MBU educator preparation programs are based upon the belief that learning is developmental and built upon prior knowledge and experiences. Field experiences for all educator preparation programs are therefore carefully sequenced to provide a support for students as they gain pedagogical knowledge and skills. Support for learning at every level of education preparation requires giving information, prompts, reminders and encouragement at the right time and in the right amounts, and then gradually allowing the student to do more and more on their own. Faculty assist learning by adapting materials and problems to students’ current developmental level, demonstrating skills or thought processes, and walking students through complicated educational issues, giving feedback or asking questions that refocus students’ attention until the students grow into independent educators in their own respective fields of professional endeavor.

Scaffolded Field Experiences: TEACHER EDUCATION
Teacher education students have their first field experience in their sophomore year and are given guidance and support as they observe and work with students. Their field experiences continue in their junior year as, in groups, they work with children during their methods courses. Students have another more comprehensive opportunity in their senior year where they assume total responsibility for planning and instruction during an intense experience-based field experience. The final 16-week student teaching field experience prepares students for independent teaching in their own classroom. This support in the field is continued through the beginning teacher assistance program that the University provides for first- and second-year teachers. A plan for the scaffolded field experiences for pre-service teachers is shown below.

Phase I: Exploring the Profession

EDCL 211 Field Experience I – In this introduction to the teaching field, students are given support and guidance as they begin to experience instruction from a participatory perspective. Students must first spend time observing the structure and activities in the classroom to examine the developmental levels of the students with whom they will be interacting. Initiation into the experiential nature of this fieldwork begins as the students serve as a classroom teacher’s aid in classrooms most directly related to their preferred area(s) of certification. Under the direction of the classroom teacher with whom they are working, students become actively involved in the field experience when they present one complete lesson for the students. This beginning field experience is designed to provide the students with the opportunity to experience classroom instruction and behavior with students in age-appropriate groups. The objective is for the university students to reflect on their initial decision to pursue a teaching career and to evaluate the developmental level of students with whom they feel most suited. During this initial field experience the University students have opportunity to rethink previous decisions and choices for study in the event they find themselves unsuited for a career in education or on a particular level of instruction. At this point, students still have ample time to change their course of study if this is the appropriate decision.

Phase II: Immersion in the Profession

300 – 400 level methods courses – Based on the students’ Phase I field experiences and the insights they gained from being in the classroom experiencing education from a “front row seat,” MBU students are now at the point in their education that they can make insightful and practical decisions about continuing in the teacher education program. In the Phase I experience, students were primarily observers and less participants in the actual teaching and learning process. During Phase II, students increasingly become participants in classrooms at their chosen level of teaching. Students are expected to actively participate in the teaching and learning process in a variety of different classroom settings. Students assume more independence in planning and presenting lessons, but continue to benefit from ample faculty and professional support. These field experiences are combined with multiple opportunities for reflective discussion, student interaction, problem solving, and journaling. During these experiential activities students are required to present multiple lessons in a variety of content areas, using various instructional strategies, but always being focused on professional competency based on the standards. An integral part of these courses and field experiences is the interchange among the University students in the class, the cooperating field teacher, and University faculty. This is a time for critical thinking and exploration of the profession based on a problem-solving methodology.

EDCL 411 Field Experience II – In Phase II, students are also given opportunity to develop professional skills, to participate in the teaching and learning process, and are required to think critically and reflectively about their performance, their competency, and their contribution to the students in their classrooms. Teaching now has become the profession of choice and students have been actively involved in the teaching and learning process and have a distinct advantage over students who have not had the opportunity to experience the classroom first hand. During Phase II MBU students further refine their teaching competencies as they work independently with a cooperating teacher and with faculty supervisors to prepare and present three lessons in a developmentally appropriate grade/subject area relating most specifically to the area of their certification. The University students are solely responsible for providing extensively planned and coordinated lessons and are accountable for the results. The integration of curriculum, instruction, and assessment is the primary objective of this level of experience. Students reflect upon their teaching competencies in their professional journal. The expectation of this reflective journaling assignment is that students will become introspective educators who are self-evaluative. Students are expected to continually seek ways to improve their competency in areas that are the most personally and professionally challenging.

