Student Teaching Information

Student Teaching Information:

·         Within 2-3 weeks of you starting your placement, we will meet together with you and your cooperating teacher and lay out the expectations for the semester. At this meeting, we will go over the handbook and give your cooperating teacher her copy.

·         You are required to attend inservice before school starts if your teacher wants you to and thinks it will benefit you. This means you may begin before the actual first day of school.

·         You will be expected to come to school in the AM when your teacher does and stay at the school until he or she leaves. You are NOT excused for work!

·         On that note, it is recommended you do not work Mondays through Thursdays. You are going to have evening events, parent teacher conferences, and so on. Please do not ask your teacher if it’s “OK” for you to leave early. It’s not “OK” even if she approves it.

·         Because you are not allowed to work those days when you student teach, you are awarded more funding from the Sweet Grass grant. Instead of the usual $2000 plus, you will receive $6,000 for the semester. You are going to have additional costs for clothes, supplies, etc.

·         You can come out to campus and get materials from us for your lessons if we have them. If we don’t, you will be responsible for getting your own materials. Check with your teacher, too, to see if she has what you need. Plan wisely.

·         And, last of all, make sure you complete and submit your application for the Praxis II and for fingerprinting. You will want to have both of these done, and have taken the tests, before or immediately after you finish student teaching so you are ready to be licensed.

·         As soon as you receive your ND teaching license, you apply to the Department of Public Instruction for the Early Childhood Special Education endorsement. The endorsement has to be “attached” to a teaching license so you have to get the license first. I will provide you more information about that after you are licensed.

Financial Aid Information:

Student teaching is considered a class. You will be registered for EDU 499 for 12 credits so you are a full-time student. Your tuition will be $2400 (12 credits x $200 per credit); you will have a $360 honorarium fee that will be paid to your cooperating teacher(s); and you will have a $400 supervision fee that covers the site visits and classroom observations. The good news is you will not be required to purchase textbooks so that’s a savings.

National Indian Education Association Membership and Conference

On October 18-19, 2012, the National Indian Education Association (NIEA) conference will be held in Oklahoma City, OK. According to the Sweet Grass Project grant, we said we would have a presentation at a national conference in which you, the Sweet Grass participants, would present. The theme of the NIEA conference this year is about learning in a digital age.

Here's what's what:

1. If you are interested in presenting at this conference, go to http://niea.site-ym.com/?page=MembershipReg and submit your membership registration. Register as a student and indicate that you're going to pay by check.
2. After you have registered for membership, send me an email so I know you are interested in presenting at this conference and that you have submitted an application for membership.
3. Partner up with one of your peers. Each conference session (presentation) allows for 2 presenters. Let me know who you want your presenting partner to be. (Make sure your co-presenter knows about it!)
4. We have to submit presentation proposals before August 2. Now remember that this is a national conference. Therefore, your presentation style and material needs to be relevant to a national audience. We will help you come up with ideas for your presentation if you want to do it. Again, let me know early so I can get your presentation proposal ready before August 2.
5. If your presentation is selected (the first week of September) by the NIEA conference planners, we will make hotel and flight arrangements at that time.

This should be fun and a great opportunity for you. If you have any questions, please let me know as soon as possible!

Fingerprinting Forms

Rikki called ESPB to get more fingerprinting packets but that, too, has changed. In a previous blog post, I mentioned you could get one of these from Tivona. I know a couple of you did so you're fine. If you have NOT picked up your packet, it's a bit different now.

Visit with Rikki and she will show you how to complete the process. If you already have a packet, go ahead and use that. If you don't, talk to Rikki and she'll show you the new process.

Also, don't forget to register for the Praxis II exams. Time will get pretty hectic once you start student teaching so it's better to get things done now.

Stay cool - it's hot out there!

Preparing for Student Teaching

As Joelle, Shyanne, and Billi prepare to student teach for this fall, I would like to remind you to fill out the application to take your Praxis II exams. ETS, the company that administers the Praxis exams, seems to have cleaned up their revised application process now. We want to make sure you are able to take the tests toward the end of your students teaching experience or immediately upon completion.

If you want me to download and print the application for you, send me an email and let me know. I'm not in my office very much this summer but will make sure you get it so you can fill it out. If you are able to find it yourself on the ETS.org website, go ahead and print it out, fill it out as much as you can (at least sign it), and I will fill out the rest and mail it with payment.

You might as well take care of your fingerprinting process, as well. The fingerprinting packets of information are in Tivona's office. There is a fee required for fingerprinting and the grant will pay for it.

More later....

Honoring Cheryl Medearis

The Teacher Education department at UTTC and the five graduates presented Cheryl Medearis with a star quilt in recognition for all of her hard work and dedication to not only UTTC's program but teacher education in general. Cheryl works tirelessly in many roles at Sinte Gleska University and has been a phenomenal resource to UTTC's Teacher Education program over the years. She has always been just a phone call or email away and we are truly appreciative of her dedication. The star quilt was made and signed by Elaine Brave Bull McLaughlin from Cannonball, North Dakota. Elaine has quilts on display at both the Smithsonian Native American Museum and the Heard Museum in Arizona. Thank you, Cheryl!

Graduation May 2012

On May 4, 2012, five teacher candidates participated in graduation on the UTTC campus. Nevada Allen, Jodene Uses Many, Joelle Bearstail, and Shyanne Schmalz represented the Teacher Education program in their graduation regalia. Kara Four Bear chose not to walk through the procession but joined in the celebration. These five graduates are the last of the Sinte Gleska graduates. Cheryl Medearis, Chair of Education from Sinte Gleska, and Tyson Maxon, Elementary Ed. AAS graduate, are also in the pictures.