ECU Field Experience PRIDE Assignment: How to Complete It Correctly
A section-by-section guide to selecting activities across the PRIDE columns, writing reflections that meet the 5–8 sentence requirement, handling the cooperating teacher activity, and submitting through Blackboard without losing marks on procedural steps.
The ECU Field Experience PRIDE Assignment looks simple on the surface — pick five activities, write some reflections, color the cells, submit as PDF. But students regularly lose marks because a reflection is too short, all five activities come from one or two columns, the cooperating teacher’s selected activity is skipped or undocumented, or the submission lands in the wrong folder. This guide walks through every requirement of the assignment in sequence — from reading the grid to formatting your Blackboard submission — and explains what each section actually demands so that your first submission is complete.
This guide explains how to approach the assignment. It does not complete it for you. The reflections must describe your actual classroom observations and interactions — fabricated entries contradict the professional integrity standards that field experience is specifically designed to develop. Use this guide to understand the structure, the minimum requirements for each section, and the common errors that reduce marks.
What This Guide Covers
What the Assignment Requires
The Field Experience PRIDE Assignment is a structured reflection document completed during your field experience hours at an assigned school site. The acronym PRIDE stands for five professional domains: Professionalism, Reading & Writing, Interactions, Diversity, and Engagement. Each domain has a column on the activity grid, and each column contains four distinct activities — twenty activities total across the whole grid.
You must complete at least five activities — one from each PRIDE column — and write a 5–8 sentence reflection for each. One of the five must be an activity your cooperating teacher selected. The completed document is saved to OneDrive, cells for completed activities are colored, and the final submission is a PDF uploaded to your Field Experiences Blackboard shell.
You may not complete the same activities for one Block that you did in a previous Block. If you completed “Read with or to a student” in Block I, you cannot use it again in Block II. Keep a record of which activities you completed in each block before selecting your five. Using a repeated activity is a policy violation, not just an oversight — it requires resubmission and may affect your clinical hours documentation.
Reading the PRIDE Activity Grid
Slide 2 of the assignment is the activity selection grid. It has five columns (one per PRIDE letter) and four activity rows per column — twenty options total. The grid is the menu from which you select your five activities. Understanding what each column represents before you select helps you choose activities that are achievable at your specific placement site.
Each column’s four activities escalate in the level of involvement required — from passive observation toward active participation. Activities like “Observe the use of different instructional strategies” require you to watch and analyze. Activities like “Teach a lesson to a small group of students” require you to lead instruction independently. When selecting your activities, consider what your placement allows — not every school site will have SmartBoards, and not every cooperating teacher will be ready to hand over a whole-class activity in Block I.
How to Select Your Five Activities
Selection strategy matters more than it appears. You need exactly one activity per column, and the activity must be one you can realistically complete at your site during your scheduled hours. Three criteria should drive your choices.
Site Compatibility
Can this activity actually happen at your placement? An early childhood center has different opportunities than a high school. “Assist with a lesson using technology” requires that technology be available and in use during your hours.
Mentor Teacher Openness
Some activities (reading aloud, leading an activity) require the mentor teacher to step back and give you space. Check with them early — especially for the I and E column activities that require active participation.
Block History
Cross-reference what you completed in previous blocks before finalizing. The block repetition rule means your available pool shrinks with each completed block — plan for later blocks when selecting now.
A practical approach: read through all twenty activities before making any selection. Mark the ones that are clearly achievable at your site in the current block. Then check your block history and remove any repeats. From what remains, select one per column — prioritizing activities that will give you the most to write about in your reflection, because reflection depth is where marks are made or lost.
The assignment requires at least five activities, but you can complete more. If you complete additional activities, you still write a reflection for each one you color. More activities give you more to document and demonstrate, which strengthens your field experience portfolio for later blocks. The template provides one reflection slide per PRIDE letter — if you complete more than five activities, you may need to note multiple reflections per slide or attach supplementary slides depending on your instructor’s format preference. Confirm with your cooperating teacher or course instructor if you plan to exceed five.
