Teaching Online Practicum (TOP) Syllabus

Congratulations, you have been invited to TOP (Teaching Online Practicum), the final stage of GaVS
teacher induction. Successful instructors exit the TOP experience as vetted members of the GaVS
community able to demonstrate a diverse catalog of essential online teaching skills for immediate
practical application in the virtual classroom.

Welcome to the GaVS Team let's have an amazing semester!

Lead Instructor/Contacts
Carrie Madden, Teacher Training Specialist @ carrie.madden@gavirtualschool.org

Mallory Kirkland, Lead Mentor @ mallory.kirkland@gavirtualschool.org

Weekly Meeting Time

When: Mondays 6-7pm Eastern

Where: https://stream.jigsawme.com/u/Kb2xXE

Participation in weekly sessions is recorded and part of assessment for this practicum course.

Course Description
TOP is a one-semester, immersive online teaching practicum. Teachers enrolled in TOP will be assigned
a live GaVS course and serve as the teacher of record. A mentor is assigned to each TOP instructor for
support; the mentor and TOP instructor will be enrolled in each other's courses for ease in collaboration
and communication.

TOP instructors, mentors, and GaVS experts meet weekly in synchronous sessions. TOP instructors
complete interactive practicum tasks that focus on key aspects of the GaVS online teaching experience.
TOP instructors work with mentors to meet or exceed expectations on GaVS in/formal online teaching
evaluations throughout the semester.

Course Expectations
Expectations of TOP instructors:

Assume all duties and responsibilities of a GaVS instructor for your course of record as dictated
by administration and by the policies set forth in the Teacher Handbook.
Communicate and collaborate with your mentor to acclimate yourself the GaVS instructional
environment and to manage your live classroom and interact with stakeholders.
Participate in all TOP weekly sessions and complete the related interactive task.
 Interact in the TOP and other relevant Yammer groups to build presence and your role in our
learning community.
Meet or exceed semester in/formal evaluations conducted by the Mentor, Instructional Lead
Teacher and Quality Assurance Specialists.

Course Schedule
Fall 2017 TOP Schedule

Weekly Tasks and Assessment

Tasks are related to the weekly topic and announced/discussed at the weekly meetings by the
mentoring team.
TOP instructors have one week to complete and submit the tasks to the mentor via email.
Mentor will provide feedback and evaluate performance on task.
Instructors unable to attend the weekly meeting should let mentors know in advance. They
should then watch the meeting recording, and submit a detailed summary in addition to the task
within a week of the meeting.

Teaching recommendations for the following semester will be shared with Teacher Quality and
Instructional Administration. Recommendations are based on:

TOP weekly attendance,

weekly task performance/growth,
adherence to policy (Teacher Handbook),
performance/growth on semester in/formal evaluations.

Weekly Task Rubric

Fall 2017 TOP Task Rubric