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Clinical Teaching Overview

Clinical teaching is a full time, school-based experience that is supervised by both a certified cooperating teacher and a university supervisor. The primary objective of clinical teaching is to provide the opportunity for acquisition and demonstration of instructional competence by beginning professional educators. The clinical teaching experience has been carefully designed to be as realistic and intensive as actual teaching. This involves placing clinical teachers in schools with carefully selected and qualified cooperating teachers. The clinical teacher’s ability to assume full class responsibilities rests upon the mutual cooperation and collaborative efforts of the clinical teacher, the cooperating teacher, and the university supervisor, who make up the clinical teaching triad. The basic role of the triad is to work as a team through constant communication to support, enhance, and prepare the clinical teacher to become a reflective professional. Each member must have a conceptual understanding of his or her respective roles to result in positive actions and events during the clinical teaching semester. Likewise, each member of this triad has expectations for the other members. It is required that all three participants in the process meet in the first weeks of the semester to collaboratively develop and plan a program of activities which meets the clinical teacher’s needs.