TE 407 Field Placements
Procedures for Getting Started in
your Senior Placement
MSU Secondary Teacher
Preparation Team
Secondary Team Coordinators
Trudy Sykes
English and
Social Studies
346 Erickson
353-5529
sykes@msu.edu
Kelly Hodges
Math, Science
and World
Language
348 Erickson
432-9601
hodgesk@msu.
edu
Secondary Team Website:
http://ed-web2.educ.msu.edu/team4/
Meeting Your Partner
• Whenever possible you have
been placed in pairs with a
mentor teacher. This was to
allow you to visit the school at
the same time, and it is how
your mentor expects you to
schedule your visits.
• These arrangements were
made based on your survey
responses. Please coordinate
your schedule with your partner
to find out when you have
common availability for field
work.
Requirements For Field Work
• You should attend your placement
school TWICE a week for TWO class
periods at each visit, for a total of
approximately FOUR hours at the
school each week.
• This four hour requirement does not
include travel time to and from the
school.
• If your school is not on a typical sixperiod daily schedule, you need to
make sure that your visitation
schedule:
– Is at least 3.5 hours in a classroom per
week
– Allows you to see at least one class at
least twice a week
Requirements for Field Work
• Your field work begins ASAP – you
should contact your mentor today to
arrange your first visit.
– First visit should be within the week.
– Some schools also require additional
background checks before beginning.
• You will attend your field placement
until the week before the final week of
classes for fall term, unless you have
additional time to make up.
• You will begin your field work in the
spring the first week of classes – make
plans for this visit before leaving your
field placement for the fall.
• You will attend your field placement in
the spring until the week before the
final week of regular classes.
How to contact your mentor
• Use the Web to locate
information about the school,
including where it is located.
• Look for other things on the
school site and district site that
can help you learn about the
school setting and culture.
• Look for web pages your
teacher may generate that
include additional information
about the class or schedule.
How to contact your mentor
• Pick one person from your pair to call
the school number. This may be the
main office phone, or it may be the
classroom phone. You may be sent
directly to voice mail.
• Think ahead about what you will say
in each of these instances. Be sure to
provide:
– Your name and your partner’s name
– Say that you are MSU “seniors” who
have been assigned to that teacher’s
classroom this year.
– Explain that you are calling to arrange
the first field visit for you and your
partner.
How to contact your mentor
• If you need to leave a
message, in addition to
your name, your role as an
“MSU senior,” and the
purpose of your call, also
give:
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Your phone
Your email
Your partner’s name
Your partner’s phone
Your partner’s email
How to contact your mentor
• If you do not hear back from
the teacher in the next 24
hours, both partners should
follow up with an email to the
teacher. Again provide your
names, role, phone numbers
and email addresses, and copy
each other on this message.
Ask about the best way to
contact the teacher to arrange
your first visit.
How to contact your mentor
• Keep in mind that some teachers do
not have reliable access to phone or
email. It would be appropriate for
you to follow up about every two
days via phone and/or email.
• If you have been dialing direct to the
teacher but have not gotten a reply,
try dialing the school’s main number
(found on the website) and asking the
person that answers to connect you
to the teacher.
• If you do not hear from your teacher
by a week from your first attempt at
contact, let your coordinator know.
Once you make contact with your
mentor
• Describe yourself as an “MSU senior”
(not as a “TE 407 student”).
• Talk with your mentor to determine
when you will be making your field
visits. You have been paired with a
teacher whose schedule is
compatible with the common
availability shared by you and your
partner. This may not be your first
choice of times. PLEASE be
accommodating and gracious in
these negotiations.
• Exchange or confirm each other’s
contact information.
• Discuss what you should do to
contact your teacher in the event you
cannot attend your placement.
Once you make contact with your
mentor
• Find out any important
procedures for getting in the
building appropriately,
including:
– Where to park and any permits
required
– Where to enter the building
– What office check-in procedures
you should follow
– Any identification you should
provide or carry
– How to find the teacher’s
classroom
• Find out any special dress code
requirements in the school
For your first visit
First impressions are important –
both with your mentor and with
your students.
• Dress conservatively.
• Be prompt.
• Turn off your cell phone on the
way in – or, even better, leave it
in the car.
• On your way in (if you have
time) or your way out, stop by
to introduce yourself to the
principal.
For your first visit
• Greet your mentor
professionally (i.e., shake hands)
and ask how he/she would like
to be addressed, both in front
of students and in your private
conversations.
• Provide materials from your
course instructor about your
field work and evaluation.
• Additional questions about
arranging first visit?
How lucky are we? …
• Remember that we are guests
in the schools. Schools exist to
educate the children in that
district, and our participation is
subordinate to that purpose.
We are in schools by the
courtesy of the Board of
Education, the administration
and the mentor teachers. In
return for this opportunity to
gain actual experience with
children, we must exhibit high
standards of professional
performance and attitude.
Professional Behavior and
Responsibilities
• Attendance and
communicating absences
– If you will be absent from your field
placement, notify
• Your mentor
• Your partner
• Your course instructor
– You must make up any time you
miss EXCEPT those due to snow
days and other days the school
does not meet.
– ASSIGNMENTS delayed by these
missed days DO need to be made
up.
Professional Behavior and
Responsibilities
• Attendance and
communicating absences
– Punctuality in schools is not
like punctuality for a dentist
appointment.
– Establish a regular and
precise arrival and departure
time and be consistent with
this schedule. Any
exceptions must be
negotiated with your mentor
teacher in advance.
Professional Behavior and
Responsibilities
• Be ever vigilant about your
online presence and your
outgoing voicemail and
email greetings.
Professional Behavior and
Responsibilities
• Confidentiality and ethical dilemmas
– In casual conversations or social
settings, do not relate stories from
classrooms or schools that may be
embarrassing to teachers or students,
or that include sensitive information
about a student or family.
– You will be discussing your field
experiences regularly in your courses.
Use fictitious names for students if you
need to include family or personal
information, or if the situation is difficult.
– Mask the names of students in work
used in class or in assignments.
– When discussing teaching practice
you have observed in the field,
maintain a tone of professional
courtesy.
My Mentor Teacher
If I were you, I would like my Mentor Teacher to
be exactly like my favorite teacher from high
school;
And… to be the spitting image of my ideal future
self when I am a teacher;
And… to be a model of all the methods I will study
in my TE classes.
What is the probability of that?
Reality – We will be working with ordinary human
beings who are trying to teach school.
- Tom Bird
What Assistant Teachers do…
What Assistant Teachers do…
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Learn students’ names
Lead start-of-class routines
Collect homework
Work with individuals or small groups of students
Support students’ reading skills
Monitor seat work or lab work or work on computers
Assist with end-of-class routines and policies
Correct papers with mentor teacher’s guidance
Help plan a field trip or special project
Prepare bulletin boards
Locate, gather and prepare materials for use in the
classroom – for their lessons or their mentor’s
Learn to use classroom equipment and software
Observe how teachers work in the hallways,
bathrooms, and commons areas between classes
Observe special education, ESL, or other support
classes at the school
Keep a journal/log about classroom experiences
Look for other ways to be helpful to their mentor
Talk about teaching with their mentor teacher
Take the initiative to ask their mentor for suggestions
How are you going to be The Best
Assistant Teacher You Can Be?
• What are you here to do?
• How are you going to work
with your partner and
mentor?
• How are you going to treat
each other?
• How are you going to take
initiative to make this
happen?