IL 2524: Level 2 Student Teaching Practicum Syllabus

Instructor: George J. Zimmerman, PhD [email protected] (412) 624-7247 Office hours and conference calls are available by appointment.

Course Description: Here is a brief overview of the practicum expectations and requirements. I will serve as the University of Pittsburgh supervisor for your placements. The student teaching practicum is full-time clinical placement that is 14-weeks long, Monday through Friday. I will be confirming who will serve as your Cooperating Teacher.

You will need a Gmail account and you will need to sign up for Google + Hangouts (G+H is similar to Skype, but it allows for multiple video participants.) Please go to http://www.google.com/+/learnmore/hangouts/ to learn more.

1. Meeting One: All student teachers with me

I will schedule a conference call (Google+ Hangout) with all of you to review all of paperwork --- to help you get your head around the expectations. In preparation, please review all of the documents on Blackboard. This meeting typically lasts an hour.

2. Meeting Two: All student teachers with Fiona Seels ([email protected])

Once this initial meeting is held, we will also need to schedule a group conference with Fiona Seels – for her to get you set up with the Taskstream account and orientate you to how to post, what and where. (She will also use Google + Hangouts), but she’ll make this meeting arrangement directly with you.

3. Meeting Three: Individual meetings with the student teacher, your Cooperating Teacher, and I

As soon as I have your Cooperating Teacher information we will need to schedule our third conference meeting – this time including your Cooperating Teacher – to review the expectations and evaluation paperwork. At this point the conversation focus switches to help support the role of the Cooperating Teacher as well as review once again your requirements. This meeting typically lasts about 45 minutes and will be arranged individually with the student teaching and Cooperating Teacher pairs - as it fits around your schedules (meeting and trainings) so talk to your Cooperating Teacher and start planning ahead to make sure this conversation happens as early as possible.

Your student teaching experiences and work will be directly uploaded onto a website called iWebfolio. There are four categories of evidence that you will upload that show competence in the following areas:

Planning and Preparation Classroom Environment

Instructional Delivery

Professionalism

The evidence that you will upload will include your Cooperating Teacher’s weekly and bi-weekly evaluations, your midterm and final lesson plans, your student demographics, assessments and curricular adaptations and much more.

The work that you will need to submit is substantial and cannot be left until the end of the semester. Please do not procrastinate.

For those of you who are student teaching on-the-job and for those of you who are itinerant, there will be slight modifications to Taskstream. We will discuss these during our third conference call.

Please note that I will not be asking for anything trivial and I expect you to respond to my emails ASAP. This experience will be as good as you make it. There is a lot of coordination and cooperation needed, so please be “all in”.

Course Objectives:

Students will: A. The Student Teacher (ST) will participate in three Google+ Hangouts meetings. You will need a Gmail account and you will need to sign up for Google + Hangouts (G+H is similar to Skype, but it allows for multiple video participants.) Please go to http://www.google.com/+/learnmore/hangouts/ to learn more. 1. Meeting One: All ST’s with me I will schedule a conference call (Google+ Hangout) with all of you to review all of paperwork --- to help you get your head around the expectations. In preparation, please review all of the documents on Blackboard. This meeting typically lasts an hour.

2. Meeting Two: All ST’s with Fiona Seels ([email protected]) Once this initial meeting is held, we will also need to schedule a group conference with Fiona Seels – for her to get you set up with the Taskstream account and orientate you to how to post, what and where. (She will also use Google + Hangouts), but she’ll make this meeting arrangement directly with you.

