Clinical Experiences

The College of Education's Office for School Engagement provides the connection between our students and local service school districts. Our current relationships exist with the following School Districts: Broward, Palm Beach, Indian River, St. Lucie, Martin, and Okeechobee. As part of our teacher preparation program requirements, students participate in varied field experiences, practicum, and student teaching placements within school district classrooms.

Florida Institute for the Advancement of Teaching (FIAT)

The Florida Institute for the Advancement of Teaching (FIAT) provides practical, research-based, and scalable solutions for Florida’s PK-20 educational system by recruiting, preparing, and retaining quality educators in sufficient numbers for Florida schools.

Field Experience

As candidates progress through their program, they participate in content and methods courses where field work is used as a means to apply strategies learned in the coursework. These activities require the teacher candidate to begin independent planning and execution of lessons/units, connect educational philosophy, research, and theory to practice. Practicum is a specific field experience requiring the candidate to serve 90 hours as 12 full-day sessions in the same elementary or secondary classroom each visit.

Student Teaching

Student Teaching / Internship is a full-time, fifteen-week experience and is the capstone for teacher education candidates. Candidates use the Timeframe for Student Teaching/Internship as a guide through which they gradually assume full-time teaching responsibilities, complete a minimum of six weeks full-time, and then gradually relinquish classroom responsibilities. In the student teaching experience, candidates apply and reflect on their content, professional, and pedagogical knowledge, skills, and dispositions in various settings with students.

View courses that require a Clinical Experience Placement