Student Teaching

Roles and Responsibilities Handbook

Teacher Preparation Program

for Student Teachers, Cooperating Teachers, and University Supervisors

2017-18

College of Education Mission

The College of Education is a transformative leader in systemically improving education, beginning at birth.Our mission is to engage our students in high quality applied research, professional learning, and immersive experiences. We prepare culturally competent scholar practitioners who promote the growth, education, and development of all individuals, with emphasis on underperforming schools and underserved communities across the state and nation.

The Collaborative University School Partnership

Field and clinical experiences are the cornerstone of teacher preparation. The relationship and communication between Clemson’s supervisor, the program faculty, and the Office of Field & Clinical Partnerships & Outreach and our partner schools, the cooperating teacher, principal and school staff is key to the growth and development of student teachers for their important role as future educators. Our Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with partner school districts outlines the high quality criteria for schools, university supervisors and cooperating teachers and expectations for this successful partnership.

Organization of Student Teaching

The final clinical experience for the candidate is full-time student teaching under the guidance of a cooperating teacher and a university supervisor in a public school for a minimum of 14 to 16 weeks (64 - 72 days). Student teachers are to adhere to the calendar of the individual school and school district not the University holiday schedule. During student teaching, candidates must follow the daily schedule of the cooperating teachers (e.g., bus duty, faculty meetings, parent conferences, extracurricular activities, in-service activities, rehearsals).

Assignments of candidates are not to include activities or duties for which a cooperating teacher receives an additional stipend. Student teaching ends on the last day of final examinations, usually the last week of April or first week of May. Seminars are scheduled by the Office of Field & Clinical Partnerships & Outreachon announced dates at the beginning of the semester. Seminars are also conducted by each academic program in capstoneother courses taken as co-requisites.

Student teachers should be gradually phased into assuming classroom responsibility through four phases: Orientation (1-2 weeks), Assuming Partial Responsibility (4-8 weeks), Assuming Full Responsibility (2-5 weeks; a minimum of 10 consuecutivedays isrequired by the State), Transfer of Responsibility Back to Cooperating Teacher (1-2 weeks).

A student teacher is not allowed to substitute for the cooperating teacher. Exceptions can be made only in emergency situations.

Responsibilities of the Student Teacher

The student teacher is expected to:

  • becomefamiliar with the school and community assigned for student teaching and visit the school and district websites to build background knowledge.
  • become familiar with and follow the school policies and regulations. The school determines all aspects of the educational programs and policies within the school.
  • attend all meetings and activities that the cooperating teacher is expected to attend. The only exceptions are when the activity is not part of the cooperating teacher’s regular contract or when required University student teaching capstone or other seminars are scheduled.
  • review the school district calendar.
  • establish a regularly scheduled time with the cooperating teacher to collaborate on planning, assessment, and other classroom related items. Student teachers should welcome and ask for assistance, advice, feedback, coaching, and constructivecriticism and act on the suggestions appropriately. Specifically, student teachers should:
  • collaborate with the cooperating teacher to plan student teacher professionalism goals.
  • ask cooperating teacher for student academic performance data for planning lessons and unit assessment for impact on student learning.
  • request current student information on IEP/504 plans and ask for opportunities to attend IEP/504 planning meetings.
  • observe and/or participate in conferences with parents when the cooperating teacher considers it appropriate.
  • Note any other requirements in the student teaching syllabus or capstone course.

Code of Conduct/ Professionalism

Student teachers must conduct themselves in a manner consistent with professional, moral and ethical standards including the College of Education code of conduct, the SC ADEPT teaching standards (including ADEPT 10-Professionalism), and the SC Code of Conduct for South Carolina teachers

