Once an intern has completed an in-person observation, teacher's aide experience, or long-term substitue experience they will need to submit it via their portal for approval from Texas Teachers and later verification from their listed contact.



A minimum of 15 hours field-based experience must be done in person/interactively.  The following are guidelines for interns when submitting their interactive FBEs via their portal for credit.  (You may also see FBE Parameters for qualifications) 


Only one FBE submission is allowed per day. 



Please Note: An intern may do multiple observations in a single day.  However, they may only submit one FBE submission form in their portal per day.  They will need to combine their experiences from one day into a single submission and list 1 teacher who can approve them.  


In-Person/Interactive Field-Based Experiences: 30 Hours credit available, up to 12 hours under one teacher. 

  1.  Once logged into the portal the intern selects Menu> Field Based Experience> Add Field-Based Experience 
  2.  Intern must submit observation experience as it happens (FBEs are a daily reflection for that specific day, not an overall experience in the classroom) 
  3. Experience must occur and be submitted after the intern's enrollment date 
  4. Intern cannot submit more than 6 hours in a single day
  5. One submission is neccessary per day. (If multiple experiences in one day, they may submit one submission per day)  
  6. They must list the certified teacher they observed and a school email address for their contact (personal email addresses will be denied) If we are unable to get intouch with the teacher, interns may list the principal or assistant principal of the campus where they observed for verfication purposes.  
  7. A minimum of 3 teachers must be observed/assisted. New parameters in the portal have been set in place to prevent more than 12 hours being submitted under one teacher.  
  8. Interns must submit FBEs in grade and subject specific classrooms during regular school hours.  
  9. The reflections per submission need to be unique to the subject, grade level and observation 
  10. Each response to the reflection questions requires 700 characters minimum 
  11. The intern must show interaction with students for ALL in-person field-based experience.  This can include examples like answering questions, working with small groups, assisting in a mini-lesson. etc.  
  12. FBE submissions take about 3-7 business days for our FBE department to review and approve or deny.  Once approved, it will move from pending status to needs verification status. See FBE verification process 
  13. Should an intern's experience be denied or marked as "needs more info," the advisor should always re-direct the intern to their intern portal where a detailed description of why it was denied or marked as needs more info will be located.  
  14. Interns will not be able to submit FBEs older than one year via their portal.  They will receive an automated message that states the following

  

An Email verification will now go out to interns once their interactive field-based experience has been reviewed and denied, needs more info, or approved.    


Example: Denied 


Example: Needs More Info 


Example: Approved 


Long-Term Substitute Experience: Up to 15 hours credit available 

  1.  Once logged into the portal the intern selects Menu> Field Based Experience> Long-term Substitutes
  2. Interns may only get 15 hours credit for 30 consecutive school days of long-term sub experience in the same assignment.    
  3.  Interns and their HR representative must fill out the long term substitute verification form available for download in the intern intern portal under Menu> Field Based Experience> Long-term Substitutes.  
  4. This form must be signed by the intern and the intern's HR department and emailed to fbe@teachersoftomorrow.org (see attached) 
  5. Please note: The long-term sub form end date cannot be a future date.  The experience must have already taken place before the intern' district can submit the form. 
    1.  
  6. The long-term substitute form must come directly from their HR department to fbe@teachersoftomorrow.org.  Any forms submitted by the intern directly will be returned and asked to have their HR email us the document.  
  7. May submit experience up to 2 years prior to enrollment 
  8. FBE submissions take about 3-5 business days for our FBE department to review and approve or deny.  Our Field Based Experience team will update the intern's account and portal with approved long term sub hours.  
  9. Additionally, an email verification will go out to the intern once their field-based experience has been approved and added to their portal.  See example below 


Did you receive my Long Term Substitute Verification form? Interns may call in to inquire if we received their LTS verification form.  The advisor should do the following when presented with this question: 

  1. Confirm with the intern their school district's HR department was the one who sent it directly to TOT.  
  2. Confirm the email address the form was sent to was fbe@teachersoftomorrow.org 
    1. If it was not sent to the exact email address, fbe@teachersoftomorrow.org, we did not get it. 
  3. If the advisors confirms both of the above have been completed, then we have the LTS sub form and it is in the queue for processing.  Please advise on the correct processing time for LTS forms as found on our Processing Times article.   



Teacher's Aide Experience:

  1. We do not provide blanket approval for anyone who was a para, teacher's aide or teacher assistant.  
  2. If the intern has experience AFTER their enrollment date as a para, aide, or assistant where they are actively assisting a certified teacher and interacting with students, they may follow the steps outlined above under, "In-Person Interactive Field-Based Experience."  


Experience That Does NOT Count:

  1. An intern cannot submit FBEs on their own teaching experience UNLESS it is as a long-term substitute. In that scenario, they will need to meet the requirements outlined above under "Long-term Substitute Experience." 
  2. Co-Teachers
    1. In Texas, Co-Teacher is a specific designated position.  Interns who hold or previously held a Co-Teacher position would be have to be certified and have previously completed their field-based experience.  
  3. Our FBE coordinators will deny new submissions for old experiences that happened outside of the current school year.  
  4. Saturday school - will not count and will be denied
  5. Extra Curriculuar Activities do not count.  Interns must submit FBEs in grade and subject specific classrooms during regular school hours.  


For additional information regarding FBE requirements please see Field-Based Experience Parameters