• Overview
• Degrees & Areas of Study
  • Core Program
  • Majors
    • Biology Major
    • Education Major
    • English Language and Literature Major
    • History Major
    • Interdisciplinary Major
    • Religion Major
  • Certification in Secondary Education
  • Associate in Arts Degree
• Experiential Learning
• Faculty
• Catalog and Course Information
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OBSERVATION AND FIELD EXPERIENCE

An important part of the Education Major is observation and field experience. Before the final senior teaching experience, students in this program will have logged well over 100 hours of observation and practice teaching in a variety of classrooms. We are fortunate to have a strong working relationship with the Bryn Athyn Church School, other General Church schools and the Academy Secondary Schools where teachers join in a partnership with student practitioners. We also have strong relationships with surrounding public schools so that each of our students will have the opportunity to observe educational practices in these environments as well.

Purposes of the Student Teaching Program

At Bryn Athyn College, student teaching is considered an essential component of the overall mission of the Education Division, which is to provide the best preparation for our students as New Church elementary and secondary classroom teachers. From their first education course, Ed 128, to the final senior teaching experience done in conjunction with Holy Family University, our students will experience the actual classroom in almost every education course in our program. Our hope is that this experience will not only better prepare the students to manage and develop classrooms of their own, but will also provide them with the opportunity to develop an appreciation for the variety of teaching styles and personalities they will encounter in the schools in which they will teach.

In an effort to achieve the above goals, we will:

• Place the students in a variety of grade levels.
• Place the students with a variety of teachers.
• Place the students in a variety of schools.
• Require observation returns in the form of journals, reports, and reflections.
• Require students to interview or converse with cooperating teachers in a variety of ways, depending on the course.
• Require students to learn the classroom management and discipline methods of the classrooms in which they observe.
• Require students to be aware of each individual teacher's needs and expectations as to student/teacher involvement in the classroom.
• Require students to be responsible for all course and classroom teacher expectations.
• Require students to develop a working knowledge of all New Church competencies and Pennsylvania state core principles.