College of Education Code of Conduct

  • Candidates are to conduct themselves as professionals in accordance with expectations for faculty members in the school.
  • Candidates will maintain a professional appearance and dress according to the standards for faculty members of the school. It is the candidate’s responsibility to know these standards.
  • Candidates will arrive to school on time and check in at the main office.
  • If a candidate must be late or absent, the candidate must call the school 24 hours in advance or as soon as possible in an emergency. The cooperating teacher and university supervisor must also be contacted immediately.
  • The candidate is allowed 3 absences during student teaching. These should be reserved for professional development/interviewing or illness. Any absences in addition to the 3 authorized absences must be made up to ensure successful completion of student teaching and should be authorized by the university supervisor.
  • Student teachers should refrain from contact with their students outside of the classroom. This includes communication through electronic sources other than school email for the purposes of relaying school assignments and answering students’ academic questions. For example, communicating about ANY student teaching related topic with students, cooperating teachers, university supervisors or other student teachers through a medium such as Facebook is considered inappropriate contact. Posting photos of students in any way is not allowed without school permission.
  • Student teachers should not become personally involved, romantically or socially, with any student, teacher or administrator in their assigned school or in any school connected with Clemson University.
  • Student teachers will work with confidential information including student grades, student health records, academic records, Individualized Education Plans (IEP), family histories, and more. Candidates are held to the same legal and professional standards as full-time teachers with regard to confidential information. In accordance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), candidates must refrain from discussing information related to the students with whom they are working. Questions about confidentiality policies should be directed to the cooperating teacher and/or university supervisor.
  • Student teachers are expected to place school duties ahead of personal concerns and accept responsibilities that are a necessary part of the profession.
  • Student teachers are expected to avoid unfavorable criticism of the participating school, teachers, and the community.

Transportation

Student teachers should assume the responsibility for arranging their own transportation to and from the assigned school.

Liability

Tort liability/litigation is a concern for anyone working in a public school classroom. For this reason students preparing to become teachers are highly encouraged to have some type of liability insurance. Such insurance is available through professional organizations whose membership carries liability coverage, such as: Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), the South Carolina Education Association (SCEA), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), and the Palmetto State Teacher Association (PSTA).

Outside Employment

It is strongly recommended that students avoid employment during the student teaching experience. Time outside of the classroom should be devoted to fulfilling student teaching requirements.

Student Teaching Assignments

The student teacher is required to complete key assignments which provide an intentional experience for the growth and development of the inservice classroom teacher. The assignments require planning, implementation and reflection. These include:

14-16 Week Plan

Professionalism/Dispositions Goals (MAT Middle Level only)

Long Range Planning Fulfilling Professional Responsibilities(all programs

except MAT Middle Level)

Unit Plan

Lesson Plans

Video Lesson(if required)

Midterm Self Assessment

Portfolio/ADEPT Inventory (if required)

Final Self Assessment

Other program specific assignments & evaluations

Assignment descriptions and details as well as student teacher, cooperating teacher and university supervisor evaluation/reflection forms for each program can be found on the College of Education website page.

Program specific calendars with suggested dates for assignments, evaluations, and other key dates can be found on this website.

For undergraduate students, Praxis II tests must be taken and scores must be sent from Educational Testing Services (ETS) to Clemson and be onfile to receive a grade for student teaching. For all programs scores will only be accepted from ETS to Clemson. Final assignments include completion of the Teacher Education Program Exit Survey and theStudent Evaluation of the Cooperating Teacher, University Supervisor Surveyfrom links provided by the Office of Field & Clinical Experiences and Certification at the end of the semester.

Standards for Teaching

South Carolina’s ExapndedADEPT Performance Standards for Classroom-Based Teachers are a set of expectations for what teaching professionals should know, be able to do, and assume responsibility for accomplishing on an ongoing basis.

These standards include:

APS 1 Long-Range Planning

APS 2 Short-Range Planning of Instruction

APS 3 Planning Assessments and Using Data

APS 4 Establishing and Maintaining High Expectations for Learners

APS 5 Using Instructional Strategies to Facilitate Learning

APS 6 Providing Content for Learners

APS 7 Monitoring, Assessing, and Enhancing Learning

APS 8 Maintaining an Environment That Promotes Learning

APS 9 Managing the Classroom

APS 10 Fulfilling Professional Responsibilities

South Carolina’s Expanded ADEPT Performance Standards are directly aligned to the South Carolina Teaching Standards rubric that is used to evaluate student teacher growth. For more detailed information, see the ADEPT Performance Standards/South Carolina Teaching Standards Crosswalk.

