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 (that was entered in Tk20 when you applied to the Teacher Education Program), make an appointment to meet with an Education faculty member as soon as possible.

Candidate Presentation

The Candidate Presentation gives you an opportunity for St. Olaf teacher candidates to reflect on your progress towards meeting the MN Teaching Standards through your Education coursework and field experiences, and it will help the Education Department gauge your readiness to student teach. During the presentation, you will outline specific goals you have for student teaching and present evidence that you are ready to student teach. This is an important and required assignment; successful completion of this 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. The components of the assignment are:

  1. The Candidate portfolio gives you an opportunity to reflect on your progress towards meeting the MN Standards of Effective Practice (https://www.revisor.mn.gov/rules/?id=8710.2000 ) through your Education coursework and field experiences, and it will help the Education Department gauge your readiness to student teach. During the presentation, you will outline a specific goal you have for student teaching and present evidence that you are ready to student teach. This is an important and required assignment; successful completion of this presentation is required in order to student teach.There are five parts to the Candidate Presentation
    1. Tk20 Standards 2-10 and Dispositions Review
      1. Review the key assessments you’ve uploaded to Tk20 to address Standards of Effective Practice (see the next page for a list). In Tk20, you will attach at least two key assessments to each overall standard to demonstrate your competency. You do not need to upload all the key assessments that address the Standards nor do you need to address each individual substandard (although you can refer to individual substandards if you would like). You may upload the same key assessment for up to three Standards.
      2. Complete the Professional Disposition Self-Assessment artifact in Tk20.
      3. Based on this review of the Standards and your Dispositions, in Tk20 write a Portfolio Reflection Form for each Standard and your Dispositions,noting strengths and areas for growth indicated by your work. You should refer to specific examples from the evidence you’ve uploaded (as well as others you may not have uploaded) to show evidence of strengths and areas for improvement.
    2. Student Teaching Goals
      1. Based on the assessment from Part 1, create three specific student teaching goals (related to MN Board of Teaching Standards, the Dispositions, or other needs you feel you should address) and determine a plan to meet those goals.
    3. Readiness to Student Teach
      1. Based on #1 and #2, write a statement (approximately two double-spaced pages) about your readiness to student teach.
    4. Self-disclosure Questions
      1. Complete these questions and save the artifact.
    5. Presentation
      1. 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.

Fee Assistance

If you would like to request financial assistance for the NES/MTLE exams, Tk20 account purchase, or the edTPA, please use this form. Please note that students with EFCs less than $15,000 will receive priority in funding. Check the Education Department calendar for deadlines.

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; in Tk20, you will create an artifact that has the same information as this form. 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 (this component is addressed in ED 385).

The purpose of the Human Relations requirements is to prepare you for teaching in a multicultural society.  The Human Relations requirements also satisfy standards 3D, 3F, and 3J on “Diverse Learners” of the Standards of Effective Practice. The Human Relations requirements (a-d) for St. Olaf College teacher candidates are 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.
  • Feedback Loop – this is a template that might be useful for music students teaching ensembles.

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

  • St. Olaf candidates will create your Teacher Education Application in Tk20. There are 2 parts of the application. You will complete PART 1 on your own before you meet with any faculty members.
    • Login with your username (your first initial, last name, four zeroes) and password
    • Click on the “Applications” tab
    • On the left hand navigation menu, click on “Applications” and then “Create”
    • Choose “St. Olaf Teacher Education Application” from the list of possible applications
    • Complete the ENTIRE application. You can SAVE your progress. When you’re ready, please hit SUBMIT.
  • Once you SUBMIT your application, you should meet with a content area faculty member who will advise you about the content area courses you need to complete. After you complete these tasks, you will meet with a faculty member from the Education Department to discuss your application and plan your Education Courses.
  • After you apply, the Education Department will notify you of the status of your application. If you do not meet the criteria for entrance to the program, a faculty member will contact you to discuss next steps.
  • 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

Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA)

The Education Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA) is a national, subject-specific portfolio-based assessment of teaching performance that is completed by student teachers to demonstrate their readiness for a full-time classroom teaching assignment. Minnesota requires student teachers to complete this assessment during student teaching.

  • Handbooks

    • Student teachers complete the edTPA during the professional semester of their teacher preparation programs. Each content area has its own edTPA; currently, handbooks can be found in your Tk20 edTPA portfolio/course binder.

  • Videotaping

    • Student teachers should discuss the edTPA with their host teachers and gain permission from their students for videotaping. A sample letter/permission form in English and in Spanish. Guidelines for video can be found below.
      • Guidelines
        • Accepted video file types: mov, mp4, avi, mpg, wmv, m4v .
          Video files must be in one of the accepted video formats.
        • Videos should not be in HD.
        • Video clips should not exceed 20 minutes TOTAL in duration.
        • Video files should be 100MB TOTAL or less.
      • Compression
      • DISCO — for assistance with converting or compressing your video, please contact DISCO.

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 Tk20 (Applications–>Create–>Student Petition) 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.

Appeals of the consensus decision may be made to the Teacher Education Committee (which is primarily a curriculum and educational policy committee). 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.