The Cooperating Teacher Activity Requirement
One of your five activities must be selected by your cooperating teacher, not by you. This is not a formality — it is a deliberate design element of the assignment. It ensures that your field experience involves direct collaboration with the professional who knows your placement classroom best, and it places you in activities that your cooperating teacher has identified as valuable for your specific development at that site.
In practice, this means you need to have a conversation with your cooperating teacher before finalizing your five activities. The conversation should happen early in your field experience hours, not the week before submission. Explain the assignment structure, show them the PRIDE grid, and ask which activity they want you to complete. Their selection may overlap with something you were already considering — that’s fine. What matters is that the activity was their choice, and your reflection for that activity should acknowledge it was cooperating teacher-selected.
What to Say When Approaching Your Cooperating Teacher
Keep it direct and professional. “I have a field experience assignment where I need to complete one activity that you select for me. Could you look at this activity grid and let me know which one you’d like me to do?” Bring a printed copy of the grid or show them the slide on a device. Give them time to consider — don’t ask the day the assignment is due. Document which activity they selected and mention it by name in your reflection for that activity so the evaluator can identify it.
If your cooperating teacher is unavailable or unresponsive, document your attempts to contact them and notify your university supervisor before the submission deadline. Submitting without the cooperating teacher activity because you couldn’t coordinate is a procedural gap that affects your grade — it is not something to resolve silently by picking the activity yourself and hoping it goes unnoticed.
P — Professionalism: Understanding Each Activity
The Professionalism column contains four activities that position you as a developing professional learning to navigate the institutional environment of a school. Each one requires a different type of engagement.
Read over the school/district’s policies and procedures
This includes the student handbook, emergency procedures, acceptable use policy, and first aid protocols. The activity requires active reading, not passive receipt. Your reflection should describe which specific policies you reviewed, what you did not already know, and how the policies connect to your understanding of professional conduct in a school. A reflection that says “I read the handbook and it covered many topics” is underdeveloped. Name the policies, note what surprised or informed you, and connect the reading to a professional implication for your future classroom.
Send an introductory email or print an introductory letter to the mentor teacher
This is typically the first P activity completed and one of the earliest professional acts of the block. If you complete this activity, your reflection should describe what you included in the email or letter, how you framed your experience and goals, what response (if any) you received, and what you would revise about how you introduced yourself. A reflection that only says “I sent the email and introduced myself” does not meet the depth requirement. Reflect on your professional tone, what you chose to share versus omit, and what the experience taught you about professional communication in an educational setting.
Discuss dress code with the mentor teacher and identify the district’s policy
This activity involves a direct conversation with your mentor teacher about dress code expectations — for students and for you as a teacher candidate. Your reflection should cover what the policy says, what the mentor teacher emphasized, whether enforcement was consistent with the written policy in what you observed, and how professional appearance connects to the broader norms of the school community. If your district has no formal dress code, reflect on what informal norms were communicated and how you as a future teacher would handle appearance-related situations in your own classroom.
Assist with grading assignments or assessments
This activity involves hands-on engagement with student work — grading papers, checking homework, marking assessment answers, or entering grades. Your reflection should describe the type of assessment, how you applied the rubric or answer key, what you noticed about student performance patterns, and what the experience revealed about assessment practices. Do not include any identifying student information in your reflection. Reflect on the professional responsibility involved in grading, what consistency challenges you encountered, and how grading informed your understanding of how teachers use assessment data.
