Initial School Based Experience: The Practicum

This course prepares initial teacher education students for their first field experience exercise  -  the initial school based practicum. The course is organized into two sections.  Section 1 consists of in-house teaching for the first 6 to 7 weeks of the Semester. During this period, students are introduced to topics such as schools as social/learning organizations. In doing this topic, they learn about the leadership and  curriculum structure of schools as well as about features of organizations such as organizational/school culture and climate. In this section of the course, students continue to learn about and augment their skills in classroom instructional planning and teaching/learning practices and skills. The course is delivered through a two-hour lecture session  and a one-hour tutorial each week.

Section 2 of the course is field based. Students are placed in schools within the Kingston Metropolitan Area where they are assigned to work with a cooperating teacher for six weeks. In the first three weeks they are expected to observe, co-plan and co-teach with their cooperating teacher. For the remaining three weeks, they at expected to teach with a peer using the team teaching approach. This course is a three credit course and students must successfully complete it in order to progress to the final school based course in their final year of study.