School of Education students are back in local schools for practicums and student teaching. To ensure that student teachers can complete their clinical practice and be certified, the State Department of Education has given universities great latitude in adjusting the number of days in the schools and the number of hours of instruction.
For the protection of our community and those they’re working with, student teachers are using BJU HealthCheck each day in addition to going through whatever health screening each school requires and wearing masks in the classrooms.
See Also: What You Should Know About Health, Safety Policies
There are 23 student teachers out in schools this semester — 21 in Greenville County Schools, one in a charter school for Chinese language immersion (East Link Academy) and one student teaching in BJA Elementary School. Only one is student teaching with a mentor teacher who is conducting all her classes virtually. Most of the student teachers are teaching in a hybrid model — mostly in person with at least one day of e-learning each week.
After two weeks of the one-day-a-week schedule, the district went to two days a week of in-person instruction, and the student teachers are currently using that schedule. They meet half of their students on Monday/Wednesday and half of their students on Tuesday/Thursday. Fridays are e-learning days for the entire district. It has not been determined when — if ever — the district will go to a traditional five-days-a-week in-person schedule for this semester. Student teachers will finish in their schools on Monday, Nov. 23.
There are 50 practicum students also in Greenville County schools on Tuesdays and Thursdays. These students are working with mentor teachers in classes of students in their program areas to learn skills such as behavior management and how to teach lessons.
There are 13 students doing Service Learning Projects with different organizations all over the Greenville area for the Division of Education, Child and Family Studies. Students were placed at Tiny Feet Early Intervention, Primrose Academy, Brilliant Beginnings, Piedmont Women’s Center, A Home for Me, Refuge Sports, YouthBASE, East Link Academy, Stonehaven School, Bob Jones Academy and the International Student Organization. These students will log anywhere from 60 to 120 hours each with these organizations.