R — Reading & Writing: Understanding Each Activity
The Reading & Writing column focuses on literacy — one of the most central skills in K–12 education regardless of grade level or subject area. The four activities move from small-scale (one student) to large-scale (whole class) literacy engagement.
| Activity | What It Involves | What to Reflect On |
|---|---|---|
| Read with or to a student | One-to-one reading interaction — you read to a student, a student reads to you, or you alternate. Can include a classroom novel, textbook, picture book, or reading intervention material. | Student engagement during reading, comprehension checks, what you noticed about the student’s reading level or behavior, how you adjusted your reading approach, what you learned about read-aloud delivery. |
| Assist students with writing | Supporting one or more students through a writing task — brainstorming, drafting, editing, or revision. May be part of a writing workshop, a classroom assignment, or an intervention session. | The stage of writing you helped with, strategies you used to prompt student thinking, what the student struggled with versus what came easily, how you balanced providing help without taking over the writing. |
| Read aloud to the whole class | You lead a whole-class read-aloud — a chapter of a novel, a picture book, a textbook section, a news article, or a content-area reading. Requires preparation so you can model fluent, expressive reading. | How you prepared, your pacing and expression during the reading, how students responded, comprehension or discussion questions you incorporated, what you noticed about your delivery and what you would change. |
I — Interactions: Understanding Each Activity
The Interactions column documents your direct work with students at escalating levels of instructional responsibility. The four activities represent a clear progression — from individual support to leading an entire class.
Interact one-on-one with a student
The entry-level interactions activity. This can be during a walk-to-read intervention, a writing conference, a math check-in, or any individual moment of teacher-student engagement. The reflection should focus on the specific interaction — what the student needed, how you responded, what worked and what didn’t. A reflection that only describes the student without analyzing your own role in the interaction is underdeveloped.
Interact with a small group of students
Working with a defined group — a reading group, a math station, an intervention cluster, or a project team. Your reflection should describe the group size, the task, how you facilitated the interaction, what you observed about group dynamics, and how you balanced attention across multiple students simultaneously.
Teach a lesson to a small group of students
A step beyond interaction — you are the primary instructor for a small group, not just assisting. You are responsible for presenting content, managing the group, checking for understanding, and providing feedback. Your reflection must address planning (how you prepared), delivery (what you actually did), student response (how they engaged), and analysis (what you would change). This is one of the most substantive activities on the grid and requires a correspondingly substantive reflection.
Lead the whole class in an activity
The highest-responsibility activity in the I column. You are front-of-room, responsible for all students in the class. This is typically done in coordination with your cooperating teacher standing by. Your reflection should cover your preparation, classroom management challenges you encountered, how students responded to you as a new presence at the front of the room, and what the experience confirmed or changed about your approach to whole-class instruction.
D — Diversity: Understanding Each Activity
The Diversity column positions you as an observer and analyst of how schools and teachers respond to the full range of learners — academic, linguistic, social, and developmental. These activities are less about what you do and more about what you notice and what it means for inclusive teaching practice.
Observe the use of different instructional formats
Instructional formats include digital tools, printed materials, verbal explanations, and physical manipulatives. During your observation, track which formats the teacher uses and for which parts of the lesson. Your reflection should analyze why certain formats were chosen, which students appeared to benefit most from each format, and what the combination of formats suggests about the teacher’s awareness of different learning modalities.
Discuss modifications with the mentor teacher
This is a professional conversation, not just observation. Ask your mentor teacher how they modify assignments for students with IEPs, 504 plans, ELL designations, or other support needs. Your reflection should document what specific modifications were described, whether you observed those modifications in use, and what you learned about the legal and instructional dimensions of accommodation and modification in practice.
Observe the use of different instructional strategies
Instructional strategies include independent work, small group work, whole-class instruction, and peer/partner work. Your reflection should identify each strategy used and describe the transition points between them — when and why the teacher shifted from one structure to another. Analyze how different students responded to each strategy, and what the sequencing of strategies suggests about how the lesson was designed to build understanding.
Observe exclusion or inclusion of a student during instruction
This activity asks you to pay attention to a specific, sensitive dynamic: which students are included in classroom participation and which are excluded — intentionally or not. Exclusion can be physical (pulled for intervention), social (ignored during partner work), or instructional (a task too far above or below their level). Your reflection should describe what you observed without identifying the student, analyze what conditions led to the exclusion or inclusion, and reflect on your own future practice.
