Teaching practice
You learn to teach in real classrooms: short lessons with your classmates from the first semester, and a long placement in a secondary school in semester 5.
Why practice matters
No course can replace the experience of standing in front of a class. Teaching practice is where the ideas of the first four semesters meet thirty or forty students on an ordinary school day.
Before the placement
In courses such as General Methods of Teaching you plan lessons and teach short episodes to your classmates. Your teachers and peers comment on how clearly you explain, the questions you ask, how you use the board and how you manage the class. In the pedagogy courses for your two teaching subjects you design lessons and assessments for the secondary syllabus.
The long-term practicum
The Practicum (Long Term), worth 6 credit hours, takes place in semester 5. You are placed in a secondary school, where you first observe experienced teachers and then plan and teach lessons in both of your teaching subjects. A mentor teacher at the school and a member of ICED faculty observe your lessons and discuss them with you afterwards.
How it is assessed
The practicum is assessed on the lessons you are observed teaching, your lesson plans and teaching file, and a written reflection on how your teaching has developed.
