Clinical experiences are an integral part of the teacher education program at Northwestern State University. Opportunities are provided for teacher education majors throughout their professional education courses to work in a variety of P-12 school settings.

Resources for Current Candidates:

• Guidelines for Field Experiences
• Log Sheet for Field Experience
• Praxis/ETS Website
• Praxis Tests Required by Major

RESIDENCY/STUDENT TEACHING

Candidates are to submit an Application for Residency/Student Teaching form the semester before the anticipated beginning of enrollment in residency/student teaching.

Application deadlines: March 1 for Fall and October 1 for Spring

During pre-registration or regular registration, applicants must request registration through the . Applicants may request to enroll in additional semester hours by contacting the Director of Field Experience and Clinical Practice, Ms. Ramona Wynder at wynderr@nsula.edu. Additional hours requested must be scheduled to begin after outside the school day during which residency/student teaching will occur.

Resources for Residency/Student Teacher Applicants:

• Application for Student Teaching/Residency

• Application for Alt Cert Internship
• Permission to Enroll in Additional Course
• Residency/Student Teaching Handbook

RESIDENCY/INTERNSHIPS

Candidates are to submit an Application for Internship form the semester before the anticipated enrollment in the two-semester internship.

Application deadlines: March 1 for Fall Internship and October 1 for Spring Internship

During pre-registration or regular registration, applicants must request registration through the School of Education. When applying for Residency 2/Student Teaching, applicants may request to enroll in additional hours by completing the form included with the Residency/Student Teaching application. All additional coursework must begin after the school hours for the host school.

Resources for Current Candidates:

• Application for Internship

Candidates completing early field experiences are assigned to school sites and teachers by course instructors, and the supervision of those candidates is determined by the course instructor. Residency/student teaching and internship experiences and requirements are much more structured.

Each resident/student teacher is assigned a mentor/cooperating teacher and spend the residency/student teacher term under that person’s direct supervisor. A university supervisor is assigned by NSU and serves as an external evaluator and additional support person for the resident/student teacher during the entire experience.

• Cooperating Teacher Handbook
• University Supervisor Handbook

Supervising a resident/student teacher or intern requires a clinical educator (e.g. mentor/cooperating teacher or university supervisor) to serve as an academic coach.

• Tips for Academic Coaching

A valuable learning experience for, especially, residents/student teachers (and interns, if circumstances allow) is a co-teaching experience where experienced teachers teach with the candidate. This co-teaching approach not only provides candidates opportunities to work hand-in-hand with mentors, but also it fosters a seamless transition into a candidate’s role as a full-time teacher during the resident/student teaching experience.

• Co-Teaching Transition with Residents/Student Teachers

Co-teaching Strategies and Resources:

• Alternative/Differentiated Teaching
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  Alternative/Differentiated Teaching

  With this approach one person manages the whole group while the other works with a small group inside of or outside of the classroom. The small group instruction does not have to relate to the lesson being covered with the large group. For example, one person could take an individual student out to catch her up on a missed assignment. One might work with an individual or a small group for assessment purposes or to teach social skills. One could work with a small group for remedial purposes or extended challenge work.
• One Teach, One Assist
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  One Teach, One Assist

  With this approach one person does all the teaching while the other moves around the classroom helping individuals, monitoring students’ behavior, or observing selected students to monitor for understanding. This approach can be a great asset for increasing student engagement.
• One Teach, One Observe
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  One Teach, One Observe

  Much like the “one teach, one assist” approach, one person does all of the teaching while the second is responsible for observing one or more students and recording her/his observations. You might collect data on what activities engage a student or a group of students, what distracts them, how often they are actively on task, which students interact with them and why. All of this information and much more can be collected using the one teach, one observe technique.
• Parallel Teaching
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  Parallel Teaching

  Here the classroom is split in half and both instructors teach the same information or related information at the same time. This might be done because smaller groups might allow for more student involvement or there might be a particular reason for grouping some students together. It is also possible to have the two instructors teach the same concept using different techniques. For example, both teachers could be explaining the same math problem- solving lesson in two different parts of the room. If the room had two computers, each teacher could use a computer to model the use of the Internet or a new piece of software. Or each half of the class could be involved in a literature study group but using two different short stories.
• Station Teaching
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  Station Teaching

  Station teaching occurs when the classroom is divided into various teaching stations. The teacher and student teacher work at two stations and the other stations run independently, with a teacher aide or a volunteer. For example, three or more science stations each containing a different experiment could be organized with the teacher and student teacher working at the two stations that need the most supervision.

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• Team Teaching
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  Team Teaching

  Team teaching occurs when two teachers serve as one. Students are generally involved in individualized or small group instruction. The lessons are taught by both teachers who actively engage in conversation, not lecture, to encourage discussion by students. Both teachers are actively involved in the management of the lesson and discipline. This approach can be very effective with the classroom teacher and a student teacher working together.

Academic calendars are located on the Office of the Registrar homepage.