E — Engagement: Understanding Each Activity
The Engagement column connects technology, instructional planning, and student motivation. These activities ask you to document how teachers create conditions for high student engagement and how you can support or replicate those conditions.
The Four Engagement Activities at a Glance
- Observe and assist students using devices — This includes tablets, Chromebooks, clickers, phones, and computers. Your reflection should address what the devices were used for, how the teacher managed device use, what happened when devices were not working as expected, and what the activity taught you about integrating technology in a way that supports rather than distracts from learning.
- Assist with planning or teaching a lesson with the mentor teacher — This is a collaborative planning activity. You and your mentor teacher work together on a lesson — you may contribute ideas, help prepare materials, or co-teach a section. Your reflection should document both the planning process and the delivery, noting how you contributed and what you learned from the mentor teacher’s approach.
- Observe students highly engaged in a lesson — Not just “the class was paying attention.” True engagement means students are actively processing, responding, and building understanding. Your reflection should describe what the teacher did that created that level of engagement, what indicators of engagement you observed (behavioral, verbal, physical), and what specific technique or combination of techniques you would incorporate in your own teaching.
- Assist with a lesson that utilized technology — SmartBoards, Chromebooks, document cameras, learning platforms. Your reflection should cover what the technology was, how it was integrated into the instructional goal (not just used as a display), how students interacted with it, any access or management challenges that arose, and what the experience taught you about purposeful technology integration.
How to Write a Strong Reflection
The reflection is the substantive deliverable of this assignment. The activity is what you did. The reflection is what you made of it — and that is what is graded. A 5–8 sentence reflection that only describes the event meets the minimum count but not the minimum quality. Strong reflections combine description, observation, analysis, and professional implication.
The example provided in the assignment template (Slide 3) models this well. The writer describes reading with a student, observes something specific and unexpected (the student appearing distracted but answering questions correctly), analyzes what that might mean (prior exposure or strong auditory processing), connects it to a self-assessment (their own read-aloud delivery needs work), and closes with a forward-looking professional statement. That structure — event → specific observation → analysis → self-assessment → future implication — is the pattern a strong reflection follows.
The Five-Part Reflection Structure
A reliable structure for each 5–8 sentence reflection produces entries that meet all implicit requirements of the assignment. Each part corresponds roughly to one or two sentences, giving you exactly the length you need without padding.
Part 1: Context (1 sentence)
Name the activity, when it happened (today, during this observation block), and the setting. “Today, during my observation in [grade level/subject], I [name the specific activity].” This orients the reader and confirms which activity the reflection covers. Do not include student names, teacher names, or identifying details.
Part 2: What Happened (1–2 sentences)
Describe what you actually did and what the students or teacher did. Be specific — not “the students were engaged” but “the students tracked the SmartBoard, raised hands to respond, and three students requested to try the problem themselves.” Specificity is what separates a real observation from a generic description.
Part 3: What You Noticed (1–2 sentences)
Name something specific you observed that was unexpected, interesting, or informative — something you would not have noticed without being in that classroom on that day. This is the analytical heart of the reflection. It shows the evaluator that you were actively processing what you saw, not just watching the clock.
Part 4: What It Means (1 sentence)
Interpret the observation. Why did that happen? What does it suggest about the students, the teacher’s approach, or the instructional design? This does not need to be a research citation — it needs to show that you are thinking analytically about teaching and learning, not just reporting events.
Part 5: Professional Implication (1–2 sentences)
Close with a forward-looking statement about what this means for your own future teaching. What will you do differently, more of, or for the first time based on what this experience taught you? The statement should be specific enough that a reader can picture it in a classroom — not “I will be a better teacher” but “I will incorporate visual cues alongside text during read-alouds because I noticed students’ attention sharpen when the pictures were visible.”
[Context] During my observation in a third-grade classroom, I was assigned by my cooperating teacher to observe the use of different instructional strategies throughout a 45-minute reading block.
