Placements+procedures


 * CRITERIA FOR FIELD PLACEMENTS**

Field placements require careful arrangements, and sometimes negotiations, between the EDU department and our friends and partners in local schools. We have a good working relationship with many local schools, and we work hard to maintain that relationship through clear communications, reasonable expectations on both sides, and Warren Wilson College students who understand that they are //guests// in local classrooms. For the introductory level fieldwork, instructors work with school administrators to clear dates and times and access to classrooms. Transportation is generally worked out for the whole group, and gas subsidies can usually be offered. Students in these classes must recognize that they are short-term visitors and mostly observers. Teaching schedules and other variables may make it difficult for a Warren Wilson student to see exactly the class or grade level that was requested. In introductory fieldwork, where there is so much to begin to learn and experience related to schools, a change in plans may be disappointing – but it should not be treated as a crisis. Each semester members of the department discuss upper level students who are “in the pipeline” for teacher licensure, needing advanced field placements with diverse learners and, ideally, a range of instructional and curricular philosophies. We look ahead to the student teaching semester, and design a sequence of field assignments that should give a candidate an appropriate mix of learners, teachers, school configurations, and communities. As each semester the Education Department brainstorms about placements and “good fits” for students, individual transportation issues are taken into consideration, within reason. We know that car maintenance and gas is expensive, and yet to make sure to match the Warren Wilson student with the best placement, an individually owned car may be necessary. This is especially true for student teaching. PLACEMENT PROCESS The first contact and request for a placement is usually made by the Education Department’s Administrative Assistant or an instructor. We typically start by working with the principal or assistant principal of the school, identifying the course and the student(s) needing placement. The initial request letter outlines the expectations for fieldwork, but in the busy world of schools these requirements may need to be re-explained and discussed once the fieldwork assignment is underway. The key to successful advanced fieldwork is communication, and it is the responsibility of the Warren Wilson College student to be an accurate conduit of information between the College and the school site. Many students are interested in alternative education sites, and there are some interesting possibilities locally. Please note that in order to qualify for NC licensure, __the student teaching placement must be in a public school classroom, and the assigned teacher must have career status__. Our school partners have additional concerns: they often choose to keep student teachers away from classes with important (for the school’s ABC evaluation) End of Grade or End of Course Tests. Or a principal may decide that a particular grade level or department is experiencing too much turnover or other situations to also host a student teacher. Please note: __Local teachers and administrators are under NO obligation to work with Warren Wilson College students.__ The Buncombe County Schools and the Asheville City Schools have central office personnel who are apprised of fieldwork assignments and who oversee student teaching placements. Once a student teaching application has cleared the Teacher Education Committee, it is forwarded to the school system for central office approval. At the same time, the cooperating principal (or designee) and the Education department faculty discuss possible placements and cooperatively agree on the candidate’s placement. The principal discusses the placement with the teacher and secures his/her agreement to having a student teacher assigned. The principal informs the central office the teacher has agreed, and the Education Department is notified and in turn notifies the student teaching candidate. The three local charter schools have fewer administrative personnel, and generally the assignments are arranged among the school’s designated director, the potential cooperating teacher, and the Warren Wilson Education department.


 * In the introductory fieldwork sites, host teachers and principals are not asked to do formal evaluations of the Warren Wilson College visitor. Typically they give general impressions of whether the visitor(s) met professional expectations (see dispositions). However in the advanced fieldwork placements, host teachers are asked to take an active role in evaluating the Warren Wilson College student. The forms for these evaluations are elsewhere in this manual.**