Welcome to the School of Education’s Office of Admissions and Field Experiences. Here at the Field Office, we support you as a teacher candidate in your clinical experiences (Field Base 1, 2 and 3) in classrooms across New Mexico, from Las Vegas and the Albuquerque / Rio Rancho area to Santa Fe, Taos, Farmington, Las Cruces, and to all the more rural school districts in between.
In the Field Office, we see clinical experiences as the opportunity for you to put into practice the theories and methods you learn in your major and minor coursework. We help you as you translate what you learn as an educator into how you apply it in actual PK-12 classrooms. As such, the Field Office supports you in developing a fully formed praxis which provides quality educational experiences for New Mexico’s students. You are then empowered to make that important difference in the lives of students, families and communities, and to improve the quality of life for the next generation here in New Mexico.
In Field Base courses, student teachers begin with straightforward observations and reflections; and from there you build to working with small groups, embracing a reflective practice, honing your skills and strategies, co-teaching with a master teacher, and finally taking on the full assumption of classroom teaching from four to six weeks. By the end of the sixteen-week Field Base 3, all student teachers are fully prepared (in terms of academics, theory, practice, professionalism and dispositions) to take on the responsibilities of being a licensed teacher in charge of your own classroom – on Day One of your first semester as teacher of record.
At that time, you will become the favorite teacher in a young person’s life, and you will make that important difference in their life, helping them become a life-long learner, college and career ready, and prepared for all the challenges that life will bring to them.
We collaborate with student teachers as they complete their degree programs in Elementary Education, Special Education, DUAL (Elementary and Special Education), Secondary Education, and in Early Childhood Education (birth to age 3 / age 3 to grade 3). We support teacher candidates who come to Highlands as first-year students, who transfer from a two-year college, or who are non-traditional students re-imagining their lives and starting a new career in the deeply rewarding field of education. Please contact us at the Field Office for more information.
Main Campus:
Stephen Weatherburn
sjweatherburn@nmhu.edu
505-454-3108
Rio Rancho Center:
Janis Taback-Keene
jkeene@nmhu.edu
505-891-6927
We look forward to hearing from you!