[What Happened] The lesson began with a whole-class story read-aloud, transitioned to a walk-to-read rotation where students moved to differentiated groups, and closed with a collaborative partner activity in which students identified and color-coded rhyming words together.
[What You Noticed] I noticed that the switch from whole-class to small groups caused a brief drop in attention for three students who took approximately two minutes to settle into their stations — but once the groups were moving, those same students were among the most actively engaged.
[What It Means] This suggests that the transition itself, rather than the instructional format, was the challenge — those students needed a clearer signal or routine to shift modes quickly.
[Professional Implication] As a future educator, I plan to establish and practice transition routines from the first week of school so that structural shifts between instructional strategies do not interrupt momentum. I also intend to observe whether specific students consistently struggle during transitions and address those patterns individually.
Note: This reflection is 7 sentences — within the 5–8 range. Each sentence serves a purpose. None repeats information from a previous sentence. The final sentence is specific enough to be actionable, not generic.
Where Most Submissions Lose Marks
Reflection Under Five Sentences
“Today I helped a student with writing. She needed help with her draft. I showed her how to add details. It was a good experience.” Four sentences — below the minimum. Even strong content does not compensate for falling short of the sentence count.
Instead
Count your sentences before submitting. The minimum is 5 complete sentences — a complete sentence has a subject and a predicate and expresses a complete thought. Fragments, run-ons split by dashes, and overly short sentences that a grader might not count all put you at risk. Write seven to be safe.
All Five Activities from Two or Three Columns
Selecting “Read with a student,” “Read aloud to the class,” “Assist with writing,” and two others from R and I — skipping P, D, or E entirely. The assignment requires one activity from each of the five columns. This is not flexible.
Instead
Before finalizing your selections, map each chosen activity to its column letter and confirm you have exactly one P, one R, one I, one D, and one E. If your placement site makes a particular column difficult, discuss alternatives with your cooperating teacher or university supervisor before submission.
Missing the Cooperating Teacher Selection
Completing five activities you chose yourself without one that was specifically assigned by the cooperating teacher. This omits a required structural element of the assignment — not a suggestion.
Instead
Coordinate with your cooperating teacher at the start of your field experience hours. Ask them to choose one activity from the grid. Document which activity they selected. In your reflection for that activity, note that it was selected by your cooperating teacher. This documentation confirms the requirement was met.
Descriptive Reflections Without Analysis
“I observed the teacher use small groups, partner work, and whole class instruction. All the students were engaged. The lesson went smoothly and the students learned well.” This is entirely descriptive and contains evaluative claims (“went smoothly,” “learned well”) with no supporting evidence or analysis.
Instead
Every reflection should include at least one sentence that begins with “I noticed…” or “This made me realize…” — something that demonstrates you were actively processing what you saw rather than watching passively. Follow that observation with an interpretation of what it means and a connection to your future practice.
Cells Not Colored in the Grid
Writing all five reflections but forgetting to color the corresponding cells in Slide 2’s activity grid. The assignment instructions explicitly require you to use the paint bucket tool to color the background cells of completed activities. Submitting without colored cells is an incomplete submission.
Instead
Before exporting to PDF, return to Slide 2 and verify that each completed activity cell has a colored background. You should have exactly five colored cells — one per column. Then export to PDF. Once converted to PDF, the colors will be locked in and visible to your evaluator.
Submitting the PPTX Instead of a PDF
Uploading the .pptx file to Blackboard instead of converting it to PDF first. The submission instructions are explicit: File → Download → PDF. Submitting the wrong format creates a technical issue that may prevent the evaluator from opening the file and requires resubmission.
Instead
After saving to OneDrive with the correct file name, use File → Download → PDF to create a PDF version. Open the PDF and review all slides before uploading. Verify that colored cells are visible, all reflections are included, and the file name matches the required format before submitting to the Blackboard shell.
