Cooperating and Mentor Teachers
All Final Field Experience candidates are assigned an educator at the school who can support them. UTeach INTERNS have a Mentor Teacher who conducts a content observation, communicates concerns and updates with the Field Observers and Clinical Faculty, and approves the final evaluation. Apprentice Teachers have a Cooperating Teacher who is the teacher of record for the classes they teach during the semester. The Cooperating Teacher retains the classes not assigned to the Apprentice Teacher and communicates daily with the Apprentice Teacher about curriculum decisions and student concerns. The Cooperating Teacher conducts a content observation, communicates with the Field Observers and University, and approves the final evaluation. The Cooperating Teacher also signs off each week on the Apprentice Teacher’s documented field hours using Docusign.
At the beginning of Final Field Experience, the Cooperating Teacher and Mentor Teacher participate in a training session that gives them information on supporting their candidates and documenting the experience.