Elementary Education Internship Program

Block 4 Practicum

Block 4 for the pre-intern is the fourth of a five-block experience within our Integrated Undergraduate degree program.  Block 4 elementary education pre-interns serve half the semester with a lower primary teacher and the other half with an upper primary teacher during a semester term. First grade through third grade is considered lower primary.  Third grade through sixth grade is considered upper primary. Pre-interns receive opportunities to experience a range of grades with culturally and linguistically diverse students. 

The pre-intern is in the classroom three days per week; Tuesdays and Thursdays are half days and Wednesdays are full days.  Block 4 pre-interns should plan to begin at teacher school hours and allow additional time for planning and conferences.  Pre-interns periodically attend seminars. Seminars may vary in time and place. This may necessitate a request to leave school early.

In this phase, the pre-intern is expected to spend student contact hours with children in a variety of curriculum areas.  The pre-intern is learning how to plan and implement lessons with increasing independence and is expected to assume greater responsibility for instruction and student learning on a continuing basis. It is suggested that the increase in responsibility occur gradually. Meeting these responsibilities requires careful and extensive planning by the pre-intern with much support provided by the cooperating teacher and the university supervisor. 

Prerequisites in Block 4 include admittance into the College of Education as a degree student, a 2.5 GPA, a "C" or better in professional and subject area courses, completion of specified courses, and full completion of the Block 4 application by deadline. 

Non-Final applications for Fall semester are available the first week in March and are due the last weekday in March.  Non-Final applications for Spring semester are available the first week of classes of the Fall Semester and are due the last weekday in September. 

University expectations of the pre-intern:

• Become aware of the total learning environment.
• Get to know student names quickly.
• Observe the system used for classroom management closely.
• Participate in the classroom as often as possible with teaching, tutoring, or doing activities with the students.
• Identify personal inner strengths and weaknesses related to the field of teaching.
• Teach small groups and whole lessons each week.
• Learn record keeping and become familiar with evaluation tools.
• Write formal lessons. Gain knowledge in curriculum.
• Develop classroom management skills.

Block 5 Experiences

Through the final internship experience, interns receive extensive opportunities to synthesize course content to develop effective teaching skills. Within this internship, interns will integrate theoretical knowledge with opportunities to teach culturally and linguistically diverse students  and demonstrate behaviors specified in the Educator Accomplished Practices and the Florida Performance Measurement System.

The Expeditionary Integrated Program comprises a ten week internship for early childhood, elementary education, and special education majors.  Block 5 interns are in classrooms Monday through Friday during teacher school hours. Senior seminar is conducted concurrently with the student teaching experience.  Interns meet with their university supervisor for small group seminars.  Occasionally hours will vary. Block 5 interns should plan for additional preparation time including before and after school.

Prerequisites include admittance into the College of Education as a degree student, a 2.5 GPA, a "C" or better in professional and subject area courses, completion of specified courses, and full completion of the Block 5 application by the deadline.  For the Fall internship, applications are due on, or the first business day AFTER, February 1st. For the Spring internship, applications are available the last week in April and due on, or the first business day AFTER, September 1st.

University Expectations for the intern:

• Gain knowledge and develop skills necessary to become a competent first year teacher.
• Take total responsibility for the classroom for 5 to 6 weeks of the semester. This includes all planning, teaching, evaluation, and management.
• Incorporate the Sunshine State Standards, Goal Three Standards, and ESOL strategies into lesson planning.
• Attend all teacher meetings.
• Develop communication skills with parents, attend conferences, write notes, send home newsletters, etc..
• Develop a portfolio based on the Educator Accomplished Practices.