A Field Notebook is a working document that demonstrates the teacher candidate's organization and planning, provides some ‘script’ and timelines when the candidate is leading the class, and is a reference for reflections. A teacher candidate's Field Notebook needs to be a paper document with all the documents in one place and available at all times for your own reference, your cooperating teacher, and UW Bothell faculty.
The Field Notebook will serve as a resource for documents to be analyzed and revised for the teacher candidate's Professional Portfolio.
Elements of the Field Notebook:
- Overview
“Week-at-a-Glance” Schedule/Quarter Calendar
This schedule lists the consistent classroom time blocks during the week/quarter (start time, bell schedule, lunch, breaks, release time, etc.). It will reflect the candidate's teaching schedule and where the UW Bothell program staff can locate them. It is usually one sheet of paper with time blocks and titled entries. Cooperating teachers probably have one in place to use as a guide.
Long Range Plans
Teacher candidates will prepare detailed and complete outlines for the subjects and units of study that will be taught during internship. Planning will be done with the cooperating teacher’s guidance. Units of study will meet district requirements. A separate long-range plan for Autumn Quarter and one for Winter Quarter is expected.
NOTE: Teacher candidates must obtain approval from the cooperating teacher for all long-range plans, lesson plans, guest speakers, videos, films, etc., before these are incorporated in the student teaching experience.
- Weekly Plans
Weekly plans are an outline of teaching objectives for each day of the week. These plans are tied to long-range unit plans and must support Washington State Essential Academic Learning Requirements or Subject Expectations and district standards. Be prepared to discuss these connections with all professionals and families in your school community. Weekly plans should be kept for Autumn and Winter Quarters. When a teacher candidate is taking the lead, the planning needs to be pre-approved by the cooperating teacher within the timeframe they require to give feedback and allow time for revisions.
- Daily Plans and Plans for Observations
A written lesson plan is required for every lesson the candidate teaches. In the beginning, teacher candidates will need to record many details, following the lesson plan format from Curriculum, Instruction, and Assesment courses and/or clinical faculty. As they gain experience, candidates will not need to write down quite as many details for directions, timing etc, but they will need to have at least a minimum written plan for each day. A substitute reasonably familiar with the curriculum should be able to follow the Daily Plan.
Teacher candidates will prepare a more detailed lesson plan for all observations made by clinical faculty and building principals. No one will be observed without a lesson plan. Lesson plans should be emailed to clinical faculty two (2) days prior to the observed lesson. If necessary, the clinical faculty or cooperating teacher may require a candidate develop detailed lesson plans more frequently.
- Demonstrated Impact on Student Learning
Standard V of the Washington State Teacher Standards requires teacher candidates to provide evidence that they positively impact student learning. Successful completion of this expectation will be reflected partly in the Professional Practice Seminar and partly in the Professional Portfolio where teacher candidates will demonstrate their understanding of analysis of student work to increase learning over time.
Teacher candidates should include in the Field Notebook anecdotal records of observed progress, pretest/post test data, lesson plans based on student pre-assessment, and samples of student work. Selections should show how the teaching objectives are being met and plans for revisions.
- Observation Notes and Feedback
Copies of all observation notes and feedback from clinical faculty and cooperating teachers should be included. Weekly, daily, formal and informal notes help the cooperating teachers and clinical faculty to review the candidate's growth.
- Classroom Management Plan
A management plan will be developed by the teacher candidate and cooperating teacher with final approval by the cooperating teacher before the candidate begins full-time teaching in the winter. This plan will include all the categories described by course and clinical faculty (Autumn quarter) and should be connected with the teacher candidate's Teacher Philosophy. Teacher candidates will be expected to communicate their expectations to students and work with their cooperating teacher to implement their plan.
- Family Communication
Teacher candidates should send home at least 1 communication to families (parents or guardians) during the field experiences and document at least 3 interactions by telephone or personal conferences. Email may be used to set up conferences, but should not be used for problem solving. Cooperating teachers must be copied on all emails to students or parents as he/she is legally responsible for all students in the classroom.
Letters home need to be approved by the cooperating teachers before they are sent. Letters might include a letter of introduction, classroom newsletters, notice of upcoming events, requests for volunteers, classroom web page or class e-newsletter.
- PPA Assessment record
A copy of the Performance-based Pedagogy Assessment (PPA) should be included in the Field Notebook so that clinical faculty can record any evidence of teaching standards at each observation. The cooperating teacher should have his/her own copy, or have easy access to the PPA in the teacher candidate's Field Notebook.