Welcome

You have been selected to be a cooperating teacher for an education student from Texas A&M University-Texarkana. 

Thank you for being an excellent teacher.

It is clear that your administrators have selected you for this reason.  What you do in your classroom, they want to see replicated in our future teachers.  This is an honor and a responsibility.

This Web site will provide information to help you understand the process that has been successful in producing many outstanding teachers for our East Texas and Arkansas area.  It may seem complicated at first, but knowing the basics will help you feel more comfortable in your role.


Field-Based Semester


Your field-based student has been taking classes for several years.  First they took the basics at a community college close by and then they started taking upper division classes at one of our three sites:  Northeast Texas Community College, the Hallsville PET program or on the Texarkana campus.  During the semester prior to being places with you, the student was either interviewed by your district or they created an autobiography for the district to read.  Their transcripts have been reviewed and a criminal history check was run by the district.  They are now ready for their final two semesters. 


During the field-based semester, the student is taking methods courses that connect the education coursework with the public school classroom.  They will observe students and lessons, tutor, and teach their first lessons in your classroom.  Part of their assignment is to communicate their requirements with you and provide you with evaluation forms and documents.  We are unable to pay you for your assistance, so we expect the student to be responsible for the paperwork and their time commitment.

When the field-based student arrives in your classroom, please provide them a place to store their belongings.  He/she will take notes and jot down questions to ask you when there is a free moment.  Introduce field-based student to the class and explain that they will be teaching lessons and assisting you during this first semester.  Expect your students to respect the field-based student and listen to him/her as they would you.  The student will not be with you every day during this semester. 

Here are the time requirements:

EC-6th Generalist Certification 6 hours per week for six weeks with two cooperatin teachers (12 weeks total)
EC-6th grade Special Education or Bilingual Certication 6hours per week for four weeks with three cooperating teachers (12 weeks total)
4th-8th grade and 8th-12th grade Certifaction 3 hours per week for six weeks with two cooperating teachers (12 weeks total)

Students, who are able, can complete more than the minimum hours, but many are working around classes, families and jobs.

If you can explain classroom management plans and your curriculum, this will help the field-based student understand the way your classroom is set up and what makes it run smoothly.  As report cards and other reports become due, let them watch you collect data.  Any responsibilities that you have as a teacher, they need to exprience. If you have any concerns or question about your role at any time during this semester, the Director of Field Experiences will be glad to assist you by phone, by email or in person.

Residency

Upon successful completion of the field-based semester, the candidate will continue with you the next semester.  This residency semester is the traditional student teaching semester and lasts all day for 72 days.  Dividing the days between two or three cooperating teachers as in the previous semester, the resident should be ready to start teaching a part of the day each day.  More teaching responsibilities can be added each week, working up to teaching all day. The state requires two weeks of full time teaching.

 

EC-6th Generalist, 4th-8th and 8th-12th Certification Seeker 35 days in the first cooperrating teacher's classroom or training: two full weeks of teaching required 35 days in the second cooperating teacher's classroom or training; two full weeks of teachering required 5 days of observation
EC-6th Special Education and Bilingual Certification Seekers 25 days in the first cooperating teacher's classroom or traing; two full weeks of teaching required 25 days in the second cooperating teacher’s classroom or training; two full weeks of teaching required 25 days in the third cooperating teacher’s classroom or training; two full weeks of teaching required



A field supervisor, or liaison, will be assigned to coach each resident.  The field supervisor is usually a retired teacher or principal who has many years of experience in public schools.  The resident writes weekly reflections in which the supervisor replies with answers or suggestions that fit the situation.  The field supervisor will also meet with the campus principal as needed.

An Instructional Leadership Team supports each resident.  The field supervisor, resident and cooperating teacher make up this team.  The members meet during the first two weeks of each placement.  The resident presides over the meeting and completes documentation with specific guidelines for improvement, if needed.  The objectives of the meeting are to discuss the residents’ strengths and areas of improvement, plan teaching experiences, and to establish the dates of lesson evaluations.  The field supervisor will evaluate two lessons:  one before the two weeks of full time teaching and one during the second week of full time teaching.  The cooperating teacher will give the resident feedback after each lesson, but evaluate the resident once using a modified PDAS, Professional Development Appraisal System.  The evaluation form is supplied by the student from the university and is used in determining the ILT’s recommendation for passing the course and for becoming certified to teach in Texas.  Another ILT meeting is held at the end of each placement to document success before moving to the next placement.

The cooperating teacher’s encouragement and corrective feedback are invaluable to the resident.  If teaching is to be their career, specific pointers, given in a sincere and direct way, help transform the resident into a professional educator. Clerical chores and required duties should be completed together.

Seminars for the residents are held at the beginning, the middle, and the end of each semester.  Topics such as legal issues for teachers, new laws, interviewing information and advice from a school nurse are some of the topics addressed.  Seminar ideas from district administrators and cooperating teachers are appreciated.

During the final semester, many students continue to take one or more special education classes.  The classes require students to complete Response to Intervention projects.  Valuable remediation and data generated for these projects can be beneficial. 

Other responsibilities of the resident include taking and passing TExES exams and applying for teacher certification.  Learning to work with teacher’s aides, secretaries, librarians, custodial staff and grade level colleagues are parts of this valuable training during the student teaching experience.  Parents and counselors who allow the resident to attend conferences help the future teacher grow in their abilities, too.

Toward the end of the semester, a letter of recommendation will be requested of the cooperating teacher.  This is more valuable to the new teacher than a 4.0 on their transcript!  Districts respect the opinion of the cooperating teacher who has trained the resident on a daily basis over any other recommendation

Special Programs


As with any other program, there are exceptions to this explanation.


Employed Aides:  

If the A&M-Texarkana student is employed as an aide, the student may receive the Aide’s Exemption.  The exemption allows the student to request a waiver for the final semester.  If the teacher’s aide qualifies, but is not accepted, the student may ask the district to allow them to do our Combined Program.  In the Combined Program, the student completes the field-based hours for six weeks and then teaches a full week.

Clinical Teaching:


 If a student has an undergraduate degree, he/she may be in the Alternative Certification Program.  Some ACP students decide to do a semester of student teaching (residency) as a culminating experience before taking a teaching job. These students do not complete the field-based semester. They interview, are placed, attend the same meetings, and have the same responsibilities as residents.

Professional Development School:


Westlawn Elementary School interviews and accepts ten students for their final two semesters.  The education students are employed by Texarkana Independent School District.  Master teachers are assigned two students in grades K-4.  The students complete coursework while teaching alongside their master teacher.  Other districts have indicated interest in implementing this program.

A link to the Teacher Preparation Website is:  http://www.tamut.edu/CASE/tpp/index.html

The Residents’ Handbook contains copies of all the requirements of our program and all of the forms.  Again, the residents are given a notebook and will keep up with all of theirrequired paperwork.

Suggestions from Former Students

I would like for my cooperating teacher to know:

The outcome of our efforts is the far reaching effect of teaching future generations.  What an amazing responsibility!