Clinical Experiences for Urban Teaching Students
The Barnard Education Program requires three levels of clinical experiences for Urban Teaching candidates prior to student teaching. These experiences provide rich opportunities for prospective teachers to connect theory to practice and build a reflective practice as they apply their developing skills in informal and formal, school and community educational settings. Urban Teaching candidates must map out a plan to complete each level of clinical experience prior to the subsequent one. All experiences must be completed with children and youth in the age group for which you are seeking certification. For childhood certification, you should work with children in grades 1-6. For adolescent certification, you should work with youth in grades 7-12. Placements for Urban School Practicum and Student Teaching will be made so that by the time students complete the program, Childhood Education candidates have experience in grades 1-3 and 4-6 and Adolescent Education candidates have experience in grades 7-9 and 10-12.
As part of the NYS Certification process, students are required to complete a minimum of 360 hours of educational based clinical experiences. 60+ days must be supervised field based experiences. Students spend 100 hours in NYC public school classrooms as part of the Multicultural Pedagogy and Inclusive Approaches to Teaching Literacy courses, and 60+ days in Student Teaching. Additionally, students are required to complete a 40-hour minimum fieldwork experience prior to the start of student teaching.
Foundational Clinical Experiences: Exploring Educational Settings (40 hours)
All Urban Teaching candidates must complete 40 hours of independent fieldwork prior to or during the first year of admission to the Education Program. This fieldwork may be completed during the summer or during the academic year and should be documented using the Fieldwork in Education Packet. Students must keep a journal during their fieldwork experience and write a reflective essay that is submitted with the completed packet.
Intermediate Clinical Experiences I: Course-Related Fieldwork in Education (35 hours)
For the Pedagogical Elective requirement for Urban Teaching, students enroll in one of the courses listed below and complete 35 hours of fieldwork connected to their coursework. This fieldwork is documented using the Fieldwork Record Sheets which must be signed by the candidate, the cooperating teacher, and the instructor for the course and forwarded to the Education Program Office. All Urban Teaching candidates must complete one of the courses listed below prior to taking the courses EDUC BC 3025 Inclusive Approaches to Teaching Literacy and EDUC BC 3053 or 3054 Multicultural Elementary or Secondary Pedagogy in the Junior year.
- EDUC BC 3050 Science in the City I
- EDUC BC 3058 Science in the City II
- EDUC BC 3052 Math and the City
- EDUC BC 3055 Arts & Humanities in the City
Intermediate Clinical Experiences II & III: Inclusive Approaches to Teaching Literacy and Multicultural Pedagogy (100 hours)
The courses EDUC BC 3025 Inclusive Approaches to Teaching Literacy and either EDUC BC 3053 or 3054 Multicultural Elementary or Secondary Pedagogy are taken in the fall and spring of the junior year, respectively. These two courses are the first of two supervised fieldwork experiences. Students are placed in a public school to observe and work alongside an experienced teacher. Students complete a minimum of 100 practica hours in the academic year.
Student Teaching (60+ days)
Student Teaching is the capstone experience of the Urban Teaching Program. Students are placed in New York City public school classrooms, where they work 5 days a week for the entire fall semester of their senior year. This full time teaching experience allows students to put theory into practice with the guidance of an experienced cooperating teacher. Student teaching is taken concurrently with EDUC BC 3064 Critical Inquiry in Urban Teaching. During the student teaching semester, students are only allowed to take one additional class that meets one day a week in the afternoon. Some majors have requirements or opportunities (e.g., PSYC BC 3465, BC 3466, assisting at the Center for Toddler Development) for seniors that conflict with student teaching, therefore, it is important that students plan their programs carefully.