KINDERGARTEN PRACTICUM - CECH · Kindergarten Practicum. A few of the assignments will require your guidance so I’d like to make sure you are aware of the expectations; however,

KINDERGARTEN PRACTICUM

Spring/ 2017 January 9th- April 21st

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There are 71 students in our Junior ECE Cohort this year. We strive to put our candidates in classrooms where children learn through play and social interaction.

Thank you so much for mentoring one of our Early Childhood Cohort candidates! I’m Julie Walson, the coordinator for Kindergarten Practicum. I have been working with the University of Cincinnati since 2000 as a supervisor, an instructor and a field coordinator. I appreciate that you are spending a few minutes viewing this Powerpoint. I’ve tried to include information that will help you to understand some of the expectations we have for Kindergarten Practicum.

This will be your student’s second field experience. During Fall semester, the students participated in a Preschool Practicum. Senior year will be spent in a local elementary school, co-teaching with a teacher in a primary grade.

PLACEMENTS

Our students are placed in about 40

different schools all over the city and

surrounding suburbs. The School of

Education has an urban mission, and

our early childhood students will be

placed in an urban placement during

junior year.

We’d like the bulk of the candidate’s

time to be spent with the children;

however, students are also encouraged

to help with planning and preparing

materials.

Background Checks are required for

each school district. Students must

turn a copy of these docs in prior to

the first day of Practicum.

Please do not leave your candidate

alone in the classroom with children.

Legally, there should be a school

district employee with our student at

all times.

ATTENDANCE POLICY

We expect our students to be in their placements every day, on time. Candidates should report to their placements 5 days a week, 3 hours a day. Candidates will keep track of hours on a practicum time sheet, which is to be turned in to his or her university supervisor at the end of the semester.

Spring Break~ During their junior year, we do allow our students to observe the University’s Spring Break (March 13th- March 17th). Your district’s spring break may or may not coincide with ours, which means some students will have two weeks that they are not attending practicum. I’ve provided some flexibility in the syllabus if that’s the case, and I will discuss this with students at our Orientation. With the exception of Spring Break, the students should follow the calendar of the field school. If the University of Cincinnati is closed, but your school is open, the students should report to their classrooms.

If the candidate is too ill and is unable to participate in practicum, the candidate should notify both the mentor teacher and the university supervisor. Students are expected to make up any days missed during the semester.

If you feel there is an issue with attendance / tardiness, please contact your candidate’s assigned supervisor so we may address it.

SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES

Professional Development Opportunities/ Meeting

If there’s a Prof Dev/ Meeting that you are supposed to attend during the time your candidate is with you, have him or her attend as well. If that’s not possible for whatever reason, candidates should discuss the situation with their supervisor.

Field Trips

If you have planned a field trip for your class, we’d love for our student to participate. If that’s not possible, the candidate will need to contact his or her supervisor to make other arrangements.

Inclement Weather Policy

If your school is on a 1 hour delay candidates are expected to report to the school an hour later than usual, and complete 2 hours in the field on that day. If there is a 2 hour delay candidates are not expected to report to placements. As for afternoon field placements, an early dismissal would most likely not be announced before arrival, but candidates should leave whenever the students are dismissed.

Candidates are not expected to make up time missed due to inclement weather.

KEY ASSIGNMENTS

There are several assignments our students will need to complete during Kindergarten Practicum. A few of the assignments will require your guidance so I’d like to make sure you are aware of the expectations; however, it is the responsibility of the student to make sure the assignments are completed. We expect our students to manage their time and responsibilities, and it is not your role to make sure they are staying on track with their assignments.

Lesson Plans- We are planning three seminars to help our candidates to write and implement lesson plans. With your guidance, students are supposed to create and implement 5 lesson plans during the semester. At least 3 days in advance of implementation, students should submit the completed lesson plan to you for a final review. Students are to video record the 3rd lesson (recording equipment may be obtained through the CECH Library). After viewing the recording, the students will reflect on their teaching performance using the Instructing and Engaging Children Organizer (Forms section of the handbook) and will turn this document into their University Supervisors.

KEY ASSIGNMENTS CON’T... Kindergarten Activities Checklist is a new requirement for this year.

The Kindergarten Activities Checklist is a list of experiences that should be completed during practicum. If there are experiences that do not apply to the placement, mentors should write “N/A” on the line next to that experience. Please initial each experience that your candidate completes, and at the end of our practicum, please sign the form indicating satisfactory completion of the experiences. During classroom visits, supervisors will check the progress on the checklist, and make a final check for completion at the end of the semester.

Collaborative Assessment Log

During four of the practicum weeks, students will be required to complete a Collaborative Assessment Log (CAL). This is a form of reflection which requires students to sit down with their mentors to discuss what is working, what the areas of concern are, and how you can set goals in order to address these areas. Students will need to have a typed copy of the CAL in their Kindergarten Binder each week a CAL form is due (noted on the syllabus). The directions are very clear on the form, but if you have questions, be sure to contact your student’s supervisor. Students will email a copy to their university supervisors on the Tuesday of the week that it is due.

MIDTERMS/ CPAST

Midterms are found in the Forms section of our handbook. The documents should be completed by you and your candidate, and then collected by supervisors. We’d like for you to briefly meet with your student to discuss the Midterm.

Candidate Preservice Assessment of Student Teaching, CPAST Evaluations- This year we are using a new type of final evaluation. This document guides candidates through the process of rating themselves in several areas aligned with Ohio Standards of the Teaching Profession, EdTPA, and CAEP accreditation standards. Using a rubric, the CPAST Individual Score Form is completed independently by the candidate, the mentor teacher, and the university supervisor. All three parties bring their completed assessments to a triad meeting to complete the CPAST Consensus Form and develop goals for their senior year field experiences. We piloted this program with our seniors in the fall, and mentors, students and supervisors responded very positively to the change. Additional information will be provided during the second half of the semester.

FRIDAY SEMINARS

We are planning to meet with our students 5 times during the semester, and on those days, the students will not be reporting to your classroom.

1/13 Kindergarten Practicum Orientation

1/ 20 Lesson Planning

2/10 Lesson Planning

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4/14 Reflecting on the

Semester

SUPERVISORS

We have a wonderful group of supervisors working with our program. Your candidate’s supervisor will contact you at the beginning of our Spring Semester. They will also visit your classroom two times to observe the candidate, and at the end of the semester to complete the CPAST conference. Please feel free to contact supervisors with any questions or concerns you may have.

We strive to make this a positive experience for our mentors, and hope that you will want to mentor for us in the future as well! Please let me know if you have any feedback for our program. Thank you,[email protected]