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Teacher Education Requirements
Where is your major housed?
As a secondary or K-12 teacher education candidate, your major is housed in the department or college that relates to the subject area you wish to teach. For example, if you are studying to become a high school English teacher, your degree would be from the Department of English.
Clinical Experiences & Student Teaching for Secondary and K-12 Majors
The purpose of clinical experiences and student teaching is to provide you with an opportunity to apply the theory that was learned in your coursework to the practice that you gain through experience in the field. These experiences will provide you with opportunities to collaborate with a variety of educational professionals as you experience hands-on learning.
Clinical Experiences
As a teacher education candidate, you will take education content and method courses that require clinical experiences. Clinical experiences occur in a variety of educational settings and are comprised of many pursuits, including, but not limited to: observation, tutoring/one-on-one contact, non-instructional assisting, small group instruction, whole class instruction, work with clinical clients, professional meetings, and other approved education related practice experiences for Illinois State students who want to be teachers. Clinical experiences are connected to coursework through learning activities such as reflection and analysis, with one overall purpose of linking theory to practice, including knowledge, skill, and disposition development.
Learn about clinical experiences.
Student Teaching
The student teaching semester is the capstone experience of the teacher education program. Admission to student teaching for all teacher candidates occurs when Gateway 1 and 2 Teacher Education Requirements have been met. You will be in your student teaching site for 15½ weeks where you will guide, direct, and evaluate the learning activities of a group of pupils under the guidance and supervision of professionally certified and competent members of the teaching profession, including your cooperating teacher(s), school administrators, and student teaching supervisors. Student teaching placement options depend upon the specific program.