INFORMATION FOR...  
  Information for Faculty and Supervisors
Information for Student Teachers		  
   
STUDENT TEACHING CENTERS  
 

Map of All Iowa Student Teaching Centers
Cedar Falls Student Teaching Center
Cedar Rapids Student Teaching Center
Charles City / Mason City Student Teaching Center
Davenport Student Teaching Center
Des Moines Student Teaching Center

Northeast Iowa Student Teaching Center
Northwest Iowa Student Teaching Center
Omaha / Council Bluffs / Sioux City Student Teaching Center
Waterloo Student Teaching Center
International - Out of State Student Teaching

 
   
CALENDARS  
 

Fall 2006 Calendar
Spring 2007 Calendar


Dates Checklist

 
   
   
 


MISSION STATEMENT

 

  1. THE PROGRAM'S RELATIONSHIP TO THE MISSIONS OF THE COLLEGE
    AND THE UNIVERSITY

The mission of both the University and the College of Education guides the OSFE Division in planning, implementing and evaluating its program.

 

University Mission Statement

The University of Northern Iowa is a comprehensive institution committed to providing a diverse, dynamic learning environment, founded on a strong liberal arts curriculum and characterized by excellence in teaching, research and service.

 

College of Education Mission Statement

The mission of the University of Northern Iowa College of Education is three-fold. First, the College exists to prepare educational and human service professionals for a variety of direct service and leadership roles in schools and non-school settings. Second, faculty members in the College conduct applied and basic research in the area of teaching and learning, human behavior, human growth and development, and educational policy.  Third, the College of Education provides service on the local, state, regional, national, and international levels. By so doing, the College of Education effectively serves the profession by assuming a leadership role for the improvement of education and human services.

 

OSFE Mission Statement

The Office of Student Field Experiences offers field experiences to UNI's teacher education students in a variety of settings in which students will confront current issues challenging educators and in which students will have high quality, personalized supervision.

OSFE coordinators have strong backgrounds in liberal arts curricula and among them have academic preparation in curriculum and instruction, school administration, elementary and secondary teaching, school improvement, and a variety of disciplines.  Clinical and adjunct supervisors are selected for their exemplary achievements as teachers.  Students have extended access to district teachers and administrators who model educational excellence and leadership.  Field experience placements for day-to-day work in accredited public schools-or in private/parochial if requested by students-enable students to confront current, challenging issues and to observe a variety of educational practices in today's P-12 classrooms.

Students in the teacher education program at the University of Northern Iowa have a diverse choice of locations for field experiences with personalized supervision.  They may select to complete field experiences in several student teaching centers in Iowa, in Omaha, Nebraska, or in any number of other out-of-state sites.  To further support the University's mission to increase international opportunities for students and faculty, OSFE has many opportunities for international experiences.  Student teachers can elect international student teaching sites, and UNI faculty have been involved in their supervision at those sites.  In the past, a section of Human Relations was taught in London, England, during the summer.  These offerings involved UNI students from all majors and from all colleges as well as UNI faculty and cooperating teachers.

 

F.  PROGRAM GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

 

The goal of the UNI teacher education program is to prepare teachers who will be responsible, reflective decision maker in a rapidly changing world (Appendix A: Compass, page 8).  In its work contributing to progress toward this goal, the student teaching program offers teaching/learning opportunities with systematic support in diverse, field-based settings (Appendix J).

Program objectives are:
 
  1. to provide information about student teaching and application procedures to future student teachers;
  2. to process applications and assign students to centers;
  3. in each center group, to interview student teachers before making placement assignments;
  4. in each center, to make two placements for each student teacher and to provide cooperating teachers with introductory materials;
  5. in each center group, to distribute placement information and orient students to the center's program and personnel;
  6. in each center, to implement the program curricula and supervise the student teaching experience and performance evaluations; 
  7. to prepare and distribute student teaching evaluations; and
  8. in each center, to be resourceful and supportive to beginning teachers from UNI who are teaching there.

 
The primary purpose for student teaching is for students to experience in depth the full role and meaning of teaching in "real-world" school settings.  Student teachers are provided a time for learning, experimentation, critical analysis, reflection, and practice in the planning, delivery, and assessment of instruction and management.  The program has two sets of performance-based outcomes that constitute objectives for student teachers, one set for teaching (Appendix G:  Defining the Relationship, pages 43-80) and another for Human Relations (Appendix K: Performance-Based Outcomes for Human Relations). 

Faculty members identify their own goals and objectives at the beginning of each academic year.  These objectives are related to the University's strategic plan (Appendix L).  In April, faculty members submit activity reports to document achievement of their individual objectives for that year.  A notebook containing faculty goals and activity reports is available in the department office.

 

 

  

 

Office of Student Field Experiences
College of Education
Schindler Education Center - Room 509
319-273-2202

Questions/Comments | Last Modified 11 September, 2006