In order to be recommended for teacher licensure in Vermont, the student must submit a teacher licensure portfolio. The portfolio must demonstrate ability to plan and teach lessons; to plan, implement and evaluate instruction over time; to use of a variety of assessments for modifying instruction and assessing learning; to plan and implement accommodations for students with special needs; to work as a team member and advocate for students and families; and to analyze and reflect on practice and plan for evolution as an educator.
Specifically, the required "entries" for the portfolio are based on
Results Oriented Program Approval Process — Revised (ROPA-R), Part IV.
Professional Semester Review Meeting
Committee Members: Cooperating Teacher(s), Teacher Education Supervisor, Liberal Arts Mentor, and, when available, the Director of Teacher Education
Part 1: Student Teacher Opening Presentation (15 minutes)
The student is free to structure this presentation on the student teaching experience in any way that he or she would like. To help frame the presentation, the student should include the responses to the following three questions within the presentation:
● If you could choose only one aspect of your student teaching that you think best demonstrates who you are as a developing teacher, what would it be and why?
● What is important about you as a teacher that a portfolio or other documentation could never show?
● What would your ideal classroom look like? How would it be similar to or different from your placement classroom?
Part 2: Committee Questions Student Teacher (45 minutes)
1. The committee will ask questions which focus on the sixteen Principles for Vermont Educators that are found in the document, "Five Standards for Vermont Educators, A Vision for Schooling, Adopted August 2003."
2. All students should be prepared to respond to the following prompts relating to Principle #1, under the Learning Standard:
● What are your strengths in the content area(s) of your endorsement level (See Professional Endorsement for Vermont Educators located in the appendix of the Student Teaching Handbook) and how have they been reflected in your teaching practices this semester?
● How has your content expertise enabled students to meet or exceed the standards represented in Grade Expectations for Vermont's Framework of Standards and Learning Opportunities?
● What are areas of your content knowledge that you feel need improvement and what are your plans to address this?
1. All students should be prepared to respond to the following question relating to Principle #7, under the Professional Knowledge Standard: What are some examples of multiple assessment strategies that you have used to evaluate student growth and modify instruction?
2. Any other question or questions that a committee member would like to ask of the student teacher.
Part 3: Review Committee Decision Discussion (15 minutes, w/o student teacher)
The Committee reviews the total professional semester experience and the student's performance during this meeting and recommends to the Director of Teacher Education either to (1) approve the licensure recommendation, pending satisfactory completion of the licensure portfolio or (2) deny the licensure recommendation