USD Teacher Candidates Participate in Weeklong Internship in Tea Area School District
USD teacher candidates complete multiple field experiences during their Bachelor of Science in Education program to gain real-world experience in the classroom setting, ultimately leading up to a weeklong internship followed by a yearlong residency.
“We are committed to preparing future educators through meaningful, practice-based experiences that connect theory to the realities of today’s classroom,” said Amy Schweinle, Ph.D., dean of the USD School of Education. “Our partnership with the Tea Area School District exemplifies this commitment. We are grateful to the teachers and leaders who are opening their classrooms and sharing their expertise with our candidates. Their commitment helps shape effective teachers as they prepare for their yearlong residency and future careers in education.”
Throughout this internship, USD teacher candidates are working alongside approximately 55 Tea Area School District teachers, who are serving as mentor teachers.
These teachers open their classrooms to support and guide future educators, with a shared goal of providing an authentic, meaningful and realistic introduction to the field of teaching, while maintaining the pacing and expectations established by the mentor teachers. The experience will also enable teacher candidates to learn from the district’s culture of continuous improvement and student-centered instruction.
Teacher candidates are participating in authentic school experiences, including supporting classroom instruction and assisting with daily school responsibilities such as supervising students during passing time, lunch, recess and other school routines. The experience also provides teacher candidates with observing instruction, co-teaching lessons, supporting students and gaining insight into the daily work of effective educators.
Tea Area Superintendent Tonia Warzecha, Ed.D. ’18, Ed.S. ’15, ’14, and Tea Area Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment Samantha Walder, Ed.D. ’19, Ed.S. ’15, are also leading USD students in a professional development day, similar to what a new teacher to the district experiences. Warzecha noted that USD’s decision to place the experience in Tea Area reflects the strength of the district’s instructional practices and collaborative culture.
A special addition to this internship experience for teacher candidates includes professional learning opportunities for interns, which began with Monday’s training session. During this time, interns are learning from Tea Area’s Continuous School Improvement coaches about the district’s improvement practices, participating in a session with the human resources director and business manager on employment practices, and concluding with training from the superintendent and curriculum director focused on professional teaching responsibilities.
“The USD teacher education program has a long history of working with area schools to ensure our students have multiple opportunities to learn from current teachers and their students,” said Daniel Mourlam, Ed.D., chair of the Division of Teacher Residency and Education. “This semester, we’re excited about our partnership with the Tea Area Schools as our internship students will have an opportunity to not only observe and teach, but to also learn about how their mentor teachers leverage assessment and differentiated instruction to foster student learning and achievement. These opportunities for our teacher candidates to learn, practice and reflect on their instruction are critical steps in preparing them for their yearlong teacher residency, which many of these students will begin in the fall semester.”
USD thanks the Tea Area School District for their vision and partnership to ensure USD teacher candidates have experiences in using “plan-do-study-act" data cycles to help drive instruction and understand how profound empowering students to take ownership of their learning can be.
The university also thanks Tea Area leadership, teachers and instructional support staff for allowing USD teacher candidates to visit the schools and learn from their mentor teachers.
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