Middle Childhood Program Site Experiences
The Middle Childhood Education (MCE) program provides candidates with a system of courses prior to student teaching for observing and participating in classrooms for grades 4-9 with certified and experienced teachers. Candidates first receive field experiences during their sophomore year when they are taking a block (concurrent) of three collaboratively organized courses. Candidates in these courses observe classroom instruction and analyze the role of the classroom teacher in order to be better able to confirm their career decisions to enter the profession. These observations also include observations of teacher as leaders, teachers in team-teaching, and team-planning arrangements, scripting lessons of the experienced teachers to document evidence of Pathwise/Praxis III Domains B (Creating an Environment for Student Learning) and C (Teaching for Student Learning). This course combines on campus study of the role of the teacher and current issues in education with two two-week (half-day) visits to classrooms in the University's service area. One of the two assignments is to a school designated as a culturally diverse setting and the other assignment is to a school not so designated.
Content Field Block
Additional field experience is provided during one semester of the junior year by means of six (6) concurrent courses within the methods block courses, specifically (1), EDP 303- Assessment and Evaluation in Educational Settings (2), EDP 352- Inclusion of Children and Youth with Exceptionalities (3), EDT 311- Junior Field Experience and Praxis (4), EDT 346.M- Reading Instruction in the Middle Childhood, and (5-6) two content-specific methods courses – one for each area of content concentration areas of math, science, social studies, and language arts that the student has selected. During the junior year methods block semester there are two, two-week (full-day) periods in which these classes do not meet and candidates are assigned to work under the supervision of an experienced and certified middle childhood teacher (certified in the content areas in which the student is seeking licensure). One of the two assignments is to a school designated as a culturally diverse setting and the other assignment is to a school not so designated. Each of the supervising classroom teachers is given a packet of assignments from the six course instructors, specifying activities related to the courses, which the candidates are to perform under the supervision of the classroom teacher. These activities involve tasks such as observing instruction, analyzing instructional and assessment activities, assisting the classroom teacher with classroom tasks, teaching lessons planned by the classroom teacher, and instruction planned by the student. Additional supervision is performed by one of the methods block instructors, who also confers with the supervising classroom teacher, and to the extent that time and schedules permit, observes one of the lessons taught by the student. A debriefing session is held during the first class meeting after the candidates return from each two-week field assignment.
Student Teaching
Student teaching is provided by means of EDT 419.M, Middle Childhood Student Teaching (15), a semester-long course consisting of full-time classroom teaching and a weekly seminar. Candidates enroll in EDT 419.M either semester of their senior year. A student may elect to have a single placement for the entire 16-week semester in which they teach both of their subject areas with the same teacher or a team of teachers, or to have a split placement consisting of two back-to-back eight-week assignments: eight weeks in each content concentration area. Split placements may allow the candidate to gain teaching experience at both the lower grades (Grades 4-6) and the upper grades (Grades 7-9) of the middle school levels.
For each placement the student teacher is assigned a cooperating teacher or teachers, who has certification and teaching experience in Grades 4-9 in the candidates content concentration areas and who serves as the student teacher's primary clinical professor (mentor, teacher, and guide). Among other duties, the cooperating teacher confers regularly with the student teacher, the university supervisor, and assists with and requires the planning of lessons and units by the student teacher.
For each placement the student teacher is assigned a university supervisor, who is the university representative and instructor of record, responsible for ensuring the existence of effective interaction between the student teacher and the cooperating teacher, for serving as the student teacher's secondary clinical professor, for conducting the seminars, and for grading the student at the end of the term. All university supervisors have training in Path wise and/or Praxis III, the Educational Testing Service's systems for mentoring and evaluating first and second year teachers, which has been adopted as the system on which the State of Ohio will base licensure application decisions for beginning teachers.
The schedule and topics of the student teaching seminars are determined by the university supervisor. The seminars may or may not have predetermined agenda, since significant seminar discussions arise from the current concerns and interests of the student teachers. The university supervisor may conduct the seminars or he or she may utilize special seminars organized or conducted by the Career Planning and Placement Office or by the Office of Student Teaching. Attendance at these seminars is mandatory.