I. Course Title: Student Teaching Mathematics Grades 6-12
II. Course Number: EDUC 667
III. Credit Hours: 6 credits
IV. Prerequisites: Successful completion of Early Field Experiences in Teaching Mathematics
Grades 6-12 (EDUC 647 ) as demonstrated on the final early field experience evaluation;
recommendation of the candidate’s university field supervisor.
V. Course Description:
This semester long full-time field experience provides teacher candidates extensive
clinical experience in a grade level appropriate for licensure in mathematics teaching
at the middle level (grades 6-8) or secondary level (grades 6-12). Candidates design
and deliver a wide variety of learning experiences in their placement with the advantage
of mentorship and coaching provided by schools, licensed teachers, and university
faculty. Candidates begin by observing and co-teaching with their cooperating teachers
and then transition to assume full responsibility for appropriate mathematics classes.
Regularly scheduled seminars enhance professional development of the candidate and
are included as a weighted percentage of the student teaching grade.
VI. Detailed Description of Content of the Course:
During this clinical experience, candidates are placed in a middle/secondary (grades
6-12) mathematics classroom with a certified cooperating teacher. The semester begins
with the candidate completing observations of the teacher and the students and learning
classroom routines and expectations; candidates assume co-teaching responsibilities
within the first few weeks and subsequently transition into full-time teaching, first
using the cooperating teacher’s lesson plans and then their own. Candidates will develop
their own lessons, provide instruction, and assess student learning in all appropriate
classes for a minimum of two consecutive weeks. Candidates’ practices will utilize
the Virginia Department of Education standards and the National Council of Teachers
of Mathematics Council for the Accreditation of Educational Programs standards for
planning and instruction.
Weekly seminars are scheduled to enhance the professional development of candidates
enrolled in this field experience. Seminar participation is a weighted part of the
student teaching grade. Topics include, but are not limited to the following:
- Classroom management and student motivation
- Teaching diverse learners in the mathematics classroom
- Professional growth, reflection, and evaluation
- Communicating with families
- Tools and resources for exploration-based mathematics classrooms
- Applications of instructional planning, pedagogy, and assessment
VI. Detailed Description of Conduct of Course:
Candidate placements are made in appropriate mathematics classrooms in grades 6-12.
Candidates practice teaching diverse learners under the supervision of approved cooperating
teachers and university supervisors. Candidates are embedded in schools full-time
throughout the semester; effective lesson planning, assessment, instructional delivery,
and classroom management are key focus areas. The experience begins with observation
and culminates in assumption of full teaching responsibility. The student teaching
experience provides for a minimum of 300 clock hours with at least 150 hours spent
supervised in direct teaching activities.
VII. Goals and Objectives of the Course:
Goals, objectives, and assignments address the Virginia Department of Education regulations
for preparing middle/secondary (grades 6-12) mathematics educators and the National
Council of Teachers of Mathematics CAEP Standards for Secondary Initial Teacher Preparation.
Candidates successfully completing this course will be able to demonstrate developing
knowledge, skills, and dispositions of the following:
Area 1: Understand how to effectively design and implement mathematics instruction
- Candidates will develop their abilities to plan lessons and units that incorporate
a variety of strategies, differentiated instruction for diverse populations, and mathematics-specific
and instructional technologies in building all students’ conceptual understanding
and procedural proficiency.
- Candidates will develop their abilities to plan and create developmentally appropriate,
sequential, and challenging learning opportunities grounded in mathematics education
research in which students are actively engaged in building new knowledge from prior
knowledge and experiences.
- Candidates will develop their abilities to provide students with opportunities to
communicate about mathematics and make connections among mathematics, other content
areas, everyday life, and the workplace.
- Candidates will develop their abilities to apply mathematical content and pedagogical
knowledge to select, adapt, evaluate, and use instructional tools such as manipulatives
and physical models, drawings, virtual manipulatives and environments, spreadsheets,
presentation tools, and mathematics-specific technologies (e.g., calculators, graphing
utilities, dynamic geometry software, computer algebra systems, and statistical packages);
and make sound decisions about when such tools enhance teaching and learning, recognizing
both the insights to be gained and possible limitations of such tools.
Area 2: Assess student learning and understanding
- Candidates will develop their abilities to use various strategies and means for managing,
assessing, and monitoring student learning, including diagnosing student errors.
- Candidates will develop their abilities to assess secondary students demonstration
of their conceptual understanding; procedural fluency; the ability to formulate, represent,
and solve problems; logical reasoning and continuous reflection on that reasoning;
productive disposition toward mathematics; and the application of mathematics in a
variety of contexts.
- Candidates will develop their abilities to collect, organize, analyze, and reflect
on diagnostic, formative, and summative assessment evidence and determine the extent
to which students’ mathematical proficiencies have increased as a result of their
instruction and use the evidence to inform ongoing planning and instruction, as well
as to understand and help students understand their own progress and growth.
- Candidates will develop their abilities to plan, select, implement, interpret, and
use formative and summative assessments to inform instruction by reflecting on mathematical
proficiencies essential for all students.
- Candidates will develop their abilities to monitor students’ progress, make instructional
decisions, and measure students’ mathematical understanding and ability using formative
and summative assessments.
Area 3: Meet the diverse needs of learners to engage them in mathematical thinking
and activities.
- Candidates will develop their abilities to research-based use strategies to teach
mathematics to diverse adolescent learners and use instructional practices that are
sensitive to culturally and linguistically diverse learning, including English learners,
gifted and talented students, and students with disabilities.
- Candidates will develop their abilities to incorporate knowledge of individual differences
and the cultural and language diversity that exists within classrooms and include
culturally relevant perspectives as a means to motivate and engage students.
- Candidates will demonstrate equitable and ethical treatment of and high expectations
for all students
Area 4: Communication & Professional Development
- Candidates will take an active role in their professional growth by participating
in professional development experiences that directly relate to the learning and teaching
of mathematics.
- Candidates will develop their understanding of and abilities to select, adapt, evaluate
and use instructional resources from professional mathematics education organizations
such as print, digital, and virtual resources/collections.
- Candidates will begin to develop their abilities to improve communication between
schools and families and ways of increasing family engagement in student learning
at home, in school and with the Virginia Standards of Learning.
VIII. Assessment Measures:
Assessment in student teaching is both formative and summative; it is performance-based
in an authentic field setting, and completed collaboratively by the classroom teacher
and university faculty. Evaluation is based upon the INTASC Standards for Beginning
Teachers which are embedded in the Teacher Candidate Evaluation form. Key assessments
include:
- CAEP Performance Assessments: Lesson Planning
- CAEP Performance Assessments: Observation
- CAEP Performance Assessment: Impact on Student Learning Project
- CAEP Performance Assessment Final Evaluation
- CAEP Performance Assessment: Professional Characteristics and Dispositions form
- 150 successful teaching hours
In addition to the assessments above, Teacher Candidates will be assessed using other
measures including, but not limited to:
- Reflective Journals
- Unit Plan
- Focused Observation Assignments
- Article Critiques
- Participation in seminar
Other Course Information
Graded A-C (+/-).
Review and Approval
March 01, 2021