Field Work & Student Teaching

Get in Classrooms Your First Year

At Champlain, you'll engage in field placements and student teaching starting in the first semester. With four years of classroom placements under your belt before graduation, not only will you have gained real experience and the confidence and flexibility needed to stand at head of a classroom, but you'll graduate with a marketable résumé that will put you well ahead of your peers.

By the end of your first year, you'll have spent upward of 30 hours in a classroom—a number you'd likely reach in your senior year at other institutions. From there, you'll progress from weekly one-day observations in classrooms to supervised field experiences, to teaching full-time teaching, learning to manage the intricacies of a classroom over the span of weeks. 

Supportive faculty and trusted partners in the surrounding area open doors to Vermont elementary, middle, and high schools—in rural, small towns and urban settings—and opportunities to strengthen and deepen your perspective by working with English Language Learners (ELLs) and diverse learners.

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.

Fieldwork and internship locations for our student teachers include:

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 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 cocurricular activities that will help you build your professional skill set and enhance your résumé.