Student Teaching

When you become a teacher education major at Illinois State University, you will begin your first year by taking a majority of classes in general education. Your academic advisor as a freshman student will be housed in University College. Generally, once you have completed 30 hours, you will be assigned an advisor in your major and will begin completing the classes in your teacher education program.

The classes that you take are aligned with specific requirements that you will need to become certified to teach in the State of Illinois. Some of these requirements include specific lesson plan assignments, technology requirements, and certification tests. You will begin to spend time in an actual classroom by your junior year, where you will be able to observe the practices that you are learning about in your coursework. You will get to experience diverse classroom settings, experience urban school settings, work with special needs populations, and expert teachers in your content field. By the end of your preparation to become a teacher, you will have spent at least 100 hours in actual classrooms with real students. The culmination of your teacher candidacy will be student teaching. Illinois State University offers two different paths for student teaching: a traditional 16 week student teaching placement or a year-long internship in the classroom.

Once you graduate, you will have met or exceeded all of the requirements of the State of Illinois for certification as a teacher. In addition to preparing you to become a teacher, Illinois State’s Career Center can assist you in your career search by helping you write your resume, sponsoring job fairs, and setting up interviews.