1. Ed 11: Beginning Field Experience
Making the most of your field work experience

2. The Importance of Fieldwork
Discussion: Why do fieldwork?

3. The Importance of Fieldwork
As pre-service teachers, you need fieldwork to:
Clarify your educational and professional goals
Connect course work knowledge to real life experiences
Develop self-knowledge about your attitudes and beliefs
Understand the complexities of teaching
To get the most of your fieldwork, you need to know how to observe and participate in the classroom, and then reflect on your experiences.

4. Teaching Standards
Research identifies the quality of a child’s teacher as the single most important influence on a child’s achievement.
DISCUSSION: What are the traits of a high quality teacher?

5. Teaching Standards Content Pedagogy Student Development
Diverse Learners
Multiple Instructional Strategies
Motivation and Management
Communication and Technology
Planning
Assessment
Reflective Practice: Professional Growth
School and Community Involvement

6. Teaching Standards: CA Teacher Performance Expectations (TPEs)
Engaging Students in Learning and Supporting Language Acquisition and Development
Creating and Maintaining Healthy and Effective Environments for Student Learning
Understanding and Organizing Content Specific Pedagogy and Instructional Technology
Planning Instruction and Designing Developmentally Appropriate Learning Experiences for Students
Assessing Student Learning
Developing as a Professional Educator

7. Fieldwork: Observation
Use fieldwork forms to note your observations about
teaching methods
classroom organization and management
how students respond to the teacher, you, and the classroom environment
Don’t try to record everything that happens during your observation hours. Focus on what seems most significant (one or two things).

8. Fieldwork: Participation
Observing a teacher can show you a great deal about how to teach, but it won’t tell you how YOU will teach.
Until you have experience with participating in teaching activities (i.e. working with students), you won’t know whether or not you feel at home with students in an instructional setting.

9. Fieldwork: Beliefs and Attitudes
DISCUSSION: What are some of your beliefs and attitudes about teaching and learning? How might these affect your fieldwork?
Making fieldwork meaningful:
Collect data
Analyze
Reflect

10. Fieldwork: Feedback Good feedback
not necessarily positive – but it should be constructive and appropriate.
Ask your mentor teachers and Dean’s Team members, “What would you have done differently?”
Communicate clearly with your mentor teacher and ASK QUESTIONS!

11. Fieldwork: Reflection
Reflection is necessary for problem solving.
Reflection is central to learning.
Teachers who reflect on their actions and performance are more successful than those who merely react.
Reflection is both introspective and interactive
DISCUSSION: Describe a time when reflecting on a particular situation helped you improve.

12. The Reflection Process