Fieldwork & Student Teaching

Excellent Classroom Experience for Secondary Education Students

The Education major with a Secondary Level concentration is driven by practical experience; at Champlain, we understand the importance of learning by doing. 

As a Secondary-Level Education student, you'll complete supervised field experiences in Vermont middle and high schools—in rural, small town, and urban settings—that correlate with each semester's coursework. In your first year alone, you'll spend upward of 30 hours in a classroom—a number unheard of at many institutions. 

From then on, you'll spend time each semester in real classrooms, and then spend the final semester of your senior year student teaching with the support and guidance of a classroom teacher. You'll have the opportunity to work with English Language Learners (ELLs) to gain valuable new perspectives that will strengthen your abilities as a teacher. 

With four years of classroom placements under your belt before graduation, not only will you have gained real-world knowledge, but you'll graduate with a marketable résumé full of experiences that will make you stand out in a field of applicants. 

Fieldwork and internship locations for Secondary Teacher Education students:

Mt. Mansfield Union HS
Lyman C. Hunt Middle School
Edmunds Middle School
SB High School
Frederick H. Tuttle Middle School - South Burlington

Burlington High School

How We Prepare You for Experiential Learning

We want you to be well prepared for your first internship, externship, or other fieldwork. After your first year of exploratory practical education, you'll be ready to work with your Career Advisor to take the next step.  

  • The Upside-Down Curriculum allows you to get extensive classroom learning and hands-on experience with industry professionals in your first year, which gives you the real-world skills and qualifications needed to begin taking an internship or externship as early as the summer before your sophomore year.
  • Champlain's Career Collaborative will help you develop your professional résumé and hone your interview skills. Early on in your studies, you'll be able to show employers what you know.
  • Your professors will become your reliable mentors, pointing out the strategic academic and co-curricular activities that will help you build your professional skill set and enhance your résumé.

Local and national employers turn to Champlain for college interns because they are better prepared to work in professional environments than the majority of their peers from other institutions. Many Champlain graduates receive full- and part-time job offers from the organizations where they first took their internships or externships.

Read more about Champlain graduates' Career Success.