Clinical Practice

Tips and Suggestions

Working in someone else’s classroom is a privilege that you should take very seriously. Fostering and maintaining professional and caring relationships isn’t difficult, but takes some focus and intentionality.

- Each time you set foot in the school, you are on a job interview. Impressive teacher candidates are sometimes offered paid positions in schools when available or recommended to colleagues in other schools who are hiring. Having a reference from a clinical educator and/or the principal where you completed a field experience is impressive.
  - You are expected to be engaged in the classroom and your school community as your clinical educator is engaged.
- If you are going to be out, make sure to communicate this early with all of the people who support you: your instructor(s), university supervisor(s), and clinical educator(s).
- You are required to bring your RIDE student teaching permit (final clinical experience teacher candidates only) and BCI (EVERYONE) to your school site every day.

First Communication with Your Clinical Educator

Presenting yourself as a confident and professional student during your initial contact with your clinical educator is an important step in creating a supportive and caring relationship. Your clinical educator is someone who could potentially act as your mentor, write you a letter of recommendation for future jobs, or even be a future colleague. Starting this professional relationship in the best possible way is up to you and your initial communication.

Once you have received your classroom placement, you need to contact your clinical educator to set up a day and time for an initial visit. This communication should be done via email and should clearly state your name, your program, your year, and when you hope to begin your experience. You should include any additional relevant information is greatly appreciated by teachers as they want to get to know who you are.

Planning Your First Visit

There are a number of things you should take into consideration as you prepare for your first visit at your practicum placement including taking the time to locate the school and estimate the drive time, including potential traffic.

Arrival: Plan on arriving at least 15-20 minutes early. This will allow you plenty of time to find parking and get into the school building. You might encounter busses in the lots in the morning which could delay you ability to park. Some schools don’t have enough parking and you may be required to park on a nearby side street.
Getting into the Building: Locate the main entrance of the school. You will likely need to identify yourself through an intercom and be buzzed into the main office. State your name, your clinical educator’s name and the reason for visit.
The Front Office: The front office is the busiest place in the school. Remember that the teachers and students are the priority and you may have to wait a a few minuets for one of the front desk staff to help you. Be sure to smile, introduce yourself and ask to be directed to your classroom. If you have an opportunity to introduce yourself to the principal, you should do this as well.
Signing in and Out: Each school has a different set of sign in procedures. You will likely be directed to sign a log or sign in on a laptop computer. You may be asked to wear a lanyard or a visitors badge which should be clearly visible when you are in the building.
Thank your clinical education before you leave and confirm your next classroom visit either verbally or by email. You should also have your them sign your hourly tracking sheet.
Exit the building through the main office. It is very important that you sign out when you leave the building as schools use these logs as part of their security measures.

During the Semester

Your clinical placement is a semester-long experience. During this time, you will have an opportunity to develop relationships with your clinical educator and the students in your classroom. Maintaining positive and good working relationships within the school community will make your learning experiences more meaningful.

Suggestions for maintaining positive relationships at your placement:

Be on time at EVERY visit
Introduce yourself to the front office staff, the building principal and other teachers in the building
Communicate early and consistently through your clinical educator’s preferred method whether it be text, email or phone
Get to know the names of your students
Familiarize yourself with the other support staff that work with your students both in and out of the classroom
Research the curriculum on your own and if your teacher is open, bring new ideas
Follow through with your responsibilities in and out of the classroom
Complete and turn in and in all work on time or early

Tips for working with students

Address incorrect answers with sensitivity. Never embarrass a student or make fun of them even in a joking manner. The idea is to encourage students to continue trying to answer in the future even if they go this specific question wrong. Develop a few key phrases that you can let a student know that he/she is incorrect in a respectful way:
- “That was a good idea, but not quite right”
- “Good try! I noticed that you were not correct on one part, but I like the way you…”
- “I like that idea, but I was looking for something else”
Giving praise works better than calling out disruptive behavior. Calling attention to good behavior can reinforce that behavior. Challenge students to emulate good behavior.
If you must address negative behavior, do so one-on-one and not in front of the entire group. Help the student set a goal for improving behavior.
Follow your classroom teacher’s lead with encouraging good behavior.

Saying Goodbye

You have spent a lot of time this semester building relationships with your students and colleagues and learning about the teaching profession. At the end of this experience you will likely feel prepared to take on more responsibility in your next field placement, more confident and maybe a little bittersweet as you say goodbye to your students, clinical educators and the school community. Wrapping up your practicum experience on a positive, professional note is a great way to keep the connections strong between your students and especially your colleagues.

Collecting References and Planning for the Future

Each time you complete a practicum, you are building your resume and have the opportunity to add to your list of potential references for the future. As you get close to the end of your experience, think about the relationships you have formed and who you might want to ask to use as a future reference. Find an appropriate time to ask your clinical educator, the building principal or another school college if you could use them to:

be a reference for a future job prospect
write you a letter of recommendation
refer you to a colleague for a job opportunity

Showing Your Appreciation

Your clinical educator welcomed you into their classroom for this experience and you will not only have developed a good working relationship with them, but also with with your students, other teachers, the office staff and building administrators. It is important that you show your appreciation for their role in supporting your learning experience. Your gesture does not need to be grand or expensive but it should be meaningful.

You might:

Write a simple handwritten note of thanks to your clinical educator highlighting what you’ve learned from them
Write a letter of thanks to your students and their families and make a copy to go home with each student
Write a note to the principal- This is important even if you didn’t get to know them too well
Write a personalized handwritten note to any other teachers or support staff who added to your learning experiences throughout the semester
Ask your clinical educator if you can do a special activity or project on your last day with your class