Education seniors will still receive teaching certification, despite not being able to continue in-person student teaching because of the coronavirus (COVID-19).
Dr. Elizabeth Willner, chair of the education department and director of Teacher Education, said student teachers usually spend their entire last semester teaching at two different placements.
“The state of Oklahoma requires a minimum of 12 weeks of teaching at local schools to get certified, but our university requires 15,” Willner said. “During these 15 weeks, the students observe and co-teach with teachers, and the student teachers are required to have four weeks minimum of full-time teaching.”
Willner said she has been in communication with the Office for Educational Quality and Accountability since March 11 when the university announced classes would be online for two weeks following spring break.
“Now that OCU is online the remainder of the semester, we’ve received guidelines from OEQA that ask us to remain as close as possible to the requirements set by the state,” Willner said. “The state requires 12 weeks of student-teaching, and our students have 9 weeks completed as of now.”
Willner said student teachers will be able to receive their teaching certification, even though they won’t have 12 weeks of field work.
“The State Board of Education is saying there’s nothing else the students could have done,” Willner said.
Willner said the student teachers will make up the remaining three weeks of experience by completing extra assignments or, if the State Board of Education gives approval, by preparing virtual teaching opportunities.
Willner also said the education seniors take a student teacher seminar that now meets on Zoom.
“When we talked in our first online class about the possibility of allowing them to teach virtually, they were pretty excited about that. Hopefully, it works out,” Willner said.
Sierra Paul, education/theatre and performance senior, said she hopes to be able to teach virtually but is concerned about students’ resources.
“It would be kind of unfair to make online learning compulsory in K-12 schools because the students come from socio-economically diverse backgrounds,” Paul said. “Just like college students, not all of them have computers or reliable internet at home.”
Paul said she was excited to start teaching full-time.
“I was about to start my four weeks of full-time student teaching after spring break,” Paul said. “I had my four weeks completely planned and was ready to go. You spend three and a half years learning about teaching in a hypothetical sense, but you don’t really know what it’s like until you do it.”
Paul also said student teaching is rewarding.
“This situation has really solidified that this is what I was meant to do,” Paul said. “I enjoy doing it, even when it’s difficult.”
Willner said she will most miss the Student Teacher Reception.
“Each student presents their teacher’s creed of what they believe and how they plan to make it happen in the classroom,” she said. “That’s the saddest thing. They don’t get to put the exclamation point on the end of their teaching.”
The Student Teacher Reception will take place virtually on April 27 via Zoom.
Willner said she loves the event because it brings people together.
“We invite the teachers our students worked with, their principles, professors on campus, friends and family,” Willner said. “People who come always say it gives them hope and inspires them.”
Waldo Ramirez, education/music senior, said he will miss having real world interactions in the classroom but is thankful for his professors.
“I feel blessed to have supportive professors who make our concerns and education their top priority,” Ramirez said. “I’m thankful we’re still receiving appropriate training so our careers as educators will thrive despite the current pandemic.”
Ramirez said in addition to missing the students he taught at his placement, he will also miss his friends and professors.
“I will miss my fellow stars, amazing teachers and brothers at Kappa Sigma the most,” Ramirez said. “Oddly enough, I’ll miss the last memories we seniors didn’t get to experience too.”
Willner said there are 10 student teachers this year who are affected by these changes.
“The students feel so sad,” Willner said. “They’ve built relationships with these students and were ready to go teach full-time in their placements, and now they can’t. They feel kind of disconcerted.”
Willner also said though the students are disappointed, they know these changes are necessary.
“Every single one of our student teachers understands what we have to do to keep everyone safe,” Willner said.
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