Forms, information for prospective student-athletes.
Vocational Teacher Preparation (VTP)
WHAT IS STUDENT TEACHING?
WHY DO I HAVE TO STUDENT TEACH?
WHAT ARE MY RESPONSIBILITIES PRIOR TO APPLYING TO STUDENT TEACH?
WHAT DO I NEED TO DO TO GET A PLACEMENT?
WHEN DO I SIGN UP FOR STUDENT TEACHING?
WHEN DO I REGISTER FOR STUDENT TEACHING?
IS IT OK TO WORK PART-TIME AND/OR TAKE COLLEGE CLASSES WHILE I’M STUDENT TEACHING?
CAN I ARRANGE MY OWN STUDENT TEACHING PLACEMENTS?
AM I GUARANTEED STUDENT TEACHING PLACEMENT(S) DURING THE SEMESTER FOR WHICH I APPLIED?
WILL I NEED TRANSPORTATION?
WHERE WILL I BE PLACED?
WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES AFFECT SITE SELECTION?
ARE THERE SCHOOLS WHERE I CANNOT BE PLACED?
WHAT INFORMATION DO I NEED TO COMMUNICATE TO THE FIELD PLACEMENT OFFICE?
IF I DECIDE TO DEFER STUDENT TEACHING FOR A SEMESTER, WHAT DO I NEED TO DO?
WHAT CAN I DO TO IMPROVE MY CHANCES OF MY APPLICATION BEING IN THE FIRST ROUND THAT ARE SENT TO SCHOOLS IN REQUEST OF PLACEMENTS?
WHAT SHOULD I DO IF I AM CALLED BY A SCHOOL FOR AN INTERVIEW?
WHAT DOCUMENTATION DO I NEED TO KEEP?
I KNOW SEVERAL OTHER PEOPLE ALREADY HAVE THEIR PLACEMENT INFORMATION BUT I AM STILL WAITING FOR MINE. WHAT SHOULD I DO?
WHAT DO I NEED TO KEEP IN MIND WHILE PREPARING MY APPLICATION DOCUMENTS?
WHEN WILL I FIND OUT ABOUT MY PLACEMENTS?
HOW WILL I FIND OUT MY PLACEMENT INFORMATION?
IS THERE ANYTHING I CAN DO TO SPEED UP THE PLACEMENT PROCESS?
CAN I CHANGE THE AREA WHERE I WISH TO STUDENT TEACH?
CAN I CHANGE MY PLACEMENT?
I HAVE A DISABILITY. HOW DO I REQUEST SPECIAL ACCOMMODATIONS?
WHAT SHOULD I DO IF I AM SICK OR HAVE AN EMERGENCY?
Student teaching is defined as a “full-time, supervised, uncompensated experience. ”This means that you must complete your student teaching in a continuous sequence of weeks for the designated time period. The primary objective of student teaching is to provide opportunities for acquisition and demonstration of instructional competence to further your professional development. You will be supervised in your classroom by a certified and experienced cooperating teacher. Supervision from SUNY Oswego is provided by professionals who have been successful classroom teachers/administrators.
WHY DO I HAVE TO STUDENT TEACH?
The student teaching experience has been carefully designed to be as realistic and as intensive as actual teaching. This includes placing student teachers in schools with carefully selected and qualified cooperating teachers. During student teaching assignments, teacher candidates will be developing and applying skills you learned during coursework and you observed during in-school observations built into your previous coursework. These include lesson planning and adaptation, effective classroom management techniques, effective communication skills, strategies for working with special needs students, and use of developmental and content reading and writing strategies as part of the integration of language arts processes.
WHAT ARE MY RESPONSIBILITIES PRIOR TO APPLYING TO STUDENT TEACH?
Know your academic and registration status! Make an appointment with your academic advisor to make sure you are ready for student teaching. Be sure all eligibility requirements have been met. When it is time to register for student teaching, make sure you are able to register by ensuring there are no holds on your account.
WHAT DO I NEED TO DO TO GET A PLACEMENT?
One semester prior to student teaching, you will need to pick up a student teaching application packet from Vocational Teacher Preparation Office, 214 Hewitt Union. You will then need to complete all the required application documents and submit your application at the beginning of the following semester (check for and meet all deadlines). At the end of that semester, you will register for student teaching.
