TE 407 Field Placements
Procedures for Getting Started in
your Senior Placement
MSU Secondary Teacher
Preparation Team
Social Studies Cohort
The idea behind senior
placements
• TE 407/8 – The “Lesson
Planning” class, also called a
“methods” class
• Seminar
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Standards
The structure of a lesson
Epistemology of the discipline
Instructional strategies
Assessment
The idea behind senior
placements
• Lab
– Practicing lessons in controlled
environment
– Considering the impact of
lesson features on a diverse set
of students
• Field
– Observing and understanding
the mentor’s lesson planning
and execution
– Executing teaching episodes in
uncontrolled environment of
real classrooms
The reality behind senior
placements
• Mentors are under
tremendous pressure to
achieve high levels of
success with each and every
child
• Every day is critical to that
outcome
• Stakes for mentors are high
and getting higher
The reality behind senior
placements
• Teacher Shortage Areas (TSAs):
www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/pol/tsa.doc
100
92
80
56
60
38
40
35
30
14
20
5
0
SS
Eng
Sci
Mth
WL
Number of Seniors
Art
Ag
A productive model – Lesson
Study
• Key Features
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One carefully planned lesson
Several contributors
A question
Observation of the lesson
Debriefing
Revision of the lesson
• Your field placement will be
built around several iterations
of a Lesson Study
Meeting your group
• You have been placed in
groups of five 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 group
to find out when you have
common availability for field
work.
Requirements for field work
• You should attend your placement
school approximately FOUR hours
each week, usually four class periods.
• 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 school per week
– Includes time each week to meet with
your mentor teacher
• If possible, attend on two different
days each week, so that you can see
at least one class period more than
once a week.
Requirements for field work
Fall Semester
• Your field work begins
immediately.
– Contact your mentor as soon as you
receive your placement information
to arrange your first visit.
– First visit should be within the week.
– Complete any additional
background checks before
beginning field work.
• 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.
Requirements for field work
Spring Semester
• 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
group 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.
How to contact your mentor
• In person, begin by giving:
– Your name
– Say that you are the
representative from the group
of 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 group.
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:
– Your phone
– Your email
How to contact your mentor
• If you do not hear back from
the teacher in the next 24
hours, follow up with an email
to the teacher.
– Provide your group members’
names, role (MSU Seniors), and
copy the rest of the group on
this message.
– Ask about the best way to
contact the teacher to arrange
your first visit.
How to contact your mentor
• 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.
How to contact your mentor
• If you do not hear from your
teacher by a week from your
first attempt at contact, let
your course instructor and
coordinator know.
Once you make contact with your
mentor
• Describe yourself as an “MSU
senior” (not as a “TE 407
student” or “tutor”).
• Talk with your mentor to
determine when you will make
your field visits.
– You have been paired with a
teacher whose schedule is
compatible with the common
availability shared by your group.
This may not be your first choice of
times.
– PLEASE be accommodating and
gracious in these negotiations.
Once you make contact with your
mentor
• 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
• Confirm with your mentor
that you have completed
the appropriate background
check process.
– Fingerprinting required in Haslett;
stop in to Haslett Admin Building
and see Michelle in Human
Resources.
– Fingerprinting and Orientation
Meeting required in Holt. See Angel
site, and contact Vicki Nucich at
vnucich@hpsk12.net.
– You MUST complete these
procedures before visiting the
school
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
– Office check-in procedures you
should follow
– Identification you should provide
or carry
– How to find the teacher’s
classroom
• Find out any special dress code
requirements in the school
Once you make contact with
your mentor
• Share all of this information
with the rest of your group
• Make your travel plans
• Compile a list of names,
email addresses, phone
numbers and emergency
contact information for your
group to bring with you to
the first visit.
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.
• Provide emergency contact
information to the mentor and
school.
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.
• Be impeccably appropriate
in your use of personal
communication devices in
the school.
• Be white-collar in your
approach to the work, not
blue-collar.
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
settings 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
What Assistant Teachers do…
Always keep in mind:
• What would you like to learn
this year in your placement?
• How are you going to work with
your group and mentor? How
are you going to treat each
other?
• How are you going to take
initiative to make the most of
this experience and
relationship?
Evaluating your work in the field
• Each semester your mentor will
evaluate your work in the
school
– Professional Criteria for Internship
– Content Knowledge for Teaching
– Planning, Teaching and Reflecting
on Lessons
– Concerns about moving on to the
internship year
• See Angel site for sample of this
evaluation
Secondary Team Coordinators
Kelly Hodges
116R Erickson
432-9601
hodgesk@msu.edu
Justin Thorpe
thorpeju@msu.edu
Secondary Team Website:
http://education.msu.edu/te/secondary/