Phase III: Professional Internship

Student Teaching – During Phase III of the field experiences, students spend more concentrated time in actually conducting classes and being responsible and accountable for student learning during the times they are in charge of the curriculum. This experience during which the students begin to assume responsibility for classroom instruction establishes a foundation on which the students build their repertoire of instructional strategies, hone their classroom management techniques, and begin to infuse themselves into a teaching career from a professional perspective rather that a student’s perspective. During Phase III students participate in two eight-week field experiences during which they assume total responsibility for classroom instruction and assessment. Students are required to meet regularly with faculty supervisors and other student teachers in a seminar class to discuss their student teaching experiences, share ideas and concerns, and collaborate with their colleagues about professional roles and responsibilities. The students are required to continue to think reflectively and develop their professional journals. Students are expected to dialogue daily with cooperating teachers about their teaching competencies and their students’ success. These dialogues are considered an integral part of the reflective process. In order to ensure that our students have been given every opportunity to experience diversity during their field experiences, these two Phase III experiences must be conducted in different grade levels and different school settings.

Scaffolded Field Experiences: GRADUATE EDUCATION
At the graduate level, field work is done in the professional’s own classroom or building. Within these settings, future advanced teachers, building administrators, and school counselors apply course information and conduct research based on relevant course assignments.

Field Experiences: COUNSELOR EDUCATION
Based on the MBU Education Division’s belief that learning is developmental and built upon prior knowledge and experiences, counseling field experiences are also carefully sequenced and provide a scaffolding of support for students as they gain counseling knowledge and skills. Counseling students are provided field experience opportunities in several of the counseling courses and through the completion of a variety of lengthy counseling practicums. Through these interactive experiences and reflections, counseling students are prepared for independent counseling in a school setting.

Phase I – Exploring the Profession

Counseling Practicum I consists of 60 clock hours of observations and field experiences in a school setting or a community counseling setting to learn responsibilities and roles of practicing counselors. This field experience allows students to apply the skills learned in counseling courses and is carefully supervised by MBU faculty and a cooperating counselor.

Phase II – Professional Internship

The Practicum for Elementary School Counseling consists of 300 clock hours of supervised counseling within an elementary school setting; this is followed by a practicum for Secondary School Counseling, which consists of 300 clock hours of supervised counseling experiences within a secondary school setting. These semester-long field experiences further refine the counseling competencies under the supervision of MBU faculty as well as elementary and secondary school counselors.

Note: Clock hour requirements are based upon recommendations from the state agency and counseling learned societies.

Field Experiences: SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS
Phase I – Exploring the Profession
Phase I – Graduate students who are seeking certification as a building administrator (elementary or secondary) are required, while completing coursework, to produce specific assignments pertinent to the course description, design, and to fulfill course objectives. These assignments are designed to be relevant to current and future designs for school administration and to require candidates to work closely with an educator who is currently serving as a building administrator. Candidates are expected at the beginning of their program to establish a mentor relationship with someone who is presently serving as a building administrator to ascertain perspectives, opinions, ideas, and possibilities from these mentor-type relationships. Using this information, candidates document, write, and reflect about curriculum-specific assignments.

Phase II – Professional Internship
Phase II: ELAD 574 Elementary Administration Internship/Portfolio is a 90 clock-hour supervised educational administration field experience in an elementary school under the direction of a graduate faculty member. The intern will engage in two twenty-hour field experiences in two diverse settings, one considered a rural or small-school setting and the second an urban or suburban or large-school setting. During these two field experience activities, the candidate will conduct action research dealing with program evaluation, program planning, staff evaluation, curriculum development activities, and staff with the elementary school faculty. The candidate will confer with the University instructor on a weekly basis as part of the residency requirement. The final phase of the internship includes a 50-hour field experience under the direction of a certified elementary school principal in a public or certified private elementary school. The student intern will design and complete a practical project to be determined collaboratively by the school principal, the candidate, and the university faculty supervisor. The project must serve a real need of the school. During the ninety hours of field experience, the candidate will compile reflective documentation and artifactual evidence in the professional portfolio to attest to the his/her competency in the standards for school leaders.

ESAD 574 Secondary Administration Internship/Portfolio is a 90 clock-hour supervised educational administration field experience in a secondary school under the direction of a graduate faculty member. The intern will engage in two twenty-hour field experiences in two diverse settings, one considered a rural or small-school setting and the second an urban or suburban or large-school setting. During these two field development activities, the candidate will participate in action research dealing with program evaluation, program planning, staff evaluation, curriculum development activities, and staff with the secondary school faculty. The candidate will confer with the university instructor on a weekly basis as part of the residency requirement. The final phase of the internship includes a 50-hour field experience under the direction of a certified secondary school principal in a public or certified private secondary school. The student intern will design and complete a practical project to be determined collaboratively by the school principal, the candidate, and the university faculty supervisor. The project must serve a real need of the school. During the ninety hours of field experience, the candidate will compile reflective documentation and artifactual evidence in the professional portfolio to attest to the candidate’s competency in the standards for school leaders.