Field Experience & Student Teaching
Office of Clinical Experiences and Partnerships
The undergraduate division of the College of Education (COE) uses a field-based approach to teacher preparation. Using a Professional Development Schools (PDS) framework, partnerships between schools/districts and the college/university are utilized to prepare future teachers. The PDS model is a collaborative and collective effort, with shared governance and resources utilized between all stakeholders, including university faculty, teacher candidates, K-12 districts and schools, building administration, teachers, and community members. From early in our teacher preparation program, teacher candidates are immersed in the culture and context of their respective field experience placements. The COE’s office of Clinical Experiences and Partnerships helps to facilitate teacher candidate placements, monitors teacher candidate progress, and collaborates with all stakeholders for continuous improvement.
The undergraduate COE programs of study are divided into five blocks/semesters. During Blocks 1 and 2 (junior year), teacher candidates complete a field experience by being placed in a school one day a week for eight consecutive weeks. In Blocks 4 and 5 (senior year), student teaching takes place. Each of these experiences are further explained on this website, and more information is provided under specific headings. Also included on this site is information for TIP and the Child & Youth Studies program.
Child and Youth Studies Internships
In CYS, an internship is a two-semester long mutually beneficial relationship between a student and a selected agency. In both semesters, students gain valuable hands-on experience in their CYS fields of study while earning academic credits.
The Field Experiences and Practicum in the CYS Program at Florida Gulf Coast University are two separate one-semester internship experiences that occur during two periods in the student’s program, one prior to their final semester, the “Field Experience” and one during the end of a student’s senior year, which is the “Practicum”. These two experiences are often referred to as “Internships”.
During the semester long “Field Experience” program (Block 4 internship), each candidate will be placed at a site, where they log 160 hours of work. During the semester long student “Practicum” (Block 5 internship) each candidate will be placed at a site, where they log 320 hours of work. In both cases, the student is expected to report regularly to an assigned site. The dates and times of the internship are mutually agreed by the student, site supervisor and university supervisor. In order to ease their load in the second part of the internship, students may roll-over a maximum of 100 hours from Field Experience to Practicum.
If you have any questions, contact CYS Block 4 and Block 5 Experiences at 239-745-4336 or ewreynolds@fgcu.edu
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