GSE's Teacher Education Programs involve a series of Fieldwork and Student Teaching (Practicum) experiences. Familiarize yourself with the information below to make the most of those experiences.
The New York State Education Department mandates that students seeking their first teaching certification must have a minimum 100 hours of field experience linked to coursework before student teaching. This applies to all of Binghamton's pre-service programs. In addition, students will have the opportunity to visit high-needs classrooms, and schools in urban, suburban and rural districts. The designated high-needs districts in our BOCES region are Binghamton, Johnson City, and Harpursville; students must spend time in a high-needs placement during their field experiences and/or student teaching.
School districts have asked GSE staff to follow explicit protocols and make formal arrangements for your presence in their schools. Therefore you may not freelance your field experience at a school of your choosing. If you have a special situation or difficulty around this field experience requirement, consult your adviser. Under no circumstances may you make your own placements. Finally, while every effort is made for students to have a shorter commute to schools, it is not assumed, and placement can be be anywhere in the local BOCES region, or a bit beyond. it is expected that you will be able to arrange transportation to your placement sites.
Although GSE will try to accommodate students with extenuating circumstances, we cannot waive the 100-hour requirement. Prior teaching experience is valuable, but it cannot count toward meeting the 100-hour requirement because it is not linked to coursework. Purposeful fieldwork will help you become a stronger teacher, and GSE has designed these experiences to be valuable and meaningful. These experiences will help you develop your understanding of pedagogy, curriculum, and the social, cultural and intellectual experiences of teaching and schooling. You will get to know teachers and students; you may help teachers by working with small groups or individual students. Your professors also may give you specific assignments connected to your field experiences.
If you have any questions, comments or concerns, contact Tami Mann, senior staff assistant in the Graduate School of Education at 607-777-5322 or tmann@binghamton.edu.
The following are the Professional Knowledge and Disposition criteria to which all Graduate School of Education students are held accountable. Students will be evaluated as they progress in their program, based upon:
Content Knowledge
Knowledge of Learning and Development
Instructional Planning, Practice, and Student Assessment
Professional Behavior and Growth
Communication
Either Tami Mann or your course instructor will inform you when arrangements have been completed for you to start fieldwork. Please make it a priority to contact your school (i.e., within one week).
When you call your school, make sure to say that the school administrator and GSE have approved your placement for fieldwork. Then provide the following information:
If your cooperating teacher does not contact you within 3 days of leaving your message with the school, please inform Tami Mann at 777-5322, or tmann@binghamton.edu.
As you get ready to report to your school,
Upon completion of field experience, be sure to thank the teacher/principal for sharing their classroom community with you.
You are responsible for documenting all your field experiences, so you must keep a log of your visits to include the dates and times you visit and the general activities associated with each visit. Your program or course instructors may specify a format for your fieldwork log or may allow you to use your own system, as long as it includes required information. You may count all productive time spent in the building, not only classroom work but observation in other classrooms, interaction with students and teachers outside of classroom, and time spent in a study hall or the cafeteria. Some courses may have specific requirements for fieldwork, and specific assignments to be completed, which should be documented in your log.
After you have completed your 100 hours of field experience, you will be assigned to an area school for student teaching. Here is some useful information about student teaching:
Student Teaching Workbook
The Student Teaching Workbook (.pdf, 269kb) provides some general guidance about what to expect and how to insure a successful student teaching experience. This document complements the information that your professors will give you when you take the student teaching course(s).
The Graduate School of Education expects you to conform to professional behavior in all your interactions with area schools. You exhibit professional behavior when you:
Schools are dynamic environments, and repeated visits to the same class presents valuable opportunities for professional growth. Observation can be a very active exercise, going far beyond a simple focus on the teacher. Take advantage of the opportunity to observe the same class more than once. Take notes of everything you see, hear, and think about: these notes form the substance of your log and perhaps the basis of assignments in your courses. Take time to reflect on what you observe in the classroom and the entire school. What do you notice about students and how they engage (or fail to engage) the work? How does the teacher approach the students? The curriculum? How is the classroom managed? How many students are in each class? What does the curriculum entail? What is the atmosphere of the classroom? Be alive to the opportunities presented to you.
Finally, please be aware that you represent Binghamton University. The way you present yourself reflects not only upon you but also upon all Binghamton University students in Education; your behavior may affect not only others' field experiences and internships but their future employment as well. We're counting on you to do us proud.
