The Illinois State Board of Education requires teacher certification candidates to participate in 100 clock hours of clinical experiences in the secondary schools prior to student teaching. Secondary teacher certification candidates in CLAS certification programs complete these hours in three separate, sequential courses:
ILAS 201: Introductory Clinical Experience
(20 clock hours of observation and 6 required seminars)
The primary goals of ILAS 201 are to assist students in gaining a big picture view of public schools and teaching as a profession as well as to help them decide if teaching is a career which is a good match for them. ILAS 201 introduces students to the profession of teaching by investigating such topics as the responsibilities of professionalism, the importance of good classroom management, the identification of various learning styles, the role of assessment in effective instruction and the availability of support professionals within a school. This course consists of two parts: (1) an on-campus seminar component in which students attend presentations led by public school teachers and administrators, and (2) an off-campus clinical component in which students are assigned to a public secondary school in the northern Illinois area to observe and participate in classrooms under the supervision of qualified school personnel. The students divide their twenty clock hours among a variety of disciplines and complete activities linked directly to the seminar topics.
The heart of this course is the twenty-hour clinical observation component. Students enrolled in ILAS 201 need to allot time in their course schedules to allow for their observation hours.
ILAS 301: Second Clinical Experience
(40 clock hours of observation and 6 required seminars)
The primary goals of ILAS 301 are to provide students with exposure to issues in education and opportunities to discuss appropriate strategies for addressing these issues within their content areas. Topics include middle school philosophy and structure, multiculturalism, special needs students, and gender issues related to the classroom. Like ILAS 201, ILAS 301 consists of two parts: (1) an on-campus seminar component in which students attend presentations led by public school teachers and administrators, and (2) an off-campus clinical component in which students complete 20 hours of observation at the middle school level and 20 hours of observation at the high school level. In both cases, students observe and participate in classrooms under the supervision of qualified school personnel in the discipline area in which they are preparing to teach and complete activities linked directly to the seminar topics.
The heart of this course is in the forty-hour clinical observation component. It is imperative that students enrolled in ILAS 301 allot time in their course schedules to allow for their observation hours.
ILAS 401: Final Pre-Student Teaching Discipline Based Clinical
ILAS 401 and its departmental equivalents (BIOS 401 and MATH 401) are the final, discipline-based clinical experiences preceding student teaching and take place in the school in which a student will student teach the following semester. The course prepares students for the student teaching experience by allowing them the opportunity to familiarize themselves with their cooperating school and to gain experience in preparing and presenting lessons to secondary-level students. Students develop an understanding of their school, subject area department and its curriculum as well as establish a professional working relationship within the department. In ILAS 401, students are both observers and active participants in the teaching process, and they focus on teaching techniques, lesson plans, and curriculum. In ILAS 401 each discipline coordinator designs activities for his or her respective students and links these requirements to the teaching methods course in which the students are simultaneously enrolled.
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