SC Teaching Standards Rubric Domain / ADEPT Performance Standards
Planning / APS 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Instruction / APS 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Environment / APS 1, 2, 4, 8, 9
Professionalism / APS 10

College of Education candidates are evaluated on proficiency of ExapndedADEPT standards in student teaching by the cooperating teacher, university supervisor and in some instances, the co-requisite capstone course instructor.

Candidates will also be evaluated in student teaching on content-specific specialized professional association standards such as the NAEYC (early childhood), ACEI (elementary), NCTM (secondary mathematics), NCTE (secondary English), NCSS (secondary social studies), NSTA (secondary science), AMLE (middle level), or CEC (special education) standards. In addition, programs may also have other program-specific assignments and evaluations in student teaching as co-requisite capstone or methods courses.

Mentorship

The University Supervisor (US) and the Cooperating Teacher (CT) serve as mentors for the student teacher. They each have specific roles during the student teaching semester but they collaborate to assure the candidate receives support and feedback throughout the assignments and the takeover responsibilities.

The US serves as a liaison between Clemson University and the partner school. The role of the US is to:

  • become familiar with the school and community assigned to the student teacher and visit the school and district websites to build background knowledge.
  • attend training sessions required by the University.
  • have an orientation meeting with student teacher and CT.
  • assist the ST and CT with the assignments required on the College of Education web site.
  • review the 14-16 week plan the ST has established with the CT.
  • establish a general observation schedule with the ST for the semester.
  • review and evaluate the Long Range Plan (LRP) if a Longe Range Plan is required.
  • review and evaluate the Unit Plan (unit work sample) developed by the ST.
  • observe and evaluate a minimum of four lessons taught in the classroom by the ST (three formative lesson observations and one summative lesson observation).
  • complete a consensus midterm evaluation and conference involving the US, ST, CT.
  • complete a final summary evaluation and conference involving the US, ST, CT.
  • complete any program specialized program area (SPA) evaluations as needed.
  • maintain an open line of communication with the ST and CT (via email, phone, and/or site visits).
  • Enter scores for selected evaluations in Chalk & Wire.
  • communicate any concerns with the Office of Field & Clinical Partnerships & Outreach at Clemson University.
  • evaluate the final portfolio if required by program.
  • submit final ST grade to Mr. Bill Millar in the Office of Field & Clinical Experiences and Certification(with the exception of the Middle Level program).

The Cooperating Teacher is the primary mentor and role model for the student teacher during the semester. The role of the CT is to:

  • communicate with the US throughout the semester via email, phone, and/or during site visits about the progress of the ST.
  • establish a 14-16 week plan with the ST.
  • assist the ST with the assignments required on the College of Education web site.
  • guide the ST in lesson planning, gradually reducing assistance as the ST assumes responsibility.
  • mentor the ST in classroom responsibilities and strategies throughout the semester (classroom management, lesson development, content delivery, transitions, family involvement, etc…).
  • communicate any concerns with the US, program area faculty, and with the Office of Field & Clinical Partnerships & Outreach at Clemson University.
  • observe and evaluate a minimum of threelessons taught in the classroom by the ST (two formative lesson observations and one summative lesson observation).
  • complete a consensus midterm evaluation and conference involving the US, ST, CT.
  • complete a final summary evaluation and conference involving the US, ST, CT.

Dismissal from Student Teaching

It is expected that student teachers will show steady progress in planning, instruction, environment and, professionalism domains; failure to do so can result in dismissal from student teaching. Student teachers can be dismissed from student teaching at the request of the University Supervisor, the Classroom Teacher, the Cooperating School, the Cooperating School District, College of Education faculty and/or the Office of Field & Clinical Partnerships & Outreach for violations of the Roles and Responsibilities Handbook, syllabus requirements, College of Education Policy for Field and Clinical Experiences, and other program-specific policy. Removal from student teaching will result in the failure of the student teaching course.

If at any point there is concern about the student teacher’s performance in the classroom, he/she may be placed under a contract with an outline of the specific expectations for improvement in order to continue in the assigned student teaching placement. Failure to meet the contract expectations will result indismissal from student teaching.

Contact Information

For more information about roles and responsibilities please contact Clemson University’s Office of Field & Clinical Partnerships & Outreach at (864) 656-5115 or (864) 656-7692.