Professional Internship Developmental Curriculum Model and the Classroom Timeline
The Patton College of Education and the OHIO Center of Clinical Practice in Education recognizes that the needs of mentor teachers and their P-12 students vary greatly. We appreciate the expertise of our partners and the abundant guidance and support shown to our teacher candidates.
For these reasons, we encourage mentor teachers to refer to the Developmental Curriculum Model when creating timelines for progression through the Professional Internship experience. With increased emphasis on the clinical model, the positive research supporting the benefits of co-teaching, and more opportunities for involvement in quantifiable experiences for our candidates, The Patton College of Education expects candidates to have a variety of competencies to become successful, effective educators.
The following pages include suggestions for a progression through the Developmental Curriculum about the Ohio Standards for the Teaching Profession. These pages provide examples of tasks that can be considered when developing a timeline for professional internships. Descriptions and examples of co-teaching strategies are also provided. Each mentor teacher has the autonomy to scaffold activities to best meet the needs of the P-12 students and the professional intern.
The Ohio University clinical educators and the OHIO Center for Clinical Practice in Education uphold the mentor teachers’ right to create their own timelines for the release of responsibility based on the needs of their own students.
Clinical/Professional Internship Experience Ideas for Beginning Activities
Individual:
Have the Intern:
- Gather/organize supplies needed for an assignment or project.
- Assist a student in completing incomplete work for class.
- Sit near a student to deliver a predetermined behavior support plan.
- Listen to a student read aloud.
- Read aloud with a student, small group, or large group.
- Read with a student to conduct reading fluency probes.
- Identify characteristics of students in the classroom before information is disclosed (siblings, IEPs, etc.)
- Interview students and dictate answers on a scientific experiment or a class assignment.
- Be a partner for students in the class. Provide one-on-one help during classroom activities.
- Provide one-on-one help during classroom activities.
- Partner with a struggling student, participating as a fellow student.
- Conduct math fact fluency practice.
Small Group
Have the intern:
- Collect materials for a learning center.
- Set up a learning center from given materials. Work in small groups to facilitate activities.
- Work in small groups to facilitate activities.
- Escort students to and from places in the school(recess, nurse, guidance, rest room, etc.)
- Use proximity of control as the mentor teacher explains directions or divides students into partners or small groups.
- Work with a small group to brainstorm strategies used in a game situation.
- Plan and facilitate a center activity.
- Play on a team or coach a team.
- Work in small groups to revise or proofread written assignments.
- Participate with students in team-building challenges
Whole Class
Have the intern:
- Give a spelling pretest to a class.
- Take attendance. Take roll or lunch count.
- Correct papers with clear right-wrong answers.
- Enter grades into records.
- File materials.
- Evaluate homework assignments.
- Design a cooperative game to practice or review subject content.
- Ask the question of the day. This could be content-related or basic trivia.
- Run the technology during the lesson (PowerPoint, screen setting, writing on the whiteboard chalkboard, computers).
- Sit on the carpet to listen to instructions by the mentor (teacher becomes part of the class to understand clarity in directions).
- Assist with assessments.
- Assist the mentor teacher in “the opening” part at the beginning of the day. Conduct a review of the content before the lesson.
- Sit or stand up in front of the class as opposed to sitting in the back of the room. Students in the classroom see the intern as another teacher in the room and the intern gains experience being in front of the class.
- Evaluate student work and provide immediate feedback to individuals. Record a lesson and watch the lesson. Discuss the lesson, instructional technique, and behavior management.
- Take over morning routines before the lesson starts.
- Draw graphic organizers for the class.
- Greet students at the door and initiate conversations to learn more about each student.
- Observe a part of a lesson and teach that same mini-lesson to another class.
- Assist with a cooking lab or experiment and ask questions related to the project.
- Design a game to enhance the learning of a skill. For example, if a student is struggling with colors or simple math problems the intern can design a matching game for the student to use to help with the recall of colors or math facts.
- Take over a routine part of class instruction such as calendar time, and warm-up skills activities.
- Conduct a vocabulary review.
- Be a scorekeeper for a game.
- Record notes on a visual display as the mentor teacher instructs.
- Tally student participation. Convert teacher-created materials to new technology.
- Create a new learning center for the classroom.
- Create a survey or interview to collect information about students’ habits, interests, and understandings.
- Invite PreK-12 students to ask questions about the intern and their background and interests.
Additional Activities:
- Include the intern in classroom discussions by having them sit on the carpet area or sit at a table during small group activities.
- Have a discussion with the intern about resources available for planning lessons.
- Have a pre-planning conference with the intern to discuss lesson planning.
- Have a discussion with the intern about individual goals during the experience. Have the intern evaluate how the experience is going and discuss ways to improve the rest of the experience.
- Discuss ideas for a bulletin board display. Have the intern be in charge of designing and creating the display.
| Strategy | Definition /Example |
|---|---|
| One Teach, One Observe | One teacher has primary responsibility while the other gathers specific observational information on students or the instructing teacher. The key to this strategy is to focus on the observation – where the teacher doing the observation is observing specific behaviors. EXAMPLE: One teacher observes students for their understanding of directions while the other leads. |
| One Teach, One Assist | An extension of One Teach, One Observe. One teacher has primary instructional responsibility while the other assists students with their work, monitors behaviors, or corrects assignments. EXAMPLE: One teacher might lead a station where the students play a money math game, and the other teacher could have a mock store where the students purchase items and make change |
| Station Teaching | The co-teaching pair divides the instructional content into parts – Each teacher instructs one of the groups, and groups then rotate or spend a designated amount of time at each station – often an independent station will be used along with the teacher-led stations. EXAMPLE: One teacher might lead a station where the students play a money math game, and the other teacher could have a mock store where the students purchase items and make changes. |
| Parallel Teaching | Each teacher instructs half the students. The two teachers are addressing the same instructional material and presenting the material using the same teaching strategy. The greatest benefit of this approach is the reduction of the student-to-teacher ratio. EXAMPLE: Both teachers are leading a question-and-answer discussion on specific current events and the impact they have on our economy. |
| Supplemental Teaching | This strategy allows one teacher to work with students at their expected grade level, while the other teacher works with those students who need the information and/or materials retaught, extended or remediated. EXAMPLE: One teacher may work with students who need reteaching of a concept while the other teacher works with the rest of the students on enrichment. |
| Alternative (Differentiated) | Alternative teaching strategies provide two different approaches to teaching the same information. The learning outcome is the same for all students, however, the avenue for getting there is different. EXAMPLE: One instructor may lead a group in predicting before reading by looking at the cover of the book and the illustrations. The other instructor accomplishes the same outcome but with his/her group, the students predict by connecting the items pulled out of the bag with the story. |
| Team Teaching | Well-planned, team-taught lessons, exhibit an invisible flow of instruction with no prescribed division of authority. Using a team- teaching strategy, both teachers are actively involved in the lesson. From a student’s perspective, there is no clearly defined leader – as both teachers share the instruction, are free to interject information, and are available to assist students and answer questions. EXAMPLE: Both instructors can share the reading of a story or text so that the students are hearing two voices.team-t |
| Copyright 2011, St. Cloud State University, Teacher Quality Enhancement Center; Research Funded by a US Department of Education, Teacher Quality Enhancement Grant |