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Fieldwork Experiences

Fieldwork Policies:

Overview

In order to best prepare our teacher candidates for the field, our department has been partnering with our clinical educators (host teachers, student teacher supervisors, administrators, etc.) to provide our students with clinically rich experiences. We are preparing our teacher candidates for future employment in collaboration with our partners. Whether it is field experience hours or student teaching, both Roberts faculty and clinical educators are equally contributing to our students’ clinical preparation.

Given that there are so many involved in our teacher candidates’ experiences, this website has been created as a resource. Here you will find information that pertains to any clinical experience. Faculty, clinical educators, student teaching supervisors, and teacher candidates alike can use these resources to navigate clinical experiences.

Planning Materials

When lesson planning, our teacher candidates use the Roberts/UbD lesson plan template. This template is framed around Backward Design/Understanding by Design. Teacher candidates who regularly use this template plan instruction that is cohesive and aligned. It is important that all involved fully understand what the lesson plan template entails.

When unit planning, our teacher candidates use the Roberts unit plan template. This template mirrors the type of curricular materials used in local districts today. The template helps teacher candidates understand how to plan for a larger chunk of time, while still focusing on a specific set of standards and meaningful ways to assess student learning.

Fieldwork Progression

The clinical experiences in which our teacher candidates participate across their program are structured in a very purposeful way. When our teacher candidates are early in their program, they observe and reflect. As they progress through the program, they take on more responsibility such as 1:1 tutoring, small group instruction, and eventually whole group instruction. Expectations for clinical experiences have been scaffolded in order to allow for this progression of learning across a teacher candidates’ program, thus best preparing them for student teaching and eventual employment.

As clinical educators work with our teacher candidates, it is important to know where they are in their program. Understanding what they are best prepared to do will help maximize their time in their clinical experience. However, our teacher candidates should always challenge themselves to learn and try new things with the support of their clinical educator.

Below are the rubrics that clinical educators complete at the conclusion of a teacher candidates’ clinical experience. The rubric matches the expectation for the clinical experience based on our progression chart. Teacher candidates in an hourly field experience will have the field experience rubric completed by the clinical educator. Teacher candidates in student teaching will have a student teaching rubric completed by both the clinical educator and supervisor.

  • Student Teaching
    • The Student Teaching Handbook will be provided during the student teaching semester.
  • Professional Dispositions
    • Roberts has developed a set of technical standards against which we evaluate our candidates’ professional dispositions. These are things that cannot be measured through typical coursework or assignments, yet are important in developing the professional behaviors expected in the field.

Other Resources

Contact Information

For more information about field experiences, Jennifer Dorr, Coordinator of Field Experiences and Clinical Partnerships, at (585) 594-6964 or dorr_jennifer@roberts.edu

For more information about student teaching experiences, contact Amy Polisseni at (585) 594-6787 or polisseni_amy@roberts.edu

For more information about instructional planning or other curricular elements, contact Kristen Driskill at (585) 594-6106 or driskill_kristen@roberts.edu