BIOL 579 Supervised Student Teaching and
Follow-Up of Teachers
Spring 2010
BIOL 579 Supervised Student Teaching and Follow-Up of Teachers. 2 hours.
Laboratory. A departmental representative will visit each student teacher at least once
during the professional semester. Additional visits may occur when more support and/or
supervision is desired, either by the content advisor or the student. Concurrent
enrollment in the professional semester is required. Offered on a Pass-Fail basis only.
Course Objectives:
 The student teacher will work cooperatively with the supervising teacher to
develop and present lessons using content at the appropriate level for the
secondary or middle school student.
 The student will demonstrate mastery of their primary content area.
 The student teacher should have a variety of experiences in three main categories:
curriculum development, instruction, and assessment. The student teacher should
have the opportunity to practice developing their skills in these three processes in
both their primary licensure content and in any additional content in which they
plan to obtain licensure.
Course Requirements
Meet at designated times with other members of the Biology Professional
Semester Class (BIOL 579) and the Dr. Smith. (Required 3 meetings)
Meetings are valued at 50 points each.
Turn in a set of lesson plans (minimum eight plans) developed and used
during the semester with their students. Plans should be submitted via email to Dr. Smith. Plans are worth 20 points each.
You are not required to pass the content exam in order to graduate from
PSU. However, you are required to pass that exam to obtain licensure.
Please take it at your earliest possible date, and be sure to request study
materials and spend time on preparing for the exam. If you fail the exam,
you can pay to retake it.
Testing dates can be obtained in Rozanne Sparks office for the coming
year, and are posted outside Dr. Smith’s office door.
Lesson plans are due on the following dates: Each plan is worth 20 points. These plans
need to be sent on a timely basis.
Date Due
Jan 20
Topic
Lesson Plan 1:
Topic of your
choosing. Edit a
lesson plan used by
your cooperating
teacher.
Feb 28
Lesson Plans 2-5:
Topics of your
choice
April 15
Lesson Plans 6-8:
Topics of your
choice
Notes
Following a lesson that you observed your cooperating
teacher teach, rewrite the lesson plan and address any
areas that you’d like to modify. Perhaps you know of
an exercise for anticipatory set that would be perfect,
or you observed some confusion on the part of the
students that you think you could alleviate. In the
event that your cooperating teacher did not provide a
lesson plan, you’ll need to start from scratch.
Following the plan, write a brief reflection on the
changes that you would make and why.
Depending upon how soon you take over the classes,
you may utilize either lessons that you have observed
your cooperating teacher teach (as above) or lessons
that you have actually taught. When you submit your
own lesson plans, follow it with a reflection on how
you would change it next time you use it.
Submit lesson plans that you have actually taught.
When you submit your own lesson plans, follow it
with a reflection on how you would change it next
time you use it.