Teaching is a very complicated set of knowledge, skills, and dispositions. Every day is different as are the children a teacher finds in her classroom. Teaching demands professional decision-making about what to teach, how to teach it, how to assess that the lesson has been learned, and how to simultaneously build a classroom community. It's a tall order and not something that can be learned by simply being in a classroom.
Many future educators have made the decision to be a teacher because they have worked in a school as an aide. They have had the opportunity to sometimes spend years on the job working with numerous educators. While in this role, they have observed a classroom become a community of learners and watched the teacher teach, while being assigned tasks to carry out for the teacher and students. There is great value in having these experiences; however, aides do not make instructional decisions, they carry out the tasks and group activities that the teacher has planned. That is a very different level of responsibility and not at the level of "learning in teaching" that is required to be an educational decision-maker.
Many other future educators have worked as substitute teachers before and during their program of study at the university level. Again, substitute teaching affords future teachers many experiences that enrich their knowledge and skills. However, just like an aide, the substitute teacher carries out the plans developed by the classroom teacher. Again, subbing is not at the level of "learning in teaching" that is required to be an educational decision-maker.
The Block 4 internship is a time to work under a certified teacher as an apprentice. Slowly interns are given the responsibility for making instructional decisions, receive daily feedback from the cooperating teacher, and reflect on the knowledge, skills, and dispositions emerging into their practice. In addition, each Block 4 intern is assigned a university supervisor who is an expert in the field and also provides coaching, mentoring, and feedback. This is quite different from being an aide or substitute teacher.
ALL FGCU students will complete a Block 4 internship so that they can grow into educational decision-makers. Working as an aide or substitute teacher does not replace this learning experience. The FGCU faculty strongly believes the experiences of aides and substitutes are very different from those of an intern and there is no substitute for a supervised Block 4 internship.
All FGCU preservice teachers in the undergraduate integrated expeditionary teacher education programs complete a Block 4 internship regardless of past experience. Block 4 interns may be assigned to the same school where they are employed as an aide but the placement must be in a different grade level or classroom.