Field Experience Essay
Klaudia Aricas
Throughout the experience, cooperating teachers should actively involve the student in tasks (see Suggestions for Activities) and when possible, allow the St. Olaf student an opportunity to teach a lesson or portion thereof.
The cooperating teacher will complete a brief evaluation of student at conclusion of assignment. This evaluation will be done in Tk20. We would be especially grateful if teachers would take a few minutes to share your comments with the St. Olaf student. Since most students will continue taking education classes with the goal of becoming a teacher, constructive comments become a valuable tool for self-improvement.
In order to get the most out of your field experience, it is important to communicate regularly with your cooperating teacher. You are expected to initiate initial, midway, and final conversations with your cooperating teacher in order to discuss your goals for the field experience, seek feedback, ask questions, and share information.
Students are expected to assist classroom teachers, to observe student-student and teacher-student interactions and to help where they are needed. See the Field Experience Ladder for activities appropriate for students enrolled in different courses. In general, students can contribute in the following areas:
Field experience students may be removed from their placement at the request of their host site or for other reasons involving unprofessional behavior. This may result in students not receiving credit for their field experience. The Director of Field Experiences will determine the appropriate next steps, including reassignment to a new field experience placement, implementation of an IDP, or recommendation to discontinue in the educational studies concentration/teacher licensure program.
Florida Department of Education requires students taking the courses EDF 2005 (Introduction to the Teaching Profession) or EDF 2085 (Introduction to Diversity for Educators) to complete 15 hours of field observation, in a K-12 public school setting, for each course. This requirement exists for all education majors/future educators in all public institutions of higher education in the state of Florida. Tutoring, babysitting, day-care and preschool field experiences do not count toward this requirement, nor do prior teaching or volunteering experiences.
The goal of field-based experience is to give you early exposure to classroom procedures and environments. It is your responsibility to schedule time with various classroom teachers to observe their interactions with their students. Based on your observations, you must then complete a checklist provided by your professor and submit it as an assignment.
You must complete your 15 hours while you are enrolled in EDF 2005 or EDF 2085 (or 30 hours if you're taking these classes simultaneously). Documentation of your field hours consists of a sign-in sheet that will be provided by your professor. You must follow the directions on the sheet precisely, or you will not receive credit for the hours.
If you do not present documentation of your field experience, you will receive a grade of "Incomplete" for the course. Incompletes become a grade of "F" if they are not corrected within six weeks of the start of the next term.
*Note: Submitting a request does not automatically assign students a teacher or observation time. The student is responsible for contacting the teacher using the contact information given to set up their observation time.
During my ECS 100 field placement, I had the privilegeof being in a grade 1/2 split classroom with 23 learners all with diversebackgrounds and ways of learning. Throughout the weeks of my field placement, Iwas given weekly focus questions to help me focus on an aspect of theclassroom. I was able to reflect on the types of learners in the classroom, howrelationships are built between the teacher, students, and the community, howthe school honours diversity, and how they made the school and classroom feelwelcoming and safe.
The classroom had students with diverse culturesincluding, Indigenous, Islamic, Asian, and Greek. Having these differentcultures within the classroom, gave the teacher the ability to incorporate lotsof different ways to get their attention when it was time to switch lessons.She often started the morning by singing a song about living on Treaty 4 andthen would sing songs with the students in the different languages from theircultures. This was an excellent way of how the teacher made the classroom feelwelcoming and represented hospitality and invitation.
I was able to see how important it is for students tobe involved in an inclusive classroom, as there were students with differentneeds in the classroom. The different types of needs within the classroomincluded autism, ADHD, and EAL. By having these students work along side theother learners in the classroom, they were able to succeed in the lessons andlearn from each other. Having these types of needs within the classroom allowsfor all students to be exposed to the diversity in the world and will allowthem to have success in the future.
Through this experience, I was able to reflect on moreon my own school experience growing up and how different times have changed injust the five years since I was in high school. These differences are alsoimpacted by the fact that I grew up in a rural community, whereas my fieldexperience was in an urban area. From my experiences I feel as though growingup going to an urban school, students are more exposed to different cultures,disabilities. As teachers, it is up to us to incorporate the ways of knowingand learning of the different cultures shown in the classroom. Making connectionswith the students and staff at the school will have a major impact on myjourney as an educator and I will forever be grateful for this experience.
My first official field placement was at Families Moving Forward, a supportive program to assist families experiencing homelessness. This field placement was everything I could have hoped for: an amazing field instructor, friendly staff, meaningful work, support, independence, and my very own caseload. The abundance of knowledge I obtained during my placement was something for which I will forever be grateful.
Katie Ullman is a student in the University of St. Thomas/St Catherine University School of Social Work. Her field placement for 2010-2011 was at Families Moving Forward, a faith-based program in Minneapolis that provides temporary housing and supportive services to children and families. Katie recently became a volunteer at the Angel Foundation where she provides support to adults facing cancer. Her favorite activities are yoga and watching movies with friends. She plans on attending graduate school next year to become an LICSW.
Like this article? Thank you for sharing! RSS Print Comments (1)Comment Feed Miss Ullman I am Roze from Saint Louis University, Baguio, Philippines. I am taking up Social Work and about to have my Field Placement in just a week. It become a source of motivation for me and to have that sense of fulfillment in this field. Me too, at first, when my Instructor ask that infamous question, I just answered "Because I want to be a Social Worker" but now, everything changed. The way I view things was far different now and learned and understand many things from different perspectives. Thank you Miss Ullman for sharing your personal experience :)
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The director of the Office of Student Experiential Learning Services oversees the development of centralized processes for managing field experience activities, including application, supervisor and site approval, and site and/or student evaluation. The executive director helps to ensure that Walden is meeting federal and state regulatory requirements as well as the requirements for the professional accrediting agencies that mandate field experiences.
Starting with students matriculating in the 2019-2020 academic year, the Johns Hopkins MPH Program is implementing an updated curriculum as recommended by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH), an independent agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education to accredit schools of public health, and other public health programs.
The new curriculum will assure that all MPH graduates acquire foundational public health knowledge and public health core competencies. To do so, students will be required to select from a range of MPH core courses that comprise approximately 45-50 credits of the 80 credits required for graduation. Students will have flexibility to customize the remaining credits of their curriculum to their areas of interest to achieve an appropriate balance between depth and breadth. (Note: Students matriculating prior to June 2019 should follow the core curriculum specified in their MPH Program Manual.)
The core curriculum of the MPH Program includes grounding in foundational public health knowledge in the profession and science of public health and factors related to human health. All MPH graduates will demonstrate public health competencies that are informed by the critical disciplines in public health (including: biostatistics, epidemiology, social and behavioral determinants of health, management sciences, public health problem-solving, computer applications, demography, environmental health, biological sciences, and public health policy) as well as cross-cutting and emerging public health areas.
Elective coursework makes up roughly half the curriculum. Full-time and online/part-time students have the freedom to customize their elective coursework based on personal interests and professional goals. With over 600 faculty members and more than 200 courses to choose from, there are endless possibilities for how to plan your education. Optional monthly meetings provide an academic and professional "home" for students and an opportunity to interact with colleagues and faculty who have a broad range of interests.
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