UC Santa Cruz Education Department
January 10, 2007
Dear Educator,
Thank you for hosting one of our Education 180 "Introduction to Teaching" undergraduate students. We require that students visit their observation classroom for a total of 30 hours (minimum) over the 10 week quarter. Your ED 180 student is responsible for keeping a log of observation hours and will ask you to sign it. We don't specify the days and hours students should observe, preferring to leave that up to you and your student. For some students, spending an entire day once a week is desirable; for others, three mornings a week may be more suitable. After school hours, when your ED 180 student can observe or assist you in lesson planning, can be included in their log. Feel free to arrange times and days that will provide the best experience for your observation student.
We hope the classroom placement will help our students understand more about teachers and teaching. Specifically, we want them learn how you implement a variety of teaching techniques, choose curricula and plan lessons, understand and accommodate cultural and linguistic diversity, and organize and manage the classroom environment. We also ask our students to interview you for your thoughts on your career as a teacher.
Naturally, "hands-on" experiences make the classroom placement more meaningful. We hope that you'll invite your UCSC observation student to tutor individual students, work with small groups, or even teach a short lesson to the whole class. Most importantly, we want them to understand what it means to be a teacher. However, please remember that Education 180 students are not yet enrolled in a credential program and are not student teaching.
We appreciate any suggestions you may have for improving our students' development as educators. Finally, if your ED 180 student misses more than two scheduled visits, we ask that you please contact Kip (see below).
Again, we are grateful that you have chosen to share your professional knowledge with the next generation of teachers.
All the best,
| Kip Téllez, Associate Professor, Instructor |
Carrie
Cifka-Herrera and Dena Sexton-Yee |