The College of Education, through its office of field services, offers a wide variety of field experience courses, designed to meet the goals of various teacher education programs as described in the College knowledge base. Extensive contact with the classroom and first-hand experience in dealing with everyday problems of teaching are a critical component of teacher education and are organized within courses. Pre-student teaching experiences, and the culminating course, student teaching, satisfy State of Illinois certificate requirements. Experiences in schools range from involvement in the classroom and school as an observer to tutorial teaching, small group coaching, and whole class instruction, as well as participation in school and community activities. Field sites range from the city to the suburbs and must include placements in culturally diverse settings.
Students participate in a variety of field experiences in diverse school and educational settings.
Placement for the courses takes into consideration the individual student s academic needs and interests. All field experiences are supervised by a faculty member of the College of Education as well as by an on-site cooperating teacher. A weekly seminar brings students together to discuss their student teaching experiences. Requests for placement in a school must be submitted during the preceding semester. Applications for pre-student teaching, student teaching and other experiences in schools are available from advisors and from the office of the Director of Field Experiences.