Application for Student Teaching

In order to student teach, candidates must submit an online application for admission to student teaching and have an up-to-date electronic portfolio approved by the director of field experience. The application is linked below and should be submitted online no later than February 1 for the fall semester and September 1 for the spring semester.

The application must be approved by the director of field experiences before the student may engage in student teaching. Student teachers must have evidence of professional liability insurance coverage and an approved background check administered through the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) on file. Procedures for obtaining the background check are linked in the navigation panel on this website.

Before a student may be admitted to student teaching, all courses within the program with an EDU, PSY, RDG, or SPE prefix must be completed with a minimum grade of “C.” Also, the student must have an overall GPA of at least 2.75 in all coursework and teaching subject-matter endorsements.

Completing EDTPA Portfolios

All student teachers must complete an edTPA portfolio during their student teaching semester. Student teachers must use the state-approved edTPA handbooks for their specific content areas to complete their edTPA portfolios and submit them through Watermark–Taskstream© and Pearson. Student teachers must pay the current fee to complete the initial edTPA submission during the student teaching semester. Student teachers must meet or exceed the Tennessee edTPA score requirement (in addition to the required passing Praxis II scores) in order to apply for an initial teaching certificate issued by the state of Tennessee.

Student Teaching Application Photograph

Students submitting applications for student teaching are required to also submit a digital photograph that will become a part of the student teaching application, which is to be shared with the university supervisor and school district cooperating teacher. The applicant may come to the Department of Education Undergraduate Office and have the photograph taken at no charge or submit a digital photograph to the Director of Field Experience by e-mailing the photograph to fieldexperience@fhu.edu The photograph should meet the following criteria to be considered acceptable for the student teaching application:

• The photo needs to be a recent photograph taken within the past six months.
• The photo needs to be of the individual, professional looking in portrait view, and show the individual from the top of the head to just above the waistline.
• The individual should be dressed as if going for a job interview. Men are expected to wear a dress shirt and tie (jacket not required). T-shirts, sports clothing, sleeveless tops, tank tops, or anything with writing on it are not acceptable. Glamour-shot photos are unacceptable.
• The background needs to be plain with no doors, furniture, bookshelves, plants, or any other items in the picture.
• The photograph will be printed directly on the application that is submitted to the school district cooperating teacher and the university supervisor.
• If the photograph does not meet the specified standards, the candidate will be asked to submit a new one.