Components of the Student Teaching Experience
1. Reflective Journal (as requested by program , cooperating teacher and/or university supervisor)
- To encourage active rather than passive observation
- To ensure observation of teaching techniques and strategies, behavior of students, individual differences of students, routine procedures, and others for future reference
- To analyze the instructional choices based on knowledge of students, school context, curriculum, pedagogy, as well as other factors.
- To encourage the recording of suggestions and remarks of cooperating teachers and university supervisors
- To encourage active self-evaluation of teaching strategies and techniques
2. Daily/Cumulative Time Records
Explanation of Time Records
Each teacher candidate may be required to keep accurate time records during student teaching. This will allow the university supervisor to regularly access the number of hours the teacher candidate has taught as well as other activities related to teaching in which the teacher candidate has been engaged. Approximately 7-8 hours per day should be accumulated for 16 weeks based on the student teaching placement. Submit the completed forms to your university supervisor at the end of the student teaching assignment or as requested.
Preparation Time Outside Normal School Day
The teacher candidate is responsible for accumulating and tracking/recording preparation hours outside the normal school day.
Total Contact Hours
The Daily/Cumulative Time Records are a recap of the hours the teacher candidate spends in the following categories:
A. Actual Teaching
Record the number of hours each week during which you are the primary instructor, co-teaching, assisting the primary instructor, or assisting with a small group or individual student. Round the time to the nearest half hour for each week.
Actual teaching implies that the teacher candidate assumes a major share of the tasks involved in conducting instructional activities. The teacher candidate will continually add to the teaching hours; therefore, the amount of time spent in observation and participation will gradually diminish. The teaching experiences of the teacher candidate should be carefully planned, beginning with observation and culminating with actual teaching as the major responsibility
Co-teaching is defined as two teachers working together with groups of students and sharing the planning, organization, delivery and assessment of instruction and physical space (Bacharach, Heck & Dank, 2004). The cooperating teacher and teacher candidate are both actively involved and engaged in all aspects of curriculum, instruction, assessment, and all other assigned duties. Co-teaching instruction may be counted toward teaching hours as determined by the student’s program. Some of Missouri State University’s placement districts have adopted the co-teaching model.
B. Activities Related to Teaching
Record the number of hours spent in observation, planning, grading, and reflection each week (rounded to the nearest half hour). This refers to time actually spent in the classroom, or other classrooms, while a class is in session, even when you are not the primary instructor. Also, record any time spent in other related activities which might include the following: assemblies, case studies, community study conferences, corridor control, disciplinary problems, extracurricular activities, fire drills, guidance, home room, home visitations, participation in school-community affairs, staff meetings, study hall supervision, cafeteria/recess duty, bus duty, professional development, Professional Learning Communities, parent-teacher conferences, and preparation during the normal school day. This record should be readily available to the university supervisor.
Note: Coaching interscholastic sports/activities is not included as an activity related to teaching.
The gradual transition is from active observation to active involvement to actual teaching. The transition between and through the phases is to be determined by the cooperating teacher and the university supervisor. Teacher candidates are expected to be fully engaged in one or more of these phases throughout the entire placement.
3. Lesson Plans
During the student teaching experience, lesson plans are to be prepared for every lesson taught according to the guidelines and format of the teacher candidate’s program. Plans are to be submitted to the cooperating teacher for review before the lesson is taught. All lesson plans are to be submitted to the university supervisor upon each visit or at a time established by the university supervisor or program.
Lesson plans are necessary for teacher candidates to demonstrate competencies and reflective decision making of lesson delivery. Formal lesson plans make excellent artifacts, as they exemplify a broad array of the Missouri Teacher Standards (MTS) competencies, and should be readily available to the university supervisor at each visit.
4. Evaluations
Weekly evaluations will be completed by the cooperating teacher, and formative and summative evaluations will be completed by the university supervisor and the cooperating teacher. The evaluations will provide the university supervisor with a point of reference and succinct knowledge of progress for conference purposes.