POINTS OF PRIDE[1]

  • Ongoing self-reflection and assessment of teaching skills (Chris Lincoln – Northampton)
  • Videotape with self-reflection with instructor and group reflection (peer) - student/child interactions (Amy – )
  • Designing a rubric that is aligned with NAEYC standards for 2 year programs – for students to use when videotaping themselves to demonstrate the ability to meet competencies. Videos are uploaded into Build a Better Cookie. ()
  • Practicum attributes checklist agreed upon by all 6 2-year degree programs in Idaho. ()
  • Professional Behavior Checklist (Blue Ridge CC, NC- )
  • Dispositions Rubric and Reference letter ()
  • 24 observations stations in lab school ()
  • Shifting final/capstone project from portfolios (we still do them) to a teacher inquiry project (TIP) using a “ZOOM” model (Mardell, et al, YC) to conduct extended investigation in student teaching setting and presenting a panel at final reception. ()
  • Field experiences include family and community engagement embedded in courses and children’s communities (createarizona.org) – () Field experiences are year long.
  • Using powerful interactions to help students learn to connect with all children. () Also using this approach ()
  • Teacher Research – see ACCESS page for Teacher Research ideas () Students complete a research question in their internship.
  • Expanding practicum sites to include a tribal Head Start which had never been approached.
  • Intro to Special Needs includes a 75 hour practicum in EC SPED classroom with several required learning experience plans () North Central State College, OH
  • Homeless Child Care – includes part of practicum hours and observation requirements
  • Observation assignments have been embedded in all program courses – observing teacher interactions, children, classroom, etc. ()
  • Simulated classroom (set up as infant, toddler or Pre-K, depending on need) adjacent to our classroom. Students do targeted teaching as classmates observe. Childcare Center children visit lab while students observe. ()
  • Students begin practicum their second week of classes(1st semester) at campus child care center. Over their first year (2 semesters) they spend ½ semester in age group – infant, mobile infant, toddler, pre-K. ()
  • Partnership with local school district – 3rd semester students spend 1 afternoon a week in blending (Head Start, Title 1, SPED classroom) ()
  • NC Pre-K field experiences offer students experience with typical and atypical children in an inclusive setting ()
  • 4 year college with accredited ECE lab on campus – ages 2 to 12, 50 children, viewing room, high school, freshman to seniors, nursing students, community partners – director and faculty collaboration
  • Infant/Toddler field experience (72 hours) alongside Infant/Toddler Care and Education course ()
  • Providing experiences in early classes
  • Federally funded quality improvement money to support CA mentor teacher program which pays stipends to community teachers to mentor students ()
  • Various sites – 2nd shift, exceptional children, Head Start, Family home, public schools
  • ()
  • Online orientation for mentor teachers ()
  • Students who are employed in their practicum site (site and mentor have to qualify) – 25% of their hours must be completes in the ECFE program (evening parent ed.) ()
  • Started a mentor orientation process with our practicum sites. The cooperating teachers and the center director have to attend the meeting. ()
  • Teacher research assignment in practicum ()
  • Added 1 credit field experience course with 20 hours or the second age/context experience ()
  • Created a learning opportunity with our local Head Start in Johnston County. Head Start Family Engagement Project ()
  • We created a student orientation for our practicum students to attend before the practicum course starts. ()
  • We have a school district early learning center that allows strong collaboration to create quality field experiences. ()
  • Infant/Toddler course requires 30 hours with infant/toddler placement
  • Alternative students – those working in the field for 3 years full time or 5 years part time can and are typically attending part time can get credit for practicum and can do workplace practicum ()
  • Several students want to become special education teachers (Elizabeth- TCC)
  • Relationship with public preschool with many classrooms – all levels of inclusion, Spanish immersion, bilingual Portuguese and Spanish classes for field sites ()
  • We provide 4 different experiences – 1 each semester – P1 – child care, P2 - 4 or 5 K, P3 – Head Start, P4 – Infant/Toddler ()
  • Head Start partnership on campus – students spend 8 hrs./wk., 2 hr. seminar weekly, students process deeply ()
  • Those already working can do practicum in their settings – 1st and 2nd practicum students in same seminar, different assignments, assignments are progressively deeper ()
  • Lab school with teachers accustomed and trained to working specifically with practicum students ()
  • Place students with mentor teachers who have been preselected by specific criteria ()
  • Sequence and course content, relationships with schools – clustering, final projects for final ST
  • Documenting work done in preschool labs, looking at the posters on the walls for parents, etc. Are they effective? What makes it powerful? Can you hear the child’s voice? Does it tell the story?
  • Rubrics used to assess practicum field experience, course that exposes students to full mixed delivery system, focus on documenting learnable moments ()
  • Video recording of students for additional instructor feedback and student reflection ()
  • Infant/Toddler and Preschool placements – all courses lead to practicum with field experiences
  • Working on observation continuum across the curriculum with skills at various levels ()
  • Service learning embedded into most ECE courses. These are done in a variety of sites from Infant/Toddler room to elementary schools ()
  • Peer observations in practicum course, Flexibility in practicum sites so students can work
  • Community Service learning project – 10 hours – in a setting of their choice – part of Child Community Course ()
  • Use of video from our practicum students to use in teaching observation – CARE self-assessment
  • ()
  • Field trip to see variety of exceptional children in public preschool setting ()
  • 2nd practicum in community settings – balancing building and maintaining relationships with programs and having students analyze ()
  • Job Shadowing birth – 5 centers (120 hours) Director (includes Mock Interviews), cook, lead teachers, associates ()
  • We are rural – part of field experience coursework is a 2-day tour of settings (8-10) in a more urban area ()
  • Two field experiences - #2 coordinate classroom experience and an “administrative” experience (job shadow) ()
  • Field experience II – collaborate with local preschool programs to plan a community-wide family night – great experience! ()
  • Service learning in ESL program of 0-5 year olds ()
  • 1st course taken requires candidate acquires the necessary background checks to be able to enter facilities for fieldwork. ()
  • Have built a rapport with center directors and Head Starts to accept our candidates ()
  • Collaboration with nonprofits has students help with parent meetings for field experiences.
  • Having a partnership with Head Start Center on campus ()
  • 4 practicum courses in AA degree (each 90 hours) – each with different focus – Pr.1 – with 3-5s in child care, Pr. 2 – with infant/toddlers in center or family child care, Pr.3 –with special needs child in a variety of settings, Pr. 4 – Head Start, 4K or 5K ()

