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Newsletter Volume 2 |
Fall 1997 |
ACEPT Professional Field Experience: Transition to the Real World
Roy DoyleDepartment of Chemistry
Corona del Sol High School
ACEPT Teacher Liason
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Newsletter Volume 2 |
Fall 1997 |
Field experience is an essential component of every pre-service teacher's preparation, and is intended to hone his/her teaching skills through supervised opportunities to apply theoretical and philosophical pedagogical principles to practice teaching. The student teacher experience is part of a student's formal preparation to become a certified teacher. Student teaching during field experience also (a) facilitates the psychological transition from the status of a student to a more independent status as teacher, and (b) provides a practical introduction to the professional life of a teacher. As an experienced high school teacher, and in my position as the Teacher Liaison for the ACEPT project, I was given the opportunity to make improvements in the field experience program for secondary education science majors at ASU.
I hosted three social seminars at my home where I entertained the students as I do my newly employed colleagues in the science department which I chair at Corona del Sol High School. My aim for the pre-service students was to establish a supportive collegial relationship, so that my subsequent supervisory visits to their classrooms would be perceived as non-threatening and helpful. The first event began with a barbecue. Following dinner I conducted a seminar during which brief reports from individual students on their progress during the first two weeks in the classroom student teaching. The remaining time that evening was spent discussing professional attitude and school routine. The second and third informal meetings at my home began with appetizers and informal conversation. On one occasion dinner was followed by a seminar on school law presented by Barbara Carter, President, Tempe Secondary Education Association. On the other occasion on application for employment and interview skills was presented by Jim Denton, Principal, Corona del Sol High School.
Each student spent an entire semester full-time in a public school classroom student teaching under the guidance of a pre-selected mentor teacher familiar with learning cycle methodology. As supervisor, I visited each classroom five times, twice informally, unannounced, and three times formally by appointment. Each formal visit was followed by a constructive critique which emphasized positive support and specific suggestions for improvement.
The students were highly motivated and open to suggestions for improvement. They displayed good understanding of the basic principles of human development and learning theory which undergird the learning cycle approach to teaching. They also demonstrated related teaching skills which show promise of improving science instruction to the lasting benefit of high school students.
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