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Current Student Information

Documents and Forms

Health and Physical Education

Field Experience and Student Teaching

PHED students participate in 4 faculty-supervised practicum experiences in addition to Student Teaching, in PHED 308, PHED 403, PHED 404, and HEAL 405.  

These field experiences are designed to provide hands on learning experiences from Elementary through Secondary Education and are spread out over the course of the program.

These experiences occur in the school systems and you will have to be cleared by them in advance.*

In addition to the required experiences, PHED students are encouraged to seek volunteer or paid experiences in the field throughout their time at Mason.

Student Teaching

Inquiries about student teaching should be directed to Ms. Luanne Norden, the Student Teaching Coordinator at lnorden@gmu.edu or 703-993-2032.

Eligibility to Student Teach

  • GPA of 2.5 in the area: Physical Education Major (BSED)
  • C or better in BIOL 124, HEAL 250, HEAL 405, PHED 308, PHED 403, PHED 404
  • Satisfactory completion of all required general education and professional concentration courses
  • Praxis II (Health and Physical Education Test Code 5857)
  • Valid CPR/AED/First Aid Certificate with hands-on component
  • Submit to a background check run by our school agencies and partners*

Procedure to Student Teach

  • Complete the internship application for student teaching a semester prior to taking PHED 415.
  • To student teach in the fall semester, application is due to academic advisor by February 15.
  • To student teach in the spring semester, application is due to academic advisor by September 15.
  • You will be notified of your placements at the end of the semester.

*Note: This program requires multiple field experiences. Our school and agency partners require Mason students to be fingerprinted and pass a criminal background check prior to field experience work. Students must assume the risk that classes may be deferred and their program delayed due to the individual severity of notations on such a check and review by individual agencies.

Students are strongly advised to disclose any/all legal incidents that may appear on their records. While fully disclosing any/all incidents does not guarantee placement, failing to do so, whether or not such incidents resulted in conviction, may cause denial of placement for field experience or internship throughout the school division.  Individuals with misdemeanor(s) on their record may be denied access.

Student Teaching

1. Lesson plan format needed in the courses: PHED 202, 308, 403, 404 and 415.

2. Lesson plan format needed in HEAL 405

3. Student Teaching Forms:

Praxis Resources

For PRAXIS Test information, go to www.ets.org/praxis. Local testing sites and registration are through Prometric Candidate Services at 1-800-853- 677/a>are provided through the School of Education.For more information E-mail: oes@gmu.edu

Local County School Sites:

Professional Organizations:

The Virginia Alliance of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (Virginia AHPERD) is the state association that represents our field of study. Membership applications are located at this site.

Society of Health and Physical Educators (SHAPE America) SHAPE America is the largeest organization of professionals involved in physical education, activity, dance, school health and sport--all specialties related to achieving an active, health lifestyle. Explore PE.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is a site with current statistics and other useful information related to health and physical activity.

General Health and Physical Education Sites:

PE Central (pecentral.org) is a website for Health and Physical education teachers with many lesson plans and teaching tools.

PE links 4 U (pelinks4u.org) focuses on technology for physical education classes.