of your experience that enhance our current theme.

4. If you are ill, you are responsible for notifying our office as soon as possible. Any days that are missed because of illness in-service or inclement weather need to be made up so that the minimum of 20 classroom hours is met.

Welcome to Level 2 Field Experience at Price Lab School!

Did you know:

• We are an early childhood through 12^th grade school
• Our enrollment is approximately 400 students
• About 2/3 of our students live in our neighborhood attendance zone
• About 1/3 of our students open enroll from other area school districts

At Price Lab School:

• We share a philosophy of “Care and Excellence”
• We are a First Amendment School
• Our high school is actively engaged in the R4 initiatives of Rigor, Relevance, Relationships, and Reflection
• Our early childhood program is a model of constructivist theory in action

On Thursday, August 31 at orientation:

• We will meet by the sign with my name and content area/grade level on it
• Sit together in the auditorium
• Meet in our Price Lab classroom to finalize schedules and answer any questions you may have

Don’t forget to bring:

• OSHA blood-borne pathogens training certificate,
• Mandatory reporter child abuse training certificate
• Copy of your DCI background check

Best wishes for a great learning experience!

See you soon!

Week 1/First Quarter

Focus: Contextual Factors

• Physical classroom environment
• Classroom routines
• Curriculum
• Become acquainted with your class and students

All of this information will help you to determine:

• Lesson content
• Teaching strategies and approaches
• Journal entry focus

Due: Contextual Factors section of the Level 2 Teacher Work Sample

You are asked to:

• Identify student characteristics related to

o Gender

o Race/ethnicity

o Interests

o Student skill levels

o Physical characteristics of the classroom

• You may address the student characteristics of

o An entire class,

o Group of students

o Combination of individual, group, or whole class

Be careful to choose characteristics that will have the greatest impact on your lesson so that you are planning for success!

· Discuss the potential implications these characteristics have for instruction for an individual, group, or entire class

On the Level 2 Teacher Work Sample website (http://www.pls.uni.edu/tws/homepage.html) you can find files that will help including:

· “Student Characteristics: bender/race/ethnicity,”

o Research-based strategies for eliminating gender bias

o Strategies for improving minority achievement

o Strategies for teaching students from low socioeconomic backgrounds

o Strategies for teaching SEL students

o Strategies for differentiated instruction for attention deficit students

· “Student Characteristics: student skills,”

o A chart of potential learning difficulties

o Suggested adaptations

· “Physical Aspects of the Classroom,”

o Physical aspects of the classroom

o Three design principles that impact learning

Please hand in or email me a draft of your Contextual Factors by the end of the week

Journal Focus:

Questions and concerns about:

· Students

· Cultural and family backgrounds

· Differentiated instruction

· Learning styles, etc.

See you in class!

Week 2

Focus:

• Learning goals
• Assessment plan
• Lesson plan

Resources for topic identification:

• Rod Library
• Instruction Resources and Technology Services (IRTS lab) in Schindler 2222
• Online resources

Web Sites:

• http://www.daggett.com/rigor.html
• http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/researchskills/dalton.htm
• http://nerds.unl.edu/pages/preser/sec/articles/blooms.html
• http://www.pls.uni.edu/tws/homepage.html

All of this information will help you determine:

• Lesson content
• Targeted standards
• Curriculum and unit ideas
• Journal entry focus

Due: Learning Goal Considerations:

• State in clear and measurable way
• Are learning outcomes not activity descriptors
• 2-4 learning goals
• Require a range in levels of thinking
• Reference to Bloom’s Taxonomy

The L2TWS also asks you to justify how your learning goals are appropriate and challenging. To do this, think about how your learning goals connect:

• Standards
• Curriculum
• Important life skills
• Prior student learning

Week 3

Focus: Assessment Plan

· Formative assessment

o Low-key

o Authentic

o Informal

· Assessment Samples

· Assessment Tools

o Class discussions

o Observations of students’ verbal and nonverbal communication

o Oral questioning

o Rubric evaluations of products or performances

o Traditional approaches

· Quizzes

· Written exercises

Due: Design for Instruction

• http://www.adprima.com/mistakes.htm
• http://edweb.sdsu.edu/Courses/EDTEC470/sections/F02-10/lesson_planning.htm
• http://www.ncpublicschools.org/pbl/SuggestedLessonPlanFormnat.htm
• www.yale.edu/glc/tangledroots/form.pdf
• http://jonathan.mueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/205/madelinehunter.htm

You will need to complete the Design for Instruction sections of the L2TWS and hand it in to me for my comments and feedback before you can teach your lesson.

Week 4

Focus:

• Lesson Implementation
• Instructional decision making
• Analyzing student learning
• Process reflection

Resources:

• L2TWS webpage for:
• Table listing 8 categories
• Approaches to adapting instruction
• Examples of these categories

• http://www.pls.uni.edu/tws/homepage.html

Due:

• Lesson Implementation

• Instructional decision making
• Analyzing student learning
• Process reflection

Post-Lesson

Focus: Analyzing student learning and reflecting on our teaching and learning process.

Analysis of Student Learning:

• Describe and explain student performance related to learning goals
• Write for audience
• Avoid vague statements
• Use observable evidence
• Explicitly address every learning goal
• Include clear evidence
• Describe and compare individual performance of two students

Reflection section: Analyze the relationship between your instruction and student learning in order to improve teaching performance.

Resources:

· Reflection examples found on the L2TWS webpage

Post-Experience

Before we schedule your exit interview:

· Completed Level 2 Teacher Work Sample, including the two lesson plans, analysis of student learning, reflection, and reference pages. Please email this to me within one week of your second lesson.

· All required journal entries (if you were writing a weekly entry this means at lest four entries; if you were writing a shorter daily entry, this means an entry for every day you were here.)

Exit interview:

· Discuss your PLS experience

· Discuss final evaluation

· BEFORE we meet, look over the Level 2 evaluation rubric and self evaluate your performance

o http://www.pls.uni.edu/pls.teacher_ed/

Best wishes to you as you continue in your journey to enter the teaching profession!