Communication with Mentors and Candidates
As soon as your internship list is available and placements for the upcoming semester are announced, communicate with both the mentor teacher and the intern.
- Verify that your interns have communicated with their school-based mentors.
- Share with mentor teachers that the supervisor is the first point of contact for questions and concerns.
- Communicate with your mentor teachers regarding interns’ schedule
- Junior Block, early field experiences, and Internship I: How many days or hours will the intern be in the school? What days, if known, will interns be in the school?
- For internship II: work with intern to complete the planning document or other process to create a guide for the semester.
Primary Roles and Responsibilities
- High quality feedback is critical. For the upcoming state review, be prepared to provide randomly requested feedback samples throughout the year. Feedback (written and verbal) should be detailed on both successes and challenges. Feedback should uploaded to your classroom management system. For assessments in Anthology, feedback should be included with the rubric scores.
- Conway School District has enhanced its campus security plan for volunteers (which includes interns). All students with any placement in Conway should complete the orientation linked here. This information is relevant to all interns and may already be a part of your classroom presentation. Notice the required PD. Record students’ names on the linked form to verify their completion of these requirements.
- Follow the school dress code policy. If schools require business casual or no jeans, then supervisors and interns will follow that policy. If you are not sure about their dress policy, ask your intern. Make sure your intern is also following these expectations.
The handbook for supervisors and mentors is available HERE.
Travel Reimbursements
Internship II supervisors
- Complete the travel estimation information sent to you by email from the Office of Candidate Services before the deadline.
- Limit your initial travel estimation to no more than three visits. Should an issue arise that requires additional visits, consult with your program coordinator or department chair and alert the Office of Candidate Services so that your travel estimation can be increased.
- Pre-observations and post-observations should be completed remotely.
Early field, ELSE junior block, and Internship I
- Work with your Department for travel reimbursement.
- Follow your program’s or department’s guidelines for the frequency and number of visits.
- Visits should be substantive (i.e. observing the intern, meeting with the mentor or the intern to discuss assignments, progress, or concerns, assisting with planning as needed with the intern, etc.).
- Remote check ins are also acceptable, when appropriate.
- Mentors should always be aware of the days/times that you will likely be in the school.