TEI Coursework

Students accepted into GSE’s teacher education program will participate in:

Pedagogical Coursework

Taught by university and clinical faculty, students receive instruction in a variety of instructional methods, curriculum development, and assessment. These methods include direct instruction, instruction for special needs, reflective inquiry, instructional technology, and cooperative instructional techniques. Prospective teachers are also prepared to work with students with different learning styles and needs.

Field Experiences/Student Teaching

Students are required to complete 100 classroom contact hours prior to student teaching.  These classroom contact hours are associated with the Field Experience course taken in the fall semester during which students take weekly supervised visits to urban and suburban elementary, middle, and high schools to begin to understand schools from the teacher’s viewpoint.  Discussions at the schools and at the University frame and extend the experiences.  Students work with an experienced classroom teacher, who then becomes a cooperating teacher for a student teaching placement during the spring semester.  Our candidates student teach in two collaborative placements at two different grade levels (as required by the New York State Regents).  Students will experience at least one urban student teaching placement.  In addition, students may have an urban, suburban, or rural experience for the second student teaching placement.  TEI selects the schools that students are assigned to each year.

Download Guide to Field Experience and Student Teaching

Reflective Inquiry Project

Students begin working on their Reflective Inquiry Project (RIP) early in their certification sequence. During the field experience class, with the assistance of Teacher Education Associates (TEA’s), students construct a researchable question about school practice that they are interested in exploring. The fieldwork experience then provides the opportunity to observe and collect evidence to address the question. At the conclusion of their fieldwork, students incorporate their evidence into a paper that also includes a review of the literature, as well as an analysis and reflective interpretation of their findings. Toward the conclusion of their student teaching experiences, students look back on both their RIP and teaching experience and write a brief paper that “reflects” and “reflects on” what they’ve learned during the academic year.

Academic Standing

The academic record of each student in the Teacher Education program is reviewed at the conclusion of each semester. Students are required to maintain a 3.0 grade point average (GPA) in teacher education courses in order to continue in the program, with no single grade falling below a “B-.” All teacher education coursework must be successfully completed prior to student teaching. Applications for student teaching will be accepted only after successful completion of all other certification requirements and required coursework.