Methods and student teaching/internship information

For program-specific requirements, refer to the official program checksheet available in the Student and Academic Services Office, 365 Education. All teacher preparation students must meet their program’s eligibility requirements, as listed on the checksheet, prior to being placed for the methods field experience and subsequent student teaching/internship. Consult the Student Teaching Handbook, www.bgsu.edu/colleges/edhd/advising/sthdbk/, for additional policies and information.

Eligibility
Students must be fully admitted to the College of Education and Human Development and accepted into their programs, have successfully completed all prerequisite courses and met any minimum grade requirements, have completed 90 hours of university coursework, and earned the minimum accumulative and major grade point averages required for their program by the end of the semester prior to methods and/or student teaching/internship. Students who are declared ineligible for student teaching/internship have the right to appeal to the academic program coordinator.

Sign-up
Students apply for methods and/or student teaching placements at sign-up meetings held the semester prior to the term they will be completing the experience. Separate meetings are held for each program during the first weeks of the term, and it is the student’s responsibility to attend this important meeting.

Placement
The Office of Research and Field Experiences obtains all student teaching placements. Students may not arrange their own placements and will not be placed in a school where a family member is employed or attends nor a school they themselves attended. Although student placement preferences are taken into consideration, they often cannot be accommodated. Students are placed in approximately a 50-mile radius of Bowling Green and are responsible for their own transportation to and from the site. We strongly recommend that students obtain additional travel and liability insurance prior to beginning the experience, either from their insurance agent or through BGSU (see page 20 of the Student Teacher Handbook). BGSU also offers an international and an out-of-state student teaching option for selected students.

TB Test
All students must be tested for tuberculosis and submit current “negative” test results prior to beginning the student teaching classroom experience.

Assessment
Student teachers are mentored and evaluated over the course of their student teaching experience by a university supervisor and the cooperating teacher. Students should keep copies of all evaluations, since the University does not retain these reports as part of the student’s permanent record.