How the Social Studies Interns are Viewed by their Mentors

1. How the Social Studies Interns are Viewed by their Mentors Going Public Presentation Mike Broda, Mark Helmsing, Chris Kaiser, and Claire Yates

2. Question 1

3. Comments from the Mentors • The reason I did not agree or disagree in those categories is because I felt I needed to teach my intern quite a bit about these things. However, I think he’s been a VERY good learner and has made great strides in these areas. I ASKED him if he’d learned classroom management techniques and he said he had not. He also struggled (I think) with creating assignments that were grade appropriate. (they were often difficult/confusing) He has made huge strides, however, and as a rookie mentor myself (this is my second year), I’m still learning what I should expect him to learn in college and what I’m supposed to teach him. He seems to have a wealth of knowledge of his content and is good at using the standards to drive his instruction.

4. Comments from Mentors • I would really like to see MSU interns place individual standards on lessons and really concentrate on teaching standards as oppose to teaching concepts. Our school really focuses on bringing up MEAP scores and one way they want is to do that is by concentrating on developing lessons around the standards then implementing content to demonstrate those standards. • The intern placement is where almost all skills are learned for teaching. Just as when I went through the program, the intern seems to gain very little practical knowledge in class. I compare it to learning golf, you can listen to lecture about it all day, but until you go out to the range and hit the ball, you are not going to get any better.

5. Question 2

6. Comments from Mentors • This was the strength of her student teaching experience. • This is a major concern. Perhaps college courses should be setup to address those types of classes that they might possibly teach depending upon whatever teaching endorsement they have. Shouldn’t the 401/402, 801/802, 803/804 be those classes? It seems when I went through the MSU program in the mid nineties and still yet today (based on the discussions with my intern) that theory and other things besides subject matter specific content knowledge monopolizes the time.

7. Comments from Mentors • James Madison appears to do a great job preparing interns for the curriculum that include History and Geography.

8. Question 3

9. Comments from Mentors • Better than most programs. Interns are of higher quality and more committed to education. • My intern has experienced what it feels like to begin a school year, give two final exams, and begin 3 separate trimesters. She has dealt with hundreds of students and their diverse needs over the course of the year. She has done this all while creating effective and interesting units and lessons. This is something that can only be achieved over the course of a year (or almost a year).

10. Comments from Mentors • I can’t speak to other programs since I have only had MSU interns. But I would note that there are several areas I think should be addressed with future classes: 1) Big Picture- Interns often struggle with putting a unit together with instruction, assessments, and activities that are all based on objectives and goals. Being able to ask, What do I want students to learn? Additionally, being creative with original assignments, tests, quizzes, activities should be a focus in this area. 2) Practical aspects of the internship: Truly understanding what it takes to be prepared for a lesson each day. The thought and input that it takes for a lesson. Planning out units on a calendar with relation to class time, school calendar etc. Also, recognizing daily tasks as well. (Continued next slide)

11. Comments from Mentors • 3) The amount of work given to interns during the experience is too much. Interns need time to focus on becoming a better teacher through a hands on experience. They would be better served to complete a more substantial end of internship assignment or response rather than blogging, or completing smaller assignments while they are already working hard to prepare for their internship classes.

12. Comments from Mentors • I feel that the time- year student teaching- has prepared my student teacher much better and has allowed him to prepare and be a part of the day to day planning and teaching without the pressure of having to be ready on day one. However, I would recommend that the student teacher NOT have other academic responsibilities during the student teaching experience…student teaching is a full time responsibility and adding other academic requirements puts added stress on them which I feel has a negative impact on their experience.

13. Comments from Mentors • From my experience, the MSU intern has a similar content knowledge and level of classroom management skill as the student teachers from other institutions, but one area that they have superior strength is their interactions with students and their abilities to identify student needs as well as accommodations for those needs.

14. Concluding Thoughts • Jurisdiction- The mentor teachers seem to value the classroom end of student teacher rather than the courses given to our interns. Practical knowledge over theory can only be learned on the job. The role of the university seems unclear during the intern year. • Tension between ideas of graduate level course work and professional development training for our interns. • Perhaps reworking some of the course requirements for the intern year would be advisable.

15. Concluding Thoughts • Quality- Our interns are seen as being quality candidates and the year long structure of student teaching is seen as a strength of our program. Our interns generally have good content knowledge.

16. Connections to AC Programs • Connections to the AC movement- Clearly some of our respondents felt that the intern was not specifically trained to work in their school culture ( see the standards comment from Question 1). However, when preparing students to fit into a broad range of school cultures, it seems as if we are providing a general body of knowledge that can be tweaked to individual needs. Could the same be said of teachers from district residency programs? • Most AC programs emphasis course work during the experience. In contrast, our mentors have a problem with the amount of coursework given to our interns.

17. Recommendations for MSU Program • Create better communication between field instructors, mentors, interns and method instructors. • Re-evaluate the curriculum of the intern level courses • Create opportunities for the mentors to discuss their roles in the program