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7
15 total credits
15 total credits
Block 4 “Refining”
Literacy Instruction: Indiv Small Group
Transition and Case Management
Science Instruction for Elem/Special Ed
Behavior Management
“Refining” Practicum/Seminar
15 total credits
Block 5 “Applying”
Internship in Elementary/Special Ed
(student teaching)
16 total credits
Development of Field Experiences
The following guiding principles were followed in the design of practicum courses.
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Students become teachers through a process that becomes more intense over time
(Hammerness, Darling-Hammond, Grossman, Rust, & Shulman, 2005).
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Students need to work in a variety of classrooms at a variety of grade levels (Wilson,
Folden, & Ferrini-Mundy, 2002).
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Students should learn from many highly qualified teachers (Billingsley, Carlson & Klein,
2004).
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Students should teach and over the course of an entire program learn all aspects of the
teaching profession (Billingsley, Carlson & Klein, 2004).
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Structured observation and feedback are essential to student success (Fayne, 2007).
Pre-service teachers completed a three-credit practicum for Blocks II, III, and IV. Assignments
were determined by faculty teaching the courses in the block. This assured the link between what
was learned in courses and what was expected in field experience. Further, pre-service teachers
experienced the demands of full day instruction and were required to teach multiple lessons in a
variety of content areas. This approach was different than field experiences that target content areas
in isolation. Pre-service teachers were placed in schools for one full day per week or two mornings
per week.
Research Problem
While there is clear support for clinical experiences for pre-service teachers, there remains
no clear-cut guidelines on the length, structure, or type of field experiences pre-service teachers
need to be highly effective teachers. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of
consistent observation with feedback by trained supervisors on the teaching performance of pre-
service teachers in their field experiences prior to student teaching. The following research
questions were examined for this study: (1) Given consistent observation and feedback, do pre-
service teachers improve their teaching practices over the three semesters of their field experience?
(2) Is there a difference in the observed teaching performance for high, mid-level, and lower
achieving pre-service teachers?