PLACES FOR PROGRESS

  • Preparing students for working with non-English speaking students or bi-lingual students.
  • Finding time for faculty to observe and meet with students and cooperating teachers on top of the already full workload they have.
  • How to discuss with students inappropriate practices they may observe and still maintain professional relationships with sites.
  • Requiring students who work full time to do some field experiences at a different location than their work.
  • Allowing student teachers to be paid – creating student teaching sites – intern with pay from placement agency
  • Geographical locations have expanded with online and student locations
  • Saturations of sites with placements
  • Coaching – feedback delivery
  • Recruitment of new students despite qualification requirements and debt challenges
  • Need to figure out what to do in upper division course that went from 48 hours practice to 16 hours.
  • My ECE program is within a Human Services program. Can’t guarantee ECE experience.
  • How to find quality programs to work with.
  • How do I approve settings when there are so many? Currently I go on the Star-rating system, but sometimes this system fails.
  • Re-creating a lab fir infants and toddlers at college campus lab
  • Not enough quality field sites.
  • Do not have sufficient emphasis on placing students in settings with diverse populations
  • Assuring that students have the dispositional qualities and professional skills before practicum
  • Helping students deal with issues of poverty and abuse
  • Collaboration with ISDs to place students
  • Structuring ages/settings of field experiences especially for students in the work pace, finding appropriate settings for the elementary placement
  • Encouraging faculty who have done it “their way” for so long to be open to needed change in how we partner with sites
  • Use powerful interactions to guide students to interact
  • Question to guide progress: What is more worthwhile to the growth of a teacher…to be in the same classroom through a sequence of practicums that build knowledge, skills and dispositions or in a variety of classrooms?
  • State regulations limiting choice of sites
  • Transportation issues of students to get to diverse sites
  • Diverse settings – age and types – Head Start, public school and community, infant-toddler/ 3-5
  • Infant/Toddler field experiences – lesson planning
  • Access to infant/toddler settings very limited
  • We need to build better connections with cooperating teachers
  • Fingerprinting for every field site
  • Accountability – how can I assign meaningful projects, assignments and give feedback, check-off, make students accountable for doing the work?
  • Placement of special needs ECE students
  • Want to be able to support cooperating teachers more
  • More support and communication with cooperating teachers
  • Appropriate training for supervising teachers
  • How to vet practicum sites? Criteria?
  • Training supervising teachers to facilitate learning
  • Working with students that need to work and have difficulty seeing multiple experiences
  • Supervising teachers who don’t give quality feedback
  • Inconsistency for/among mentor teachers and the way they demonstrate critical skills – observations, assessments, etc.
  • Full-time employees doing their hours in varied settings
  • Placement issues with students working full-time
  • Full-time working students getting opportunities for diverse observations and experiences (getting off work to do this)
  • How to grade and keep track of students in final practicum – how to assess
  • Creating meaningful service learning experiences
  • Power of Our Words – Denton – very accessible for early students
  • Choice Words: How our Language Affects Children’s Learning - Peter H Johnston
  • Difficulty finding placements with cultural and ethnic emphasis

1

[1] This information was contributed by participants in an ACCESS-sponsored session on field experiences held on June 9, 2014 at the NAEYC Professional Development Institute in Minneapolis, MN.