WHEN DO I SIGN UP FOR STUDENT TEACHING?
You Sign-up for your placement when you submit your student teaching application packet to the Vocational Teacher Preparation Office, 214 Hewitt Union.
WHEN DO I REGISTER FOR STUDENT TEACHING?
You Register for your placement through the Registrar (you can do so through MyOswego) during the regular registration schedule.
IS IT OK TO WORK PART-TIME AND/OR TAKE COLLEGE CLASSES WHILE I’M STUDENT TEACHING?
Student teaching requires a full-time commitment on the part of the student, so normally no other courses are taken during this period of time. In addition, student teachers are discouraged from holding part-time, evening and weekend jobs, as these added demands will cut into time that should be spent planning and preparing lessons and materials, and will diminish opportunities for involvement in after-school meetings and extra-curricular activities.
CAN I ARRANGE MY OWN STUDENT TEACHING PLACEMENTS?
The Field Placement Office is responsible for making all experiential placements for teacher candidates. Schools are being asked for placements by many colleges and universities besides our own and it is just too difficult for principals to have individuals contact them and/or their teachers to request their own placements. The FPO works hard to maintain excellent relationships with our cooperating schools; we abide by their placement procedures and comply with all school policies. Therefore, students must refrain from seeking their own placement; sometimes students can delay placement for everyone when they make an informal request for their own placement. Therefore, all student teaching assignments must be arranged through the Field Placement Office.
AM I GUARANTEED STUDENT TEACHING PLACEMENT(S) DURING THE SEMESTER FOR WHICH I APPLIED?
While SUNY Oswego attempts to make placements for eligible students, the University cannot provide nor guarantee a placement in all cases. Final decisions for eligibility, appropriateness, and preparedness for placement rests in the professional judgment of those faculty in the candidate’s department who review students for possible placement.
Students can expect to have one placement within a 50 mile radius of their given address; however, we do not have enough available teachers at cooperating schools to guarantee that both placements (if needed) will be within that range. It should be expected that one placement may be up to a 1 ½hour commute. Therefore, it is strongly suggested that you arrange for transportation in advance of your Student Teaching experiences.
While you cannot choose a specific school or school district in which to complete your student teaching, you will be able to specify a first, second and third choice.
WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES AFFECT SITE SELECTION?
Some school districts are extremely popular. The number of placements we can secure in the popular districts are usually limited;
Some schools accept student teachers only every other year, others take very few student teachers, and some take none at all;
Some schools are not willing to take student teachers due to conflicts or changes in their school programs;
Teacher retirements, assignment changes, maternity leaves, illness or deaths, relocations, or staff reductions all affect a school’s willingness to accept student teachers.
ARE THERE SCHOOLS WHERE I CANNOT BE PLACED?
- You cannot be placed in a school where your relatives work or attend school;
- In a school district where your children attend;
- In a school from which you graduated.
WHAT INFORMATION DO I NEED TO COMMUNICATE TO THE FIELD PLACEMENT OFFICE?
Any changes in your contact information, such as to your name, address, phone number, or email address need to be communicated to the FPO. Also, keep us up-to-date on any changes to your program or your academic status. Please notify the FPO about any changes immediately, either by email (fpoffice@oswego.edu) or by phone (312-3098).
IF I DECIDE TO DEFER STUDENT TEACHING FOR A SEMESTER, WHAT DO I NEED TO DO?
If you decide to defer student teaching for a semester, please notify the FPO in writing immediately. You will then need to reapply for student teaching for your chosen semester by completing a new card and submitting updated application documents to the FPO.
WHAT CAN I DO TO IMPROVE MY CHANCES OF MY APPLICATION BEING IN THE FIRST ROUND THAT ARE SENT TO SCHOOLS IN REQUEST OF PLACEMENTS?
Take great care in preparing your application materials and make sure everything is error free in grammar, spelling, and form. Know application due dates and turn materials in by the due date. (Procedural penalties will be placed on all late applications). Reply promptly to any phone calls or emails from our office as a delay in responding may jeopardize your placements.
WHAT SHOULD I DO IF I AM CALLED BY A SCHOOL FOR AN INTERVIEW?
It is becoming more and more common for teachers and/or principals to request a student teacher to interview prior to accepting them for student teaching. If you are called for an interview, respond promptly to the request and treat the student teaching interview with the same professionalism that you would a formal job interview.
