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ED 490/495 HISTORY/SOCIAL STUDIES STUDENT TEACHING
               ASSIGNMENTS AND POLICIES

College supervisor: Dr. Luci Fortunato De Lisle

History Department Office:
      Tillinghast Hall 219
      Bridgewater State College
      Bridgewater, MA 02325
      Office telephone: (508) 697-1200 ext 2412
      e-mail:  LFortunato@Bridgew.edu 
      Department secretary: (508) 697-1388
[The best times to contact me in my office are Monday, Wednesday or
Firday 8 a.m.-9 a.m. and 11 a.m.-just before noon evenings are best
at my home.]

Home: 77 South Street
      Bridgewater, MA 02324
      home telephone: (508) 697-1905
[Tuesday evenings I teach and will not be home until about 8 p.m. 
Please do not phone after 9:30 p.m. unless it is a matter of great
urgency.  Feel free to call as early in the morning as you need
from 5 a.m. on especially if you need to let me know that you will
not be attending school or if your school's classes have been
cancelled due to weather.  YOU MUST CONTACT ME IF YOU WILL BE
ABSENT FROM YOUR SCHOOL FOR ANY REASON.  Feel free to leave a
message on the answering machine with your phone number; I will
call you back as soon as I can.  The phone is on a different floor
from my study, so if I am working, the answering machine may pick
up before I can physically reach the machine, so don't hang up!]

INSTRUCTIONS AND BASIC ASSIGNEMENTS

Please share the information on any hand-outs I give you with your
co-operating practitioners and share your copy of the "Student
Teaching Handbook" with them.  They need to be clear on the
college's expectations.

Use the following guidelines to arrange your student teaching
program with your practitioner(s):

--Certification requirements include 150 CLOCK HOURS WITH FULL
RESPONSIBILITY OF THE ROLE.  You are responsible for documenting
and keeping track of your work in fulfillment of this TEACHING
requirement.  Student teachers usually take responsibility for
THREE CLASSES over TWO PREPARATIONS.  Student teachers often begin
with one class and add the ther two as their practitioners decide
they are ready.  At the very least, by the middle of the semester
a student teacher should be carrying the full three-class teaching
load.
--Both before and during your actual time as an active teacher you
should work out a weekly observation and assisting schedule in your
school.  Here again you musht complete a minimum of 150 CLOCK HOURS
OF OBSERVATION AND ASSISTING DUTIES [eg. cafeteria duty, bus duty,
library duty, hall duty, study hall, home room etc.] for
certification.  Do not confine yourself to the Social Studies
Department for your observations--there is a great deal to learn
from teaching and learning styles across the curriculum not to
mention the possibilities for interdisciplianry thinking and
connections!  Please be sure to include your REFLECTIONS OF YOUR
OBSERVATIONS IN YOUR JOURNAL.  Your practitioner of record should
initial your log of teaching and duties on a weekly basis.

--Whether you are teaching your favorite field or one which is less
familiar to you, you need to build some planning time into the
school day--though you will need more time at home, certainly.  Be
aware of time management.  Make time for preparation beyond the
textbook!!!Gather resources; take time to read on the topics you
will be teaching.  Build the bibliography/resources for your units.

--Familiarize yourself with any official course descriptions or
curriculum guidelines of courses that you are to teach and discuss
with your practitioner how much time you should spend on units you
will teach.  Be sure you are conforming to any system-wide
policies.  Keep in mind that some school systems have co-ordinated
semester examinations for students; others are more individualized
in their approach.

--Reach out to the life of the school and community.  Take every
opportunity possible to become involved in or to attend extra-
curricular activities, to participate in parent-teacher meetings
etc.

--Be sure to carry out any and all professional assignments given
to you by your practitioner or the public school's administration. 
Make yourself aware of the standards for professional conduct
expected by the school system in which you will be teaching. 
Become informed quickly about relevant school policies and
procedures, and be sure to adhere to them.  Ask for a STUDENT
and/or FACULTY HANDBOOK if they are available to you.  BE
ESPECIALLY CAREFUL EARLY ON IN YOUR STUDENT TEACHING EXPERIENCE TO
CLARIFY ANY SCHOOL-DEFINED LEGAL LIMITATIONS ON YOUR ROLE AS A
STUDENT TEACHER [for example, most schools do not provide legal or
medical coverage for you if your are gallant and jump in to break
up a fignt which might occur among students.  Anticipate.  Clarify
up front what to do in unusual cases like this or in medical
emergencies.  Be particularly sensitive to and vigilant about
policies pertaining to ethnic, racial, and gender equity and
[re]familiarize yourself with the legal responsibilities and limits
of the professional educator pertaining to special education
advocacy and privacy issues, child abuse, sexual harassment, the
limits of advising students on issues beyond those of the academic
classroom etc.  If any circumstances arise about which you are not
clear, consult your practitioner and college supervisor before
acting.  If circumstances and time do not allow, you are left to
your own best judgment guided by the cocern for the child's
welfare.  When in doubt call the nearest full-time teacher.

