TE 802

Beginning School

Getting to know your school (5% of total grade) Due 9/7

Please bring a hard copy to class as well as emailing a copy to your field
instructor.

Purpose: to provide a talking point and motivation for gathering the information
you will need to make a well-informed start to your internship.

This assignment will require you to do some research and talk with your mentor
and others in the building to gather information that is essential in understanding
the context in which you will be working during your internship. If you are placed
in a building with other interns, some of this work should be shared so that you
are not all asking the same people for the same information multiple times.
However, each of you should write up the information separately.

1. (5 pts) A description of your weekly schedule. Indicate which class will

be your focus class and what other courses you might teach later in the year.
Your schedule could be in the form of a schedule grid. This is particularly
useful if your schedule is different on different days of the week.

2. (10 pts) A description of the courses you will teach. Each description
should include:
a) if available, the official description given in the handbook or
other source (you might need to go to a counselor or advisor to get this)
and the actual version of the course as explained by your mentor. The
description should include where each course fits into the school program
and the nature of the students for whom it is intended (honors, regular
track).
b) The goal of the course. For example, is the course meant to
prepare students for college science courses or is its goal science literacy
a basic understand of science for every citizen?
c) What is expected of the students in terms of the understandings
and experiences they bring to the class from in and out of school, what
kind of and how much homework, reading, and research they will do?

3. (10 pts -- 5 pts for each course) For your focus class and one other course
that you might each, describe the order of the units that will be covered (we
understand that this may change as you progress through the course), and
the textbook or other major curriculum source.

(over)
4. (10 pts) A brief description of a high achieving student, middle, and
low achieving student form your focus class. In what ways does each
student participate in class? What kinds of activities/tasks does this student
not participate in? What kinds of questions, if any, do they ask? Which
academic topics seem to interest them? What out-of-class issues interest
them? What seems to motivate them (positively or negatively)?

5. School policies
a.) (5 pts) School discipline policy What is the official
school policy for handling disruptive students? For example, under what
circumstances can you send a student to the office? What will happen
that student?
b.) (5 pts) You and your mentors discipline policy
For example, what are your classroom rules? How many warnings will
you give before there are consequences? What will the consequences
be?
c.) (5 pts) Safety policies and procedures For
example, how are students alerted to and prepared for safety issues?
How are equipment and chemicals handled?

You can cut and paste from any appropriate TE801 assignment to fill in parts of
this assignment.