The internship is an opportunity for teacher candidates to synthesize what they have learned with how they teach and reflect on the experience. The coordination of the internship and student teaching experiences in carefully selected settings with experienced clinical educators allows for collegial dialogue and reflection in a guided professional experience.
The part-time internships offer prospective teachers the opportunity of an extended placement in the public school setting. It is expected that the student intern has developed a good self-awareness by this point in the program. Study of the liberal arts core is helpful in developing self-knowledge and should be completed by the senior year. The completed preliminary education courses and the methods courses that are taken along with this internship help the teacher candidate develop a professional knowledge base. Student interns also begin spending time in their student teaching classroom prior to student teaching to develop a familiarity with the curriculum, students, policies, and procedures of the host school.
All teacher candidates in undergraduate programs will complete a semester-long internship during the semester before they student teach. Candidates are required to spend one full school day per week in their placement observing, assisting, planning, and teaching. Interns are expected to apply what they are learning in their final courses in the internship semester. The intern may begin planning for the spring student teaching experience during the fall internship with the guidance of the cooperating classroom teacher and the university supervisor. There are also assignments scheduled in methods courses that interns are expected to complete during the internship. These assignments are geared toward allowing the student to learn the content as well as gain insight into appropriate strategies for teaching in the placement setting. The assignments will directly contribute to the edTPA© portfolio that is the culmination of the student teaching experience.
In general, LR students in internship are responsible for:
completing course assignments by designated due dates;
communicating regularly and professionally;
demonstrating proficient educator dispositions;
attending internship for one full day per week; and
completing the mock edTPA and earning an average rating of proficient or better.