Field Experiences and Clinical Practice

An essential part of becoming an effective FCS teacher is the time you will spend observing, participating and teaching in the nearby Family and Consumer Science classrooms. The FCS ED program provides multiple experiences in FCS middle and high school classrooms.

Field Experience

Students are assigned to three settings during their field experience opportunities. The following courses include field experience. The introductory experience (FCS ED 289) is in a middle school, the second experience is in an urban school (FCS ED 689.01) and the third in a high school over a two quarter span (FCS ED 689.03, FCS ED 791.01, .02, .03). The last setting is the student teaching/internship and students observe winter quarter and teach full-time for 10-weeks in the spring quarter. Each of the first two experiences is 60 hours each. In each of the first three experiences students are in a seminar that supports their work in pedagogy, extends their learning, and focuses on professional development.

• FCS ED 289 - Introductory Professional Development in Family and Consumer Sciences Education (2)
• FCS ED 689.01 - Professional Development in Family and Consumer Sciences Education: Accommodating Diversity (2)
• FCS ED 689.03 - Professional Development in Family and Consumer Sciences Education: Context for Improving Teaching and Learning (2)
• FCS ED 791.01 - Teaching Internship: Designing Instruction (4)
• FCS ED 791.02 - Teaching Internship: Facilitating Learning in Family and Consumer Sciences (4)
• FCS ED 791.03 - Teaching Internship: Professional Development and Other Supporting Experiences (4)

The introductory experience includes directly observing effective teaching practice: multiple intelligences, questioning and wait, recognition, and classroom management. In addition students complete teaching logs that focus on student engagement, and teach one lesson to begin the process of switching from being a student to becoming a teacher and assuring student learning. Cooperating teachers send reviews of the first teaching experience and coach students about middle schools and early adolescents. Students observe in classrooms during the regularly scheduled class time.

The second experience is in an urban school (FCS ED 689.01). Prior to this course the candidate has completed FCS ED 742 - Culturally Responsive Teaching. In the seminar the students read, study, and discuss urban kids and what they want from teachers. Students read The Dreamkeepers by Ladson-Billings and the Educational Leadership article by Corbett, D. and Wilson, B. "What urban students say about good teaching." Students prepare and teach three lessons following the models learned in concurrent pedagogy course (FCS ED 746.01) and planning with a diverse student population in mind. The cooperating teacher gives feedback on all lessons. Students need to keep their class schedule free for a Tuesday or Thursday (7:00AM - 3:00PM) or a Tuesday and Thursday morning (7:00AM - noon) to observe in an FCS classroom. The school where OSU students observe is scheduled by the professor.

In the third field experience the candidate observes and teaches winter quarter for 60 hours and the student teaches in this same setting full-time for 10 weeks the spring quarter. The FCS ED 689.03 seminar focuses on action research for improved teaching and learning and students plan and teach three lessons in the school. Students collect data and observe to decide their action research project for student teaching. The action research proposal is written and approved winter quarter. The university supervisor completes a Pathwise review after observing the OSU student teach one lesson. Students need to keep their class schedule free for a Tuesday or Thursday (7:00AM - 3:00PM) or a Tuesday and Thursday morning (7:00AM - noon) to observe in an FCS classroom. The school where OSU students observe is scheduled by the professor.

The final field experience is student teaching for ten weeks. Seminars are held every Monday night to guide the professional development of the student teaching experience (FCS ED 791.03). Student teachers are expected to conduct the conferences after the university supervisor observation. The university supervisor will complete the Pathwise Observation form after each conference, establishing strengths and improvements to become an effective teacher. The cooperating teacher completes formative checklists and provides other sources of feedback. Each university supervisor is a Pathwise trained mentor. Cooperating teachers formally report performance progress twice during student teaching internship.

Clinical Experience

Students complete 10 hours of pedagogy (FCS ED 746.01, 746.03) which includes the clinical teaching experiences. Clinical teaching involves the planning of lessons which gives students an opportunity to plan and teach effective teaching strategies/models around which the program is organized: cooperative learning, observational learning, information process learning, problem-based and authentic learning. OSU students will practice their teaching skills on campus in a simulated teaching opportunity that is video-taped and reviewed with the professor. Peer coaching, self-assessment, critical reflections and professional teaching portfolio are considered part of the professional development in FCS ED 689.01, 689.03.

NOTE: The College of Education and Human Ecology is accredited to prepare teachers by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and the Ohio Department of Education. As part of the NCATE requirements data is collected about each OSU student as they proceed through the teacher preparation program. Please refer to the OSU guidelines for NCATE. In the autumn and spring quarter you, your cooperating teacher, and your university supervisor will be asked to complete assessment questionnaires. The NCATE questionnaires will be completed as part of your field experience course requirements.