Finding Alternatives for the Field

Field experience spring 2020 At University of Northern Iowa, a favorite phrase regarding the UNI Teacher Education Program’s field placement is “early and often,” culminating in 16 weeks of student teaching. Mid-March, this model of experience got turned upside down.

As schools closed and discontinued on-site instruction, there was, initially, some scrambling as the Executive Council of the UNI Teacher Education Program, College of Education leadership, the Office of Teacher Education, student teaching coordinators (STCs) in the Teaching department and other faculty involved in special education and curriculum and instruction worked together to interpret and adjust to governor-issued proclamations and Iowa Board of Educational Examiner guidelines.

Even without knowing how temporary initial school closures were, the Executive Council decided students would not return to local, regional, out of state and international settings for various placements after input from school district partners, who were busy figuring out how their springs would conclude as well.

Going forward, while activity varies within the levels of field experience, the faculty recognized a common thread: the need for alternative experiences to offset the loss of face-to-face observational or hands-on time in a classroom. As many faculty were shifting--seemingly overnight--into online learning and the self-education that required, STCs and other faculty were also scouring resources and collaborating to create a new version of field experience.

This was particularly true for student teaching.

A surprising finish for student teachers

Due to differing school calendars, some students had begun their second eight-week session of student teaching as mid-March hit. Many others were expecting to shift schools after spring break. Suddenly, all needed “something else.”

As it turned out, a purposeful potpourri of efforts supported this final chapter at UNI for these seniors.

Mary Donegan-Ritter “Individualization marked the work of UNI student teaching coordinators during the school closures. The goal has been to provide independent and collaborative learning opportunities for student teachers to develop their teaching competencies in preparation for their teaching careers,” wrote Mary Donegan-Ritter, head of the Department of Teaching, in an update in late April.

Their efforts were not a one-size-fits-all. STCs in the different regions assessed needs of their students, talked with each other, and had the flexibility on options to offer.

“We started as a coordinator group to outline what we wanted to do uniformly across all the centers, and then, depending on where the students were in their placement, created differentiated learning experiences,” says Beth Harris, student teaching coordinator for the Cedar Valley, working with Mary Beth Rygh and Lynn Dykstra.

Donegan-Ritter outlined the types of projects student teachers undertook:

Professional growth projects. Creating growth plans with a focus on their specific needs, meeting with STCs or in small groups to discuss their work, teaching and learning and getting feedback.
Content-alike small group meetings. Four to five student teachers, meeting weekly with their STCs for content-aligned seminars.
SMART Goals. Completing work on SMART Goals--part of a video signature growth assignment for the semester--including learnings gained through alternative learning activities.
Alternative learning activities. Drawing from lists of articles, videos and podcast resources created by STCs to expand knowledge and skills related to teaching competencies or researching their own resources and professional development activities.
Lessons/unit of instruction. Developing two separate lessons or a two-day unit of instruction; for face-to-face or online teaching. Students taught their lessons to the STC and their peers in small groups and provided verbal and written feedback for each other.
Final reflections/evaluation narratives/letters of recommendation. A reflection summarizing insights from completing this online student teaching experience.
Teaching in an online environment. Reviewing articles, webinars and other resources to prepare for teaching in an online environment.
Seminars. Always a part of the student teaching semester, this spring’s seminars were adjusted or added to, such as “How to prepare and make your lessons/curriculum available to students via online learning.”

These alternative learning experiences helped some student teachers fill gaps in knowledge; for others who had already secured a teaching position, they had a head start on preparing for their new classrooms.

Challenge and learning in adapting

Similar efforts occurred in working with Level 3 and Level 2 students and as needed, Level 1 (though most had completed their observations by mid-March). Amy Lockhart, who oversaw a group of 18 Level 2 students, saw both challenges and learnings through the process.

“At UNI, our students get a plethora of field opportunities, but many involve teaching one-on-one with classroom students or working in a small group of university students. That’s why this Level 2 experience is crucial in the early identification of students who may need further assistance as they move through the program,” she says. “To plan a six-week field experience online in one week was a huge undertaking. However, give a situation that needs solving to the Department of Teaching, and it will get done. Our department has faced adversity many times, and we always rise to the task at hand,” she says.

One challenge was finding videos that could help approximate getting acclimated to a classroom environment (physical space, wall space, materials and technology).

“Obviously, without a classroom to see, I needed to find some good and not-so-good examples of classroom tour videos for them to view. This turned out to be really successful as students’ observations were more in depth than I anticipated,” Lockhart says.

She estimated she watched or skimmed more than 80 videos to share with colleagues. She now expects to add videos to her in-person seminar.

“Had I not been quarantined, I know I would have never had the time to view that many videos and to take notes over all of them. So, for that time, I am grateful! Now I have new materials to use in class when it isn't online!” she says.

Though formal placements ended, voluntary connections continued. For example:

For Level 2, Ashley Jorgenson created a “Quarantine Connection” experience that paired elementary students (including her son) with a UNI student. Connecting virtually, the UNI students helped each child choose a topic of interest for tutoring and planned activities geared toward fun and learning-centered content.
Curt Nielsen collaborated with a group of volunteer mentor teachers from Lincoln, Becker and Aldrich elementary schools locally as well as Waukee Middle School for a mentoring exercise with Level 2 students. Mentors included his two sons and a daughter-in-law--all UNI alumni who wanted to help.
Lynn Dykstra noted that a few of her secondary level students were asked to join their cooperating teachers’ Google classrooms, attend online meetings at their schools and plan virtual lessons to share with the middle and high school students.

That type of cooperation and commitment was evident throughout a surprising semester, perhaps more so than ever before.

“UNI field experience coordinators and student teaching coordinators are resilient and dedicated to doing what is best for UNI students. They had to make a huge shift in how they teach and work with students and they did so by being collaborative and creative,” says Donegan-Ritter.

One silver lining: job interviews

One silver lining to the spring was an unusually active March and April for job interviews. Principals and superintendents reached out and began interviews sooner. A big help? The signature assignment the Teaching department asks of all students: create a video that demonstrates teaching proficiency. Many student teachers completed this assignment in their first eight-week placements.

Harris says principals she engaged with commented on how professional and confident the UNI student teachers came across in virtual interviews.

Even with the adjustments made for these unprecedented times, Harris adds, “We’re launching teachers who are ready to be teachers, and every one of the coordinators would share that.”

Looking forward, Donegan-Ritter recognizes challenges and some uncertainty remain, but she believes the faculty are ready.

“There is a shift in thinking occurring away from what placements in schools can give UNI students to how UNI students can support PreK-12 schools whose students will be returning to classrooms after five months at home,” she says, adding:

“Faculty are thinking outside the box about how we can be flexible in how we schedule UNI students and what we expect our students to do in partner school classrooms. I expect that our UNI students are going to be taking an active role in supporting learning in whatever forms it takes.”