Forms, Applications, and Other Student Information

  • Education
  • For Students
  • Student Forms and Information

This page contains important information for current students. There are links on this page for:

Advising and Course Plan Updates

Course Plan Form is a generic form you can use with your advisor or an Education faculty member to create your four-year plan. Should you need to revise your Education Course Plan, make an appointment to meet with an Education faculty member as soon as possible.

Candidate Portfolio

The Candidate Portfolio gives an opportunity for St. Olaf teacher candidates to reflect on their progress towards meeting teaching standards and dispositions through coursework and field experiences. During the presentation, candidates outline specific goals they have for student teaching and present evidence of readiness to student teach. This is an important and required assignment; successful completion of this portfolio and presentation is required in order to student teach. 

The Candidate Presentation occurs the spring semester prior to student teaching. The assignment for the Candidate Presentation will be sent via email. There are five parts to the Candidate Presentation

  1. Reflection on Racial Consciousness and Dispositions Review (Standards 1B, 1D, 1F, 6D, 6E, 6F, 7E, 8A, 8G) – Write an essay addressing your racial consciousness and how it will inform your teaching. Complete the Professional Disposition Self-Assessment and reflection.
  2. Student Teaching Goals – Create 3 student teaching goals and determine a plan to meet those goals. 
  3. Readiness to Student Teach – Write 2-3 double-spaced pages about your readiness to student teach.
  4. Self-disclosure Questions – Respond to each self-disclosure question.
  5. Presentation – Present (10 min) to a group of your peers and one Education faculty member on your readiness to student teach and one specific goal for student teaching.

Human Relations

The Minnesota Human Relations Requirement is a state mandate (Minnesota Rule Chapter 8710.0400) for all applicants for teacher licensure in Minnesota. You will complete this requirement during student teaching. The Human Relations Requirement develops the ability of applicants to:

  • Understand the contributions and life styles of various racial, cultural, and economic groups in our society,
  • Recognize and deal with dehumanizing biases, discrimination and prejudices,
  • Create learning environments which contribute to the self-esteem of all persons and to positive interpersonal relations,
  • Respect human diversity and personal rights, and
  • Know about American Indian language, history, government, and culture.

The purpose of the Human Relations requirement is to prepare you for teaching in a multicultural society and is met by:

  1. Satisfactorily completing the Cognitive Component (coursework) and the Experiential Component (the completion of a 300-level January Term or its equivalent in a multicultural setting prior to student teaching) and documenting how you met the components in Tk20. The following areas must be addressed: Racial/Ethnic Diversity, Cultural Diversity (including gender roles and religious diversity), Socioeconomic Diversity, and Linguistic Diversity, and
  2. Writing a reflective essay following student teaching that includes a discussion of how the cognitive and experiential components have prepared you to teach in a diverse setting, address prejudices and discrimination in the classroom and schools, take into account community and cultural norms, and teach about diversity.

Professional Disposition Criteria

In addition to meeting GPA and course grade requirements to remain in good standing in the Teacher Education Program, you must meet Professional Disposition Criteria. Students who do not meet these criteria may be placed on an Individual Development plan. These criteria are assessed by Education faculty members, content area faculty, and by your host teachers in your field experiences. You will be asked to self-assess your dispositions three times: in your Teacher Education Application, during the Candidate Presentation, and after Student Teaching.

Transition Points

To progress through the Teacher Education Program, students move through a series of transition points: Applicant to Candidate, Candidate to Student Teacher, and Student Teacher to Licensed Teacher. Additionally, students can track their transition points in Tk20. On the home page for each student, there is a set of transition points that are monitored by the Education Department.

Unit Plan

  • Student Teachers: Use this template (revised August 2018)
  • Unit Plan template used in ED 330 and student teaching; this was revised 8/31/12.

Lesson Plan

The St. Olaf lesson-planning template can be downloaded below. This is the preferred lesson plan template used in the St. Olaf Teacher Education Program.

Teacher Education Application

  • Directions for completing the Teacher Education application (for ED 295 students). Deadline: Oct 8. Video link here.
    • Log in to SLL.
    • On the left-hand navigation, click on “Gateways.”
    • You will see a licensure plan listed – either “BA-Apps” or “BM-Apps.” Click on the one that appears. This plan is a way for you to track your progress towards being admitted to the Teacher Education program. 
    • To start the application, click on the first link under the transition point “Applicant to Candidate,” which is the Teacher Education Application. 
    • Complete the application, which requires you to respond to the questions listed, upload an unofficial copy of your transcript (as a pdf), complete an essay in response to the department’s conceptual framework, and agree to program assurances.
    • You will be contacted to schedule an interview with an Education Department faculty member. Prior to that interview (before fall break), you must meet with a content area specialist to plan your major courses. Students interested in Music, Social Studies or Communication Arts/Literature (English) will have their interview with a content specialist and do not need to complete this meeting. If you are not pursuing those licenses, meet with one of the following content faculty members (contact them ASAP for an appointment):
      • MATH: Dr. Matsuura
      • SCIENCE: Dr. Mohl
    • Once your application is complete, click “Submit.” You can also save your work and return to it. Make sure to submit your application by the deadline.
    • After your interview, you will click on the second link under the transition point “Applicant to Candidate” in order to acknowledge that you completed your interview. You will also upload the course plan (as a pdf) that your content area faculty and Education faculty member discussed.
    • The remainder of the steps in your licensure plan will be verified by the Education Department. The department will determine whether or not you met the remainder of the items and contact you regarding admission (generally during J-term). 
    • NOTE: Music Education students cannot be fully admitted to the Teacher Education Department until admission to BM Music Education (after your recital). If your recital occurs during the spring semester, you may be conditionally admitted to the program, allowing you to take classes until the decision is made by the Music Department.
  • If you change your course plan or no longer plan to pursue a teaching license, please complete this form and submit to the Education Department: Update for Teacher Education Application

Student Petitions and Appeals Process

A student who wishes to petition the Education Department (for course registration permissions, GPA issues, etc.) must first meet with an Education Department faculty member. With assistance from the faculty member, the student should submit a petition in Student Learning and Licensure (SLL; Program Applications–>Start an Application–>choose Petition to the Education Department–> Continue) and then email the Director of Assessment and Department Chair to inform them that the petition has been submitted. If submitted by Wednesday, it will be considered the following Monday during the department meeting, and the petitioner will be notified of the consensus decision in SLL and by email.

Appeals of the consensus decision may be made to the Chair of the department via email. A final appeals process exists through the Dean of Student’s office where complainants express their concerns to a neutral student/faculty group appointed by the Dean of Students and the Associate Dean of Social Sciences [and the Provost or designee]. This meets the Minnesota Statutes, section 122A.09, subdivision 4, paragraph (c).

Programmatic Concerns

St. Olaf College is committed providing a safe, ethical and lawful educational living and working environment. Members of our community share the responsibility of ensuring adherence to these values and are encouraged to report any concerns to the college. If you encounter or become aware of behavior that appears to be illegal, inappropriate, or unethical, please use this chart to share or report your concern including a programmatic concern about the Education Department.

Media Equipment

Video recording equipment is available in the Education Department for students to check out for the purpose of recording teaching sessions. The equipment includes iPads, video cameras and ancillary equipment to facilitate the recording (tri-pods, power cords, USB cables, etc.).

Loan period: The student may check out the equipment for the duration of recording the classroom teaching session(s), editing, downloading and transferring the files. The loan period can vary from a few days, to a month or a semester and will be determined by the course professor.

All equipment must be checked out and checked in with a staff person by completing the appropriate loan agreement during regular office hours.