Level 1 Field Experience
Guide for Mentor Teachers
Level 3
Level 2
Level 1
Thank you for volunteering to host a UNI Level 1 field experience student in your classroom this
semester. This beginning exploratory experience is 30 hours over 10 weeks, occurs before the student
has been admitted to the UNI Teacher Education Program, is intended to give students an awareness of
the diverse nature and work of schools and the joys and demands of teaching, and encourages reflection
regarding their decision to become a teacher. Below is an outline of suggested activities for UNI
students, mentor teachers, and the Field Experience Coordinator in the Level 1 experience.
Assignments the UNI
student will complete
during the experience
Classroom activities
for the UNI student
Assistance the Mentor
Teacher could provide
Roles of the Field
Experience Coordinator
• Contextual Factors
of Your School,
through which the
student researches
student demographics,
student achievement
data.
•Observing teachers
engaged with
students
•Schedule the student for one
•Provide Support for
Mentor Teachers
•serve as liaison between
school and university,
building a relationship of
trust and support. •provide
regular communication,
resources, and guidance.
•meet with teacher in
periodic school visits to
provide information and
resources and to follow up
on student involvement and
professionalism. *be
available for additional
support requested by
teachers.
•Provide Support for UNI
Student
•Weekly Log and
Reflection Journals
written description
and reflection on
instructional routines,
classroom management
and motivation
strategies, student
interactions, and
multiple roles and
responsibilities of
teachers.
•Reflection on
Professional
Dispositions, a self
evaluation of attitudes,
beliefs, and
dispositions critical to
education
•OSHA Training,
Criminal Background
Check, Mandatory
Reporter of Abuse
Training
•Observing teachers
engaged with other
teachers or parents
(team meetings, parentteacher conferences)
•Observing students
and analyzing their
work
•Actively Assisting
the teacher with
routine tasks (taking
roll, handing out and
collecting work,
circulating around
room, answering
student questions,
creating instructional
materials, grading
papers etc.)
•Asking questions
and seeking teacher
perspectives
•Interacting with
and teaching
individuals, small
groups of students, or
the whole class
morning or afternoon per week,
include student in all facets of
your teaching duties during that
time.
•Model good instruction,
classroom management, and
motivating students.
•Share and explain your
classroom management plans
and routines, point out and
name the strategies you use,
describe ongoing instructional
decision-making and
adjustments made, and share
lesson plans
•Identify important classroom
and student characteristics that
impact your instruction, provide
information regarding student
characteristics and background
•Give feedback and make
suggestions on teaching.
•Direct UNI student to assist
in ways that serve your students
best and target interactions
using the Interactions
Matrix that you would like
the student to try.
•Engage in reflective dialog
with student.
•Complete the evaluation of
the UNI student with the
Field Experience
Coordinator
-observing with the student in
the classroom and coaching
involvement (5 visits)
-reflective journaling with the
UNI student, guiding their
thinking and observations,
asking questions about
planning, assessment, and
teaching strategies, diversity,
etc.
-direction and support with
assignments.
-communicate any teacher
concerns and facilitate action
plans to address these.
LEVEL 1 SUGGESTED TIMELINE
Weekly Focus of Experience and Level 1 Assistance the Mentor Teacher could
Classroom Activities
provide
Timeline
Weeks FOCUS: Getting to Know You, the Students, Your
Classroom
1-3
Sept.
16th—
Oct. 4th
•The L1 student observes your classroom routines,
curricula, management, and begins to know the students.
•The L1 student will reflect on classroom interactions
they are comfortable beginning immediately and those
they would like to attempt later in the experience and
will ask the mentor teacher for their preferences on
interactions.
•The L1 student documents their participation via
written reflections on activities, interactions, student
behavior, and focused observations.
•The UNI Coordinator will visit to talk with you and to
observe and conference with the L1 student
Weeks FOCUS: Becoming Involved in Informal
Instructional Routines
4-6
Oct.
7th25th
•The L1 student may not be ready to plan or implement
formal lessons, but can be involved in assisting with
classroom routines, assisting individuals or small groups
of students, etc.
•Level 1 student documents their participation via
written reflections on activities, interactions, student
behavior, and focused observations.
• The UNI Coordinator will visit to talk with you and to
observe and conference with the L1 student.
Weeks FOCUS: Deepening Engagement with Students
and Understanding their Diverse Needs
7-9
Oct.
28th—
Nov.
15th
Week
10
Nov.
18th22nd
(make up
days
through
12/20)
•The L1 becomes more comfortable and confident in
your class and increases their interactions with and
understanding of students. Some L1s may be ready to
attempt to plan and implement a more formal lesson.
• Level 1 student documents their participation via
written reflections on activities, interactions, student
behavior, and focused observations.
• The UNI Coordinator will visit to talk with you and to
observe and conference with the L1 student.
FOCUS: Reflection on the Experience
•The student reflects on what they have learned about
themselves, teaching, and student diversity as a result of
the experience, considers areas for improvement and
professional growth, and decides if teaching is a career
to pursue.• The UNI Coordinator will visit to talk with
you and to observe and conference with the L1 student.
Ideally a 3-way final evaluation conference is held.
•Share information about how you organize and
manage your classroom and about the students in
your classroom, (gender, race/ethnicity,
socioeconomic status, culture, language, special
needs and disabilities, learning styles, etc). A
seating chart will help teach student names and
provides a place to record observation notes.
Assisting with attendance and checking student
papers will reinforce the students’ identities.
•Explain specific examples of how student
characteristics impact your own instruction.
•Identify opportunities for interactions in the
classroom and target specific areas on the
Interactions Matrix for current and future
interactions.
•Show the L1 student how to be involved in your
classroom and in other facets of your job outside the
classroom. Consider clerical, assessment, and
instructional assistance, as appropriate.
•Focus the student’s observations in ways that assist
you (tracking participation, individual student ontask/off task, etc.).
•Create targeted interaction opportunities for the
L1 student, especially with individuals or small
groups of students. •Communicate any midterm
concerns about the student to the supervisor.
•Share information about the students in your class,
samples of their work, background information, and
how you adapt your instruction to meet their needs.
•Recommend and share resources, curricula,
instructional strategies, and motivation or
management techniques you would like the student
to attempt to use in the last few visits.
•Create targeted interaction opportunities for the
L1 student, especially with individuals or small
groups of students, or even a whole class lesson if
the student is ready and you are comfortable.
•Give feedback on the student’s interactions,
reflections, and developing autonomy.
•Provide feedback on changes and growth you have
noticed in the student over the course of the
experience, suggest improvement areas.
•Complete the L1 Evaluation, ideally in a 3-way
conference with the UNI Coordinator, and return
this to the Coordinator. If the student needs to make
up time, keep in mind that UNI Finals Week is Dec.
16th-20th