Fieldwork & Student Teaching

Excellent Classroom Experience for Middle School Teacher Education Students

At Champlain, a vital part of our educational experience is getting you into the field—in real classrooms with real students—to help you gain the practical skills needed to be a teacher.

As an Education major with a concentration in the Middle Grades, you'll complete supervised field experiences in Vermont middle and secondary schools that correlate with each semester's coursework. In your first year alone, you'll spend upward of 30 hours in a classroom—a number you'd likely reach in your senior year at other institutions. From then on, you'll spend each semester in real classrooms, building up to your student teaching experience in your senior year, with the support and direction of a classroom teacher.

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

Fieldwork and Internship Locations for Students with Concentrations in the Middle Grades:


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.