Wrong File Name
Saving the file as “FieldExperience.pdf” or “FE Assignment Block 1.pdf” instead of the required format. The assignment specifies “First Name Last Name, Block I” as the file name. Nonstandard names make it difficult for graders to organize submissions and may result in the file being returned or misplaced.
Instead
Save the OneDrive file as “First Name Last Name, Block I” — using your actual name and the correct block number. When you download as PDF, the PDF will carry the same name. Double-check the file name in your downloads folder before uploading to Blackboard. For Block II, the same applies with “Block II.”
File Naming, Coloring Cells, and Submission: Step-by-Step
The submission process has four distinct steps and each one is explicitly described in the assignment instructions on Slide 9. Missing any step creates an incomplete submission.
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Color the completed activity cells
Return to Slide 2 (the PRIDE activity grid). For each of the five activities you completed, use the paint bucket (fill color) tool in PowerPoint to color the background of that cell. The color choice is not specified — pick any color that makes the completed cells clearly identifiable. You should end up with exactly five colored cells, one in each column. Do not color activities you did not complete.
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Save to OneDrive with the correct file name
Click File → Save As → OneDrive. Name the file “First Name Last Name, Block I” (substituting your name and the correct block number). This is the cloud copy. Saving here first ensures you have a backup and that the file is accessible from any device. Do not skip this step and go directly to PDF — save to OneDrive first.
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Download as PDF
From the file saved in OneDrive, click File → Download → PDF. PowerPoint will generate a PDF version of the presentation. Wait for the download to complete. Open the PDF on your device and review every slide: confirm colored cells are visible on Slide 2, confirm all five reflections are present on their respective slides (Slides 4–8), and confirm Slide 1 and Slide 9 (the submission instructions slide) are included.
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Submit the PDF to the Blackboard shell
Open your Field Experiences Blackboard shell (separate from your regular course Blackboard). Locate the submission portal for Block I. Upload the PDF. Confirm the upload completes and you receive a submission confirmation. Do not submit to a regular course Blackboard shell — the assignment goes in the Field Experiences shell specifically. If you are unsure which shell to use, confirm with your university supervisor before the deadline.
- Five activities completed — one per PRIDE column (P, R, I, D, E)
- One activity was selected by the cooperating teacher
- Each completed activity cell is colored in Slide 2
- Each reflection slide (4–8) contains a named activity and a written reflection
- Each reflection is 5–8 complete sentences
- No activities from previous blocks are repeated
- File saved to OneDrive as “First Name Last Name, Block I”
- PDF downloaded and reviewed — all slides visible and legible
- PDF submitted to Field Experiences Blackboard shell (not regular course shell)
Frequently Asked Questions
The Research Foundation: Why Reflective Practice Matters in Teacher Preparation
The PRIDE assignment is not just a documentation exercise — it is grounded in decades of research on how teachers develop their practice. Reflective practice, the deliberate habit of analyzing your own teaching experiences to improve future instruction, is one of the most consistently supported mechanisms for professional growth in the teacher education literature. Schön’s foundational work on reflective practitioners (1983) established that professionals in practice-based fields learn most effectively by examining their own actions and their consequences — which is precisely what the PRIDE reflections ask you to do.
The Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC) Model Core Teaching Standards — the professional framework referenced across teacher preparation programs nationally — explicitly identifies reflective practice as a component of Standard #9 (Professional Learning and Ethical Practice). The standard describes teachers who “engage in ongoing learning opportunities to develop knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to provide all students with a high-quality education.” The PRIDE assignment’s structure — observation, documentation, reflection, professional implication — directly operationalizes this standard at the pre-service level.
Understanding this context matters for two reasons. First, it explains why reflections are not optional filler — they are the mechanism through which you demonstrate professional learning. Second, it gives you a framework for what “professional implication” means in your closing sentences: connecting your observation to a future teaching decision is not a formulaic exercise but an authentic professional habit you are building from your first placement block forward.
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