Field Experiences

Qualifications

To serve as a classroom mentor teacher for a BGSU student teacher/intern, a teacher must:
1.  Be a regularly employed teacher with full responsibility for a group of learners. 
2.  Possess the appropriate standard license or certificate. 
3.  Have a minimum of three years of classroom teaching experience including one year in the field for which the service is being provided. 
4.  Be a responsible and willing participant in the affairs of the school and the profession and works harmoniously with others. 
5.  Be willing to work with the student teacher/intern, to give the necessary time and effort, and to support the student teacher/intern as a learning professional. 

Expectations

The classroom mentor teacher can contribute much to the development of the competencies that are desired in the student teacher/intern by: 

1.  Providing an atmosphere of acceptance and  readiness to accept the student teacher/intern as a co-worker in the teaching staff. 
2.  Introducing the student teacher/intern to the proper administrators, other teachers, building personnel, parents, resource personnel, and other professionals. 
3.  Becoming familiar with the student teacher/intern’s personal and educational background. 
4.  Supplying the student teacher/intern with essential data concerning the pupils with whom he/she will be working. 
5.  Providing the student teacher/intern with information concerning the school, its policies, regulations, available teaching materials, sources of school supplies, handbooks, curriculum guides, etc. 
6.  Assigning some activities to the student teacher/intern as soon as possible in addition to preparation and setting up of teaching materials, helping individual pupils, etc. 
7.  Developing a sense of student teacher/intern responsibility in long-range unit and daily planning. 
8.  Making certain that good preparation has been made for class instruction.  Hence, student teachers/interns should be told that their plans for classroom experiences/activities must be in the hands of the classroom mentor teacher far enough in advance to allow time for checking and consultation.  Classroom mentor teachers should refuse to allow student teachers/intern proceed with the class until this planning is done and approved. 
9.  Establishing regular periods for conference and discussion of classroom teaching issues in which the student teacher/intern can receive feedback. 
10. Suggesting carefully selected classroom management procedures. 
11. Conferencing with the university mentor and the student teacher/intern on a regular basis. 
12. Observing lessons formally and informally. 
13. Formally contributing to the student teacher/intern’s written performance evaluations and conferences at the mid-semester and conclusion of the field experience. 
14. Helping the student teacher/intern evaluate his/her own progress. 
14. Guiding the student teacher/intern into teaching responsibilities gradually. 
15. Allowing the student teacher/intern to develop his/her own unique teaching abilities and personality whenever feasible, but recognizing and respecting at all times the legal responsibility of the classroom mentor teacher.

Compensation

Classroom mentor teachers who mentor student teachers/interns have the option of receiving a cash stipend ($7.50 per week of the field experience) or a course fee waiver for an amount equivalent to one credit hour of graduate study at Bowling Green State University.  The fee waiver (credit memorandum) can only be used to pay instructional fees for graduate-level coursework taken at BGSU any semester, including summer, after the completion of the student teaching/internship semester.  The credit memorandum is valid for one year only and can not be transferred to another person.  Credit memorandums are distributed to the school districts in the name of the classroom mentor teacher, and, depending upon the policy of the school district, may be given to the classroom mentor teacher, other teachers in the district, or may be pooled to provide in-service programs for all teachers in the district.

If the recipient wishes to use a credit memorandum as a fee waiver for graduate credit at BGSU, it should be returned to the Graduate College.  If the recipient wishes to get a cash stipend, the credit memorandum should be returned to the Office of Field Experiences with the requested information.