Cooperating Teachers, thank you so much for hosting a teacher candidate during this first placement! You are investing in the future of education and we deeply appreciate your partnership!
First Placement Schedule: All Day Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays
The first placement begins in August during the teachers' pre-service week before school starts and runs until winter break. Elementary Teacher Candidates will report to your school at the contracted start time for teachers. The Teacher Candidate is required to be in your classroom all day Mondays, Tuesdays until the contracted end time for teachers, and Wednesdays, until 1pm (roughly 21 hours a week). On Thursdays and Fridays the teacher candidate will be in OSU-C Classes.
Part-Time Student Teaching Experience
Your TC will begin his/her part-time student teaching experience before school starts, to get an idea of what it takes to set up your classroom. During student teaching your TC should begin with some observation and then quickly be introduced to teaching or co-teaching small lessons. This gradual release model of professional development works well to scaffold teacher candidates’ growth as an emerging teacher.
Observations and Evaluation
FALL TERM: Part time placement #1
September:
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October:
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November:
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December:
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Policy For Teacher Candidate Absences
Any school day that a TC misses because of an emergency or illness must be reported to you before 7:00 a.m. on the day they will be missing. However, we encourage our students to try to notify you well before 7:00 a.m (example: the night before) if at all possible. The manner of how the Teacher Candidate “reports” the absence to the Cooperating Teacher should be agreed on before the student teaching placement begins. Teacher candidates have a bank of excused absences to draw from for sick leave, emergency leave, or job search leave. These days are not for personal leave. TCs must log all absences and a short reason on the Monthly Log of Hours Calendar (ex: illness, job fair, job interview, family emergency, etc). This leave should not exceed 5 days during the first placement.
Inclement Weather Policy
This is what we have shared with students regarding district closures and delays:
During your placement, there may be times that the school district that you are teaching in is closed for inclement weather. On these days, you will not report to school. If your school is on a two-hour delay, please ask your Cooperating Teacher what time to report to school (often two hours later than normal, but not always). Please record a snow day/ school closure on your log of hours. These hours are not counted as part of your excused absences, as the closure is out of your control.
If you live in an area where the schools are closed due to weather, but you teach in a district where schools are open, you will not report to your school. The closure in your residing school district determines that it is not safe to drive. In this case, please reach out to your CT (Cooperating Teacher) and US (University Supervisor), and record a snow day/ school closure on your log of hours. These hours are not counted as part of your excused absences, as it is out of your control. If your residing school district is on a two-hour delay, please arrive when it is safe (likely two hours later) and reach out to your CT on what time you will to report to school.
The most important thing you can do is to maintain great communication with your CT and US. Giving them as much notice as possible will help them support you!
First Placement Goals
During the first placement, Teacher candidates will work with their Cooperating Teacher by observing them or other teachers, assist/co-teach along with the CT while teaching small groups of students or the whole class, and attending meetings.
Teacher Candidates will:
- Work with Cooperating Teacher to establish introductions with parents/guardians of students in classroom. Observe parent conferences, if possible.
- Keep a Google Log of Hours for each month (submitted monthly to OSU instructor monthly & CT checks off at the end of the placement).
- Work with Cooperating Teacher to prepare classroom environment for students, establish assessment and management plans.
- Attend orientation activities, on-site seminars, and school staff meetings.
- Talk to Cooperating Teacher about special needs students in the classroom. Review student files and attend IEP meetings if possible.
- Talk to Cooperating Teacher about how she/he plans curriculum for the year.
- Establish collaborative relationships with Cooperating Teacher and other colleagues at school site.
- Maintain a standard of professional ethics demonstrated through words and actions, and maintain professional relationships with faculty and staff.
- Engage immediately in regular classroom activities.
- Apply knowledge of lesson plan design to the teaching of lessons in small and large group situations.
- Ask Cooperating Teacher to observe informally while you teach and provide feedback on their teaching. Discuss the format/model for the Formal Observation Process with University Supervisor and Cooperating Teacher well in advance of first Formal Observation.
- Collect a student roster and video release forms.