--In the classroom you are IN LOCO PARENTIS.  You must know where
your students are at all times.  Attendance is therefore an
important issue to attend to.  If there is a fire alarm, take your
rank/attendance book with you to call roll once your class is
outside of the building.  If you are given homeroom
responsibilities, remember the homeroom record book is an important
legal document which should be kept with care.

--I.E.P.s:  Be sure to acquaint yourself with the special education
plans of any students in your classes.  A meeting with one of the
guidance counselors or speical ed. teachers during the first week
of school to gain other helpful insights is a good idea.

--Be in your school for the FULL CONTRACT DAY.  This is usually
from about 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.--but check with your school system. 
You may arrange with your practitioner to leave early on the days
when meetings are required at the college.

COMMUNICATION
AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SEMESTER, YOU WILL NEED TO CALL ME EACH
WEEKEND until we set up observation visits.  After that we can
communicate between visits by phone on a more informal basis.

MONTHLY SEMINAR MEETINGS  These meetings [the dates of which are
furnished on a separate sheet] are REQUIRED.  Please bring your
journals and any other requested materials to each meeting.

SUPERVISORY VISITS  I shall be out to your school to meet with you
and your practitioners and to observe your classes mostly on
TUESDAYS AND THURSDAYS; it would be helpful if you could schedule
a minimum of your tests or long films on those days to keep them
open for visits.

In preparation for supervisory visits:
1.--Have a copy of your LESSON PLAN for the day which I may keep
along with any materials [handouts, textbooks, supplementary
readings] you will be using in the course of the lesson for my
consultation.

2.--Please have available your THREE-RING BINDER with your UNIT
OUTLINES AND ALL YOUR LESSON PLANS IN ORDER.  I shall be very
interested to see the individual lesson in the larger context of
your unit plans--especially lead-up and follow-up lessons.  N.B. 
Please keep in mind that school systems have different policies
about how far in advance you should have your formal lesson plans
projected.  Unless otherwise directed by your school, please aim at
preparing your lessons for a full week in advance.  This may be
difficult early in the semester, but after the half-way point
should be realizable.

Your FULL FORMAL LESSON PLANS should include:
TITLE OF LESSON
TITLE OF UNIT
DATE
GOALS/HABITS OF MIND [in the light of the MA Curriculum Framework]
OBJECTIVES
STRATEGIES [reflecting what you've learned about constructivism, 
            multiple intelligences, student-centered learning,
            etc.] including:
  INITIATING ACTIVITY
  LESSON CORE OUTLINE AND/OR PIVOTAL QUESTIONS
  CLOSURE
HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT
SELF-EVALUATION
Lesson plans should be wordprocessed/typed if at all possible; if
this format proves a hardship please speak with me about a format
alternative.  Your final formal unit which should be part of your
professional portfolio at the end of your student teaching
experience must be typed but should include the evaluations from
each class which may be in longhand.

FINAL UNIT AND MATERIALS
Your best unit for formal submission should be handed in at the
last group seminar meeting at the college.  Please be sure this
unit includes:
A TITLE COVERSHEET
SCOPE, SEQUENCE, RATIONALE
UNIT GOALS [INCLUDING CONTENT AND SKILL GOALS AND HABITS OF MIND
            LINKED TO THE MA CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK]
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TOPIC/CONTENT OUTLINE
ALL LESSON PLANS TESTS ETC. IN ORDER [indicate the length of period
           or number of periods for which each plan is designed]
ALL HANDOUTS/SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS/OVERHEADS ETC.
A RESOURCE LIST/BIBLIOGRAPHY divided into teacher/student resources
10 or so EXAMPLES OF STUDENT WRITING/PROJECTS with your written
         commentary/feedback [these may be photocopies]

JOURNAL On this due date you should also submit your journal with
all entries PLUS YOUR CURRENT RESUME AS YOU INTEND TO PRESENT
YOURSELF AS A CANDIDATE FOR A TEACHING POSITION ALONG WITH A 1-2
PAGE STATEMENT OF YOUR PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION EMERGING FROM YOUR
STUDENT TEACHING EXPERIENCE.

OTHER SUGGESTED OPTIONS FOR YOUR STUDENT TEACHING PRACTICUM:
You might consider selecting signifcant samples from among your
units, lesson plans, and evaluation instuments to begin compling a
PROFESSIONAL PORTFOLIO. [The required formal assignment materials
above might be used here.]  Further TAKE PHOTOS of your class in
action over the course of the semester and include some in your
portfolio.  If you can arrange with your school to have one or
several of your class sessions VIDEO-TAPED, the film can be
utilized constructively for self-critique as well as for
presentation, if need be, when you seek employment.

Once you feel comfortable in the classroom, [and ideally toward the
END of your experience] invite the Social Studies Department Head,
and perhaps the Principal or Vice-Principal to visit your class--
you'll benefit from another set of eyes and suggestions; also, if
they are impressed with your work, you might find in them a willing
recommendation as you set out to look for a full-time teaching
position.  

A FINAL NOTE: Please do not hesitate to phone me at any time should
any problems or quesitons arise.  Extend the same invitation to
your cooperating practitioners and the principal of your school. 
I WISH YOU A WONDERFUL, EXCITING AND CHALLENGING SEMESTER.  MAKE
THE MOST OF IT!!! 
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