Overview & Expectations

All teacher preparation programs must have field experiences that provide candidates with a variety of progressive experiences in multiple and diverse settings. All candidates must complete a minimum of 100 hours of field experiences prior to student teaching (CCU internship) at the initial undergraduate level. At the initial graduate level, all candidates must complete a minimum of 75 hours of field experiences prior to student teaching (CCU internship). The internship experience must provide for intensive and continuous involvement in a public school setting.

In initial preparation programs, the internship experience must be an equivalent of a minimum of 12 weeks or 60 full days. Candidates are required to complete 35 days of full-time teaching in a classroom.

Prior to all field experiences, appropriate backgrounds checks, including SLED clearance, must be completed. Prior to the internship, appropriate background checks, including fingerprint submissions to the South Carolina Department of Education, must be completed and cleared.

All candidates must be informed, in writing, of the standards of conduct (based on S.C. code Ann 59-25-160, 59-25-530, and 20-7-945) required of South Carolina educators for initial certification.

All candidates must meet admissions requirements for admission to the Professional Program in Teacher Education, admission to the internship, and pass required external exams (Praxis I and Praxis II - all required tests) prior to participating in the internship. For successful completion of the internship, candidates must pass the PLT (Principles of Learning and Teaching) Exam.

One or more cooperating teachers in the public school must supervise each candidate. A college faculty member who has preparation in Teacher Education and in the content area must supervise each candidate. All professional education faculty supervisors must be trained in clinical supervision and in the ADEPT system.

The public schools and the college share and integrate resources and expertise to support the candidate's learning during field experiences. College and school-based faculty will work together to design, implement, and evaluate both the program and the field experience assignments. This team will determine the candidate's placement for field experiences and will evaluate the candidate's performance.

Multiple assessments will be utilized to evaluate and reflect upon candidate performance and practice. Feedback on individual performance will be given to candidates, and any areas of needed improvement will be addressed.

PURPOSE OF FIELD EXPERIENCES

Field Experiences allow candidates to apply and reflect on content, both professional and pedagogical knowledge, as well as provide the opportunity to observe skills and dispositions in practice through a variety of settings that include students and adults. Field Experiences extend the college's conceptual framework into practice through modeling by cooperating teachers. It also provides well-designed opportunities to "learn through doing" in a variety of settings appropriate to the content and level for individual programs.

During Field Experiences candidates will:

• observe teachers, students, the school environment, and best practices in action;
• be observed by others and receive constructive feedback;
• interact with teachers, college/university supervisors, and other interns about their practice;
• be integrated into the routine school program;
• have the opportunity to reflect upon and justify their own practice;
• be members of instructional teams in the school and be active participants in professional decision making;
• have the opportunity to be involved in a variety of school-based activities directed at the improvement of teaching and learning; and
• collect data on student learning, analyze data, reflect upon their work, and develop strategies for improving learning.

Well-designed and sequenced field experiences help candidates to develop the competence necessary to meet our profession's expectations for successful beginning teachers.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

The conceptual model of all teacher preparation programs in the Spadoni College of Education is The Teacher as Reflective Practitioner. Programs are directed, through this model, toward the development of knowledge, skills, and dispositions that will ensure that all candidates are highly qualified and meet all university, state, and national expectations for beginning teachers at the completion of their respective programs of study.

 

EXPECTATIONS:

(1) ATTENDANCE

Attendance is expected on all designated field experience days. Unexcused absences may result in removal from field experiences and/or a grade of "U" or "F".

• Candidates must contact the front desk of school sites when an emergency arises that causes the student to be unable to attend the scheduled visit.
• Candidates must also ask for the teacher's voice mail to leave the message for the teacher.
• Candidates must contact the course instructor/university supervisor of the absence within eight hours of the scheduled visit.
• Candidates must arrange for a make-up with the course instructor/university supervisor in conjunction with the classroom teacher, at the classroom teacher's convenience.

(2) APPEARANCE AND PROFESSIONAL DECORUM

• Candidates should check school district and individual school policies, regarding teacher dress code, prior to beginning field experience.
• Candidates should dress as professional visitors and teachers-in-training on all field experience days. Candidates should never wear blue jeans, T-shirts, revealing clothing, clothes that reveal tattoos, or jewelry for piercings (except earrings).
• If more than one teacher candidate is in a classroom, candidates should avoid interacting/talking among themselves. Interacting/talking among candidates is distracting to students and teachers.
• Candidates should sit in separate areas of the classroom. Sitting apart from other field experience students will enable separate observations and personal reflections.
• Candidates should wait to share comments after leaving a school site.
• Candidates should use soft voices and act in a distinguished manner in hallways

(3) COMMUNICATION PROTOCOL

The professional chain of command protocol applies to all communication related to field experiences.

Communicate issues of concern or problems immediately to the appropriate person.

• Interns should direct questions and concerns to the Cooperating Teacher and/or the University Supervisor.
• Cooperating Teachers should address questions to the University Supervisor.
• Cooperating Teachers should address concerns to the University Supervisor after discussing the issue with the intern.
• University Supervisors should address concerns to the Program Chairperson or the Field Placement Director.

In all cases, if the immediate step has been exhausted without satisfactory results, or if the problem is egregious, the Program Chairperson should be advised and/or consulted immediately.

For the interns or cooperating teachers to circumvent the communication chain of command and discuss concerns or problems with other college students/interns, other teachers at the school, or other college faculty or staff is inappropriate. For cooperating teachers to keep their school principals (or their designee) apprised of field experience issues is understood.

(4) TRANSPORTATION AND SAFETY

Providing his or her own transportation to and from field experiences is the responsibility of the intern/ CCU candidate. The candidate is also responsible for carrying all automobile, health, and personal injury insurance to cover any personal needs or liabilities related to participation in the field experiences. Coastal Carolina University and the Spadoni College of Education do not assume any responsibility or liability for expenses related to participation in field experiences.

On occasion, CCU candidates may participate in short group field experiences where the University provides transportation. On these occasions, candidates are required to use the provided transportation unless they notify, in advance, the university faculty of an alternate transportation form for that specific field experience.

Interns should contact the Director of Field Placement if there is a problem with transportation.

(5) PUNCTUALITY

It is professionally responsible to arrive to class and field experiences prior to the announced start time. Punctuality, for all field experiences, is expected from all CCU students. Repeated tardiness will result in a grade of "U" or "F" and/or removal from the field experience.

(6) ETHICS FOR EDUCATORS

Candidates are expected to demonstrate full adherence to the letter and the spirit of all policies and expectations of the Coastal Carolina University Catalog, South Carolina Department of Education Standards for Professional Educators, and local school district policies' manual.

(7) LEGAL AND CONFIDENTIALITY ISSUES

The records, classroom interactions, personal and family information, behaviors, and performance of individual public school students are considered confidential and are protected against disclosure and/or discussion with anyone except the student, the student's parents or legal guardians, and the teachers and staff directly engaged in the instruction and supervision of the student. In all cases, teacher education candidates and interns must observe this confidentially protocol. The demonstration of "preserving confidentiality of student/school information" is one of the nine dispositions for the Spadoni College of Education. In cases where there is doubt concerning the confidentiality of an issue, candidates should defer to the judgment of someone in a position of authority and always err on the side of caution and silence.

(8) TERMINATION OF FIELD EXPERIENCES / INTERNSHIPS

The responsibility for terminating a candidate's participation in a field experience lies solely with the Dean of Education upon consultation with the program chair, Director of Field Placement, and the public school designee.