Field Placements

What are field placements?

A central part of the CalTeach experience is to provide opportunities for aspiring teachers to gain real-world classroom experience in urban K-12 public school settings. All CalTeach introductory courses, as well as three of the five minor courses, contain a fieldwork element of 1-5 hours, that ties in closely with the focus and themes of the course.

Through field placements, CalTeach undergraduates take theories, concepts, and methods from their courses directly into local classrooms. By putting these techniques into practice, CalTeach students build a teaching toolbox as they progress through the course sequence. By the time undergraduates complete the CalTeach minor, they will have spent over 100 hours honing their teaching skills in a local urban classroom setting. For students who are accepted into the final component of the CalTeach program, student teaching placements will make up the 500 additional hours of teaching experience with K-12 students required for the teaching credential.

Who do we work with?

Our program emphasizes the importance of public education and all CalTeach field placements are made in local urban schools. CalTeach establishes and maintains partnerships with local school districts to meet the mutual needs of district students and teachers, and CalTeach students and faculty, with the ultimate aim of taking shared responsibility for supporting teachers to thrive over the long term. We have ongoing partnerships that focus primarily on Berkeley, Oakland, and West Contra Costa Unified School Districts. We also work with schools in Albany, Alameda, Hayward, Mt. Diablo, San Francisco, San Leandro, and San Lorenzo Unified School Districts.

We are committed to improving school experiences for all students, in particular students who identify as people of color, low-income, immigrant students, students who speak a language other than English, LGBTQ+ students, and all students who identify with groups who have been systematically marginalized. Therefore we establish relationships with the schools that serve these populations of students, and where faculty and staff have a record of working to change traditional structures and practices that continue to marginalize students.

In addition to presenting lessons and working alongside local teachers, CalTeach students act as college-going role models in their field placements. As current college students, CalTeach undergrads are in a unique position to share their college experiences in STEM learning with K-12 students.