WHAT DOCUMENTATION DO I NEED TO KEEP?
Keep a copy of all your completed student teaching application documents on file at home. Also, save emails and other messages from the FPO for future reference. You should also keep a copy of any communications between you and any school/staff members.
I KNOW SEVERAL OTHER PEOPLE ALREADY HAVE THEIR PLACEMENT INFORMATION BUT I AM STILL WAITING FOR MINE. WHAT SHOULD I DO?
Please be patient. Securing a placement is usually a complicated undertaking! The FPO is dealing with a great number of students, teachers, and school administrators, and some cooperating schools are slower than we would wish. Additionally, no school or teacher is required to take a student teacher, so we ask you to be patient while we work to complete your placement. If you email (fpoffice@oswego.edu) or stop by our office (252 Wilber Hall) to ask about your status, please give us your name, your program and concentration information so we can respond to you appropriately.
WHAT DO I NEED TO KEEP IN MIND WHILE PREPARING MY APPLICATION DOCUMENTS?
The FPO mails your application documents to many school administrators and teachers. These documents provide a “first impression” of you and give your prospective cooperating teacher an idea of your professionalism and potential as a teacher. In addition, some schools will not accept a student teacher if any errors are found in their application documents. Therefore it is in your best interest to prepare neat, well-organized application documents that clearly present your experiences and accomplishments as a student, as well as your ideas about teaching. Errors on any of your application documents seriously detract from what may otherwise be a strong application; we have actually had some applications rejected and returned to our office with mistakes circled by the individuals who reviewed them! Ask someone who is good in grammar, spelling, and punctuation to proofread your application documents prior to submission so you are assured of making a good impression on prospective cooperating teachers!
WHEN WILL I FIND OUT ABOUT MY PLACEMENTS?
We try to notify students with their Fall placement information before schools close for summer vacation or with their Spring placement information before schools close for winter break. Unfortunately, there are always schools that are very slow in returning approval forms; this is something we live with every year. While we certainly hope your placement is finalized quickly (most of them are), we know that there will always be a few that will take longer than either you or this office would like.
HOW WILL I FIND OUT MY PLACEMENT INFORMATION?
You will receive a letter from our office which will be mailed to the address you gave on your application card. In the letter, the FPO will tell you where and with whom you are placed. If your placement is late, we will call you with your placement information before sending your letter. If we have any questions prior to your placement notification, we will call or email you using the contact information on your placement application card.
IS THERE ANYTHING I CAN DO TO SPEED UP THE PLACEMENT PROCESS?
There is really nothing you can do to speed up the placement process. We are in constant contact with our cooperating schools and are working diligently to finalize placements. Therefore, we ask that you be patient and wait until our office can complete your arrangements for you.
CAN I CHANGE THE AREA WHERE I WISH TO STUDENT TEACH?
You will need to submit an appeal to change your area preference in writing for any pending placement. Except in extreme circumstances, placements that have been confirmed prior to your appeal cannot be changed.
The Field Placement Office works very hard to maintain and improve relations with our local schools so we can continue to find enough placements for everyone. When a school and cooperating teacher agree to host a student teacher, we do not like to disappoint them. Therefore, you cannot change your placement.
I HAVE A DISABILITY. HOW DO I REQUEST SPECIAL ACCOMMODATIONS?
You will need to contact the Disability Services Office; the FPO will arrange for accommodations for you based on their determination of needs. The Disability Services Office is located in 226 Hewitt Union, phone - 312-3358; email dss@oswego.edu.
WHAT SHOULD I DO IF I AM SICK OR HAVE AN EMERGENCY?
Your cooperating teacher will have made some preparation for you, so if you are unable to participate in any practicum or student teaching session, you will need to call the school as soon as you know you cannot attend and let the office know you will not be there:
- Identify yourself by name and college;
- State that you are a student teacher in (your cooperating teacher’s name) classroom;
- Indicate your reason for your absence;
- Indicate when you will deliver any materials you are responsible for developing for that day (such as lesson plans and/or materials for that day’s classes);
- Ask that a message be delivered immediately to your cooperating teacher.
You should then call your college supervisor with the same information.
Make arrangements to deliver to your cooperating teacher any materials for which you are responsible for developing for that day (such as lesson plans and/or materials for that day’s classes).