Secondary Education majors who successfully have completed all course work and have met all candidacy requirements enter the Professional Semester in spring of their final year.

The Professional Semester is a challenging experience that consists of the following:

• an initial two-week, on-campus immersion program focusing in the morning on special topics and in the afternoon on special methods seminars;
• full-time student teaching, which takes place in a selected middle, junior or senior high school;
• regularly-scheduled, on-site observations led by a university supervisor content specialist.

Each student teacher creates a Professional Portfolio, which includes his/her philosophy of education, sample instructional and assessment plans, and other materials that demonstrate mastery of the InTASC standards for new teachers.