Student Teaching Information

I'm going to post this on both the Sweet Grass and the Teacher Education blogs to make sure everybody gets this information.

Student Teaching Information:


• Within 2-3 weeks of you starting your placement, we will meet together with you and your cooperating teacher and lay out the expectations for the semester. At this meeting, we will go over the handbook and give your cooperating teacher her copy.

• You are required to attend inservice before school starts if your teacher wants you to and thinks it will benefit you. This means you may begin before the actual first day of school.

• You will be expected to come to school in the AM when your teacher does and stay at the school until he or she leaves. You are NOT excused for work!

• On that note, it is recommended you do not work Mondays through Thursdays. You are going to have evening events, parent teacher conferences, and so on. Please do not ask your teacher if it’s “OK” for you to leave early. It’s not “OK” even if she approves it.

• Because you are not allowed to work those days when you student teach, you are awarded more funding from the Sweet Grass grant. Instead of the usual $2000 plus, you will receive $6,000 for the semester. You are going to have additional costs for clothes, supplies, etc.

• You can come out to campus and get materials from us for your lessons if we have them. If we don’t, you will be responsible for getting your own materials. Check with your teacher, too, to see if she has what you need. Plan wisely.

• And, last of all, make sure you complete and submit your application for the Praxis II and for fingerprinting. You will want to have both of these done, and have taken the tests, before or immediately after you finish student teaching so you are ready to be licensed.

• As soon as you receive your ND teaching license, you apply to the Department of Public Instruction for the Early Childhood Special Education endorsement. The endorsement has to be “attached” to a teaching license so you have to get the license first. I will provide you more information about that after you are licensed.

Financial Aid Information:

Student teaching is considered a class. You will be registered for EDU 499 for 12 credits so you are a full-time student. Your tuition will be $2400 (12 credits x $200 per credit); you will have a $360 honorarium fee that will be paid to your cooperating teacher(s); and you will have a $400 supervision fee that covers the site visits and classroom observations. The good news is you will not be required to purchase textbooks so that’s a savings.