A partnership between ASU and El Mirage Elementary School will create a new pilot program for student teachers, allowing them the ability to apprentice for a year in a classroom.
This new program is the vision for the College of Teacher Education and Leadership, said Maureen Gerard, director of professional field experience.
“We are all very excited about moving the entire college in this direction,” she said.
Every student teacher participating in the program volunteered for this pilot project, she said.
“I told them, if you are full of adventure and are ready to jump into something really innovative, then join,” Gerard said.
Often, student teachers are assigned to classrooms for various lengths of time, but rarely do they have the opportunity to spend a whole year in one room, said Joel Davidson, principal at El Mirage.
This program will allow ASU students to see an entire school year come together, Gerard said.
Twelve classrooms ranging from second to fourth grade will have the advantage of two student teachers, as well as a master teacher.
“The beauty of this is that the classroom teacher will have the students following along and actually paralleling them,” Davidson said.
Having three adults in the classroom will also benefit the children, allowing the student teachers to work closely with kids in small groups.
“This is going to make a tremendous impact in terms of getting help,” he said.
The notion of collaborative student teaching is also a new idea, Gerard said. Under the new system, students will have someone to work through ideas with.
Jim Dean, director of community relations at Dysart School District, said ASU students will be spending their time learning in both an observational and instructional teaching environment.
ASU faculty members will also be on campus at El Mirage to provide assistance, he said.
Faculty representatives placed at El Mirage will help coordinate the program, working with the students and teachers in a collaborative method, Davidson said.
Current teachers at El Mirage, as well as teachers from across the district, were encouraged to apply for the position, he said.
The teachers selected will have years of experience and the ability to mentor and supervise student teachers simultaneously, he said
So far three of El Mirage’s teachers have been selected to participate in the program. There will be a total of 13 teachers participating.
Student teachers will also benefit from continuous assessment throughout the course of the year, Davidson said.
“We anticipate that by the end of the year there will be enough data to know strengths and weaknesses of all the student teachers in the program,” Davidson said.
Student teachers will be involved with many events that they often miss by doing shorter programs, Gerard said.
Those who are successful in the program will also be eligible to interview for jobs at El Mirage or in the Dysart School District.
Two other elementary school districts are also participating in this pilot program — both the Scottsdale and Kyrene districts plan to host similar student development programs, Gerard said.
“We want to do this across the Valley, where we have hubs of schools where we can have full-time teachers,” she said.
The new student teacher program will begin this fall for all schools involved.
“We are building the plane as we fly,” Davidson said. “It is going to be exciting to see how it turns out.”
Reach the reporter at amoswalt@asu.edu