3. Meeting Three: Individual meetings with the ST, your Cooperating Teacher (CT), and I As soon as I have your CT information we will need to schedule our third conference meeting – this time including your CT – to review the expectations and evaluation paperwork. At this point the conversation focus switches to help support the role of the CT as well as review once again your requirements. This meeting typically lasts about 45 minutes and will be arranged individually with the student teaching and CT pairs - as it fits around your schedules (meeting and trainings) so talk to your CT and start planning ahead to make sure this conversation happens as early as possible. B. STs begin the practicum and begin to document their time and upload their documents, the CT’s observations, and the Bi-Weekly Summative Observations to Taskstream 1. Time Sheets – this is the form that you will need to complete weekly to tally your accumulated hours. The Vision Studies Program defines the practicum placement by the 14-week duration and not by a total number of hours. Please follow the protocol of your employer for calling off due to illness. Please notify me if there are more than two sick days during the practicum. If appropriate, the practicum placement will be extended to make-up excessive absences. 2. Detailed Unit Plan and Lesson Plan – this handout outlines the components to the Unit Plan (for the portfolio project) and the criteria for the detailed lesson plan to be completed for the University supervisor’s observation. 3. Weekly Schedule – template to use if you do not already have a similar system in place. Since you are not required to complete detailed lesson plans for all of your teaching, you MUST develop lesson goals/objectives in your planner so that I can review lesson variety (teaching to the full scope of IEP goals) and skill progression (lesson outcomes indicate student progress in goal area over time). 4. Observation Journal – if you are not student teaching on-the-job, then the first week of your practicum should be spent observing the students on your CT’s caseload or classroom. If you are on-the-job, then you should make an effort to observe via Skype or G+H or FaceTime other teachers who have experience in areas that you want to learn more about. 5. Evidence – you will upload the following to iWebfolio:

University of Pittsburgh Vision Studies Program Student Teacher Responsibilities Uploaded to Taskstream Planning & Preparation Master Schedule Narrative Midterm Plan & Prep 1 Student Demographics Midterm Lesson Plan 1 Observation Journal Midterm Resources Observation of Student 1 Final Plan and Prep 1 Observation of Student 2 Final Lesson Plan 1 Final Resources Teacher Made Materials 1

Classroom Environment Teacher Made Materials 2  Narrative Teacher Made Materials 3

Midterm Coop Evaluation Professionalism

Final Coop Evaluation Narrative

Discipline Policy Summative Obser Wks: 1&2

Emergency Procedures Summative Obser Wks: 3&4

Instructional Delivery Summative Obser Wks: 5&6 a Narrative Summative Obser Wks: 7&8

Eye Report Summative Obser Wks: 9&10

EFVE Summative Obser Wks: 11&12

LMA Summative Obser Wks: 13&14

IEP Midterm Univ Observation 1

Unit Plan Midterm Lesson Reflection 1

In-Service Mid-Term Coop Eval

Progress Monitoring Final Univ Observation 1

Curriculum Adaptation Final Lesson Reflection 1

Leisure Activity Adaptation Final Coop Eval Professional organizations Week 5

Resume Week 6

References Week 7

Code of Ethics Week 8

Professional Dev Week 9

Contact Log Week 10

On-Going Eval Week 11

Week 1 Week 12

Week 2 Week 13

Week 3 Week 14

Week 4 C. The CT begins the practicum and schedules weekly formal observations with the ST

1. Observation - Schedule a minimum of 10 observations (preferably one a week) either on-site or virtual via Skype, Google+ Hangouts, FaceTime, or some other form of real-time electronic participation. 2. Observation Forms – The CT will electronically complete 10 observation forms (one for each observation) and submit it to the ST. The ST will add her/his reflections and then upload to Taskstream. 3. Bi-Weekly Summative Forms – this form is completed bi-weekly by the ST and sent to the CT. The CT completes it and then emails it back to the ST. The ST then uploads it to Taskstream

4. Mid Term and Final Evaluations – these forms are completed by the CT at Midterm and Final and emailed to the ST. The ST then uploads them to Taskstream. D. The University Supervisor (US)

1. Conferences – US schedules three phone conferences at the beginning of the semester with the ST, CT, and the Pitt Taskstream representative 2. Mid Term US Observation – The US will schedule a Midterm observation of one lesson. The ST will submit the Midterm Plan and Prep Forms and Lesson Plan to the US, one week in advance. The US will complete the US Observation form and email it to the ST. The ST will add her/his reflections and then uploads it to Taskstream. 3. Final US Observation – The US will schedule a Final observation of one lesson. The ST will submit the Final Plan and Prep Forms and Lesson Plan to the US, one week in advance. The US will complete the US Observation form and email it to the ST. The ST will add her/his reflections and uploads it to Taskstream. 4. Approve Taskstream uploads – The US will review and grade every submission to the Taskstream. Please upload everything in a timely manner E. ST and US will submit the necessary forms to the Pennsylvania Department of Education to begin the certification process.

