We're with you every step of the way

We prepare you to be classroom-ready. Under our guidance, you'll have multiple field experiences beginning with observing multiple grade levels to working directly with students in a classroom setting as well as a mentor teacher.

Under the guidance of our Office of Educator Preparation Programs, you'll have multiple field experiences that gradually increase your responsibilities each semester.

The following clinical hours combined, fulfill the Michigan Department of Education's requirements.

    Early clinical experiences allow teacher candidates to engage with K-12 students in the field prior to  the clinical apprenticeship (pre-student teaching) and clinical internship (student teaching).

    These experiences can vary from exploratory encounters that provide candidates opportunities to:

    • Make informed decisions about their career pathways.
    • Access flex hours that could include working with artifacts of practice in the field (such as student work samples, curricular materials, etc.).  or auxiliary contact hours (such as tutoring programs outside of the normal school day).

    The Pre-Student Teaching apprenticeships occur in the junior or senior year as key clinical components in the Teacher Education program. As a teacher candidate, you will have the exciting opportunity to be placed in a local school district where you will gain first-hand experiences creating lesson plans, providing instruction to students, and collaborating with current educators to further enhance your skills as a teacher.

    Teacher candidates will complete multiple apprenticeships that provide targeted clinical experiences for their grade band focus or content area specialization. Clinical Experiences faculty and staff work collaboratively to provide mentorship and support for the duration of each apprenticeship experience.

    The student teaching clinical experience, in most cases, is the final semester of the Educator Education Program. Students majoring in Special Education will participate in two semesters of the student teaching field experience. The primary purpose of student teaching is to create an opportunity to transfer the theory of the teacher preparation program into real classroom and school environment experiences. Not until candidates have completed the practice portion of their training are they prepared for the classroom.

    Classroom experiences provide teacher candidates a forum for increased and improved practices that benefit children. The Clinical Experience staff collaborates with EPP faculty to provide rich classroom experiences for candidates to practice their growing craft through observation, lesson design, and instructional delivery.

    The Clinical Experience team embraces partnerships with districts in Michigan and beyond to provide opportunities for teacher candidates to grow as classroom practitioners under the mentorship of skilled educators.

    Clinical Experience staff provides teacher candidates with opportunities to develop skills and dispositions required of educators to be successful colleagues and increase marketability.

    Growing pedagogical skills takes time, reflection, and coaching. Clinical Experience staff support teacher candidates during their apprenticeship and internship experiences in developing key pedagogies, through both on-site and virtual mentorship.

    Clinical Experiences Handbook

    View the policies, procedures, and expectations related to clinical experiences. 

    Early Childhood Clinical Experiences Handbook
    Elementary Clinical Experiences Handbook
    Secondary and PK-12 Clinical Experiences Handbook

    The four core pillars of Clinical Experiences

    The work of the Clinical Experience staff revolves around four core pillars of service.

    Michigan map of counties and student teaching areas, the areas include Metro South Area, Metro North Area, West Michigan Area, Capital Area and the Mid Michigan Area.