Course Requirements: 1. It is expected that all work to be typewritten using the style manual, Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Sixth Edition (2010). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. If you are unfamiliar with APA, go to: http://www.apastyle.org/index.aspx to find helpful links such as The Basics of APA Style tutorial and a few examples in the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section.

2. It is expected that students will use correct style, grammar, and spelling. 3. It is expected that students will check their Pitt email accounts and post questions regularly during the week. Likewise, the instructor will check email and the discussion board and will notify you if he will be out of town or not available.

4. Availability of Instructor: The instructor will hold “office-hours” on Wednesday evenings from 8:30 to 10:00 PM. If at all possible, he will respond to e-mails received during those times within one hour. The instructor can be reached by email or cell phone (412-760-2481. At all other times, he will respond to e-mails and discussion board questions within 48 hours.

5. Posted Course Material: Many of the posted handouts and documents are in PDF (Portable Document Format). You should download Adobe Acrobat for free from the following site if you do not already have it: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/morethanreader.html Also, PowerPoint presentations are embedded throughout the unit material and online at the various sites. If you do not have PowerPoint on your computer, you can download a viewer for free by clicking on the following: http://office.microsoft.com/downloads/default.aspx? Product=PowerPoint&Version=95%7C97 %7C98%7C2000%7C2002&Type=Converter%7CViewer

If you have questions, contact the Pitt Help Desk at (412) 624-4357.

6. Disability Policy: If you have a disability for which you are or may be requesting an accommodation, you are encouraged to contact both your instructor and Disability Resources and Services (DRS), 216 William Pitt Union, 412-648-7890 (412-282-7355 for TTY), as early as possible in the term. DRS will verify your disability and determine reasonable accommodations for this course. A comprehensive description of the services of the DRS office can be obtained at www.drs.pitt.edu.

7. Academic Integrity: Academic integrity is essential to the success of all students in higher education. Please refer to the University’s code of student obligations: http://www.provost.pitt.edu/info/aistudcode1.html. As a faculty, we take this issue very seriously and will tolerate no violations. Please notify your course instructor if you have questions related to this issue.

8. Confidentiality: You are responsible to maintain the confidentiality of all the students you work with in field placements related to your coursework at the University of Pittsburgh. When writing or doing assignments for courses or speaking about your field experience and the students you work with use pseudonyms (not initials) for students’, teachers’ and schools’ names. In public, it is your responsibility to keep written assignments and any other materials bearing the names of students, teachers or staff secure from the view of others.

9. Departmental Grievance Policy - DIL Student Grievance Procedures: The purpose of grievance procedures is to ensure the rights and responsibilities of faculty and students in their relationships with each other. The rights and responsibilities of faculty and students are described in the University’s Academic Integrity Guidelines at: http://www.bc.pitt.edu/policies/policy/02/02-03-02.html When a student in DIL believes that a faculty member has not met his or her obligations (as an instructor or in another capacity) as described in the Academic Integrity Guidelines, the student should follow the procedure described in the Guidelines (p. 16) by (1) first trying to resolve the matter with the faculty member directly; (2) then, if needed, attempting to resolve the matter through conversations with the chair/associate chair of the department; (2) if needed, next talking to the associate dean of the school; and (4) if needed, filing a written statement of charges with the school- level academic integrity officer.

The more specific procedure for student grievances within DIL is as follows:

1. The student should talk to the faculty member to attempt to resolve the matter.

2. If the matter cannot be resolved at that level, the student should talk to the relevant program coordinator (if the issue concerns a class) or his or her advisor.

3. If the matter remains unresolved, the student should talk to the associate chair of DIL (currently Dr. Patricia Crawford).

4. If needed, the student should next talk to the SOE associate dean of students. If the matter still remains unresolved, the student should file a written statement of charges with the dean’s designated Academic Integrity Administrative Officer.