Week 3

Q: Describe what you accomplished at your internship this week. Be specific in describing the knowledge you have gained and the skills you have developed.

Discuss a difficult, challenging and/or awkward situation you faced at your internship and describe how you handled it. What have you learned from this experience?

How is your internship changing your impression of your career field/industry as a whole?

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A: This week at my internship I created a nuanced lesson plan that was centered around looking through Thoreau's journals to help us understand the past in turn helping us see the present. I took two classes from Willard to Fair Haven Bay where we walked along trails Thoreau would have walked. I worked with Nico Calabria again because he has extensive knowledge in bringing kids to nature to explore the world in an outdoor classroom. Not only did he help me develop my lessons, but he came on the field trip with us, and I was able to pick up some things he does that makes him a really great teacher. One of the things I saw was how engaged he was with the kids. Both him and Michael are very good at bringing kids out of their shell's, and I hope to practice this skill.

In addition I helped Michael alongside a few other rivers alum and members to facilitate a course on student engagement for current teachers. We talked deeply about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation - wether a person is motivated by internal passion or external prompting. We spent around two hours with this group and the conversation was really rich and genuine. It was little awkward because all my peers were students of these teachers, and knew them very well. I on the other hand, had no idea who they were. I wouldn't say it was a "bad awkward," just when they were talking about specific projects that they did at their school, I didn't have any background in them. Michael likes to say this phrase, I have probably said before, but will say again because I think it is really important: "If you think you have more to give than anybody else, you don't, if you think you have less to give, you don't." Sitting at the table, I didn't have any less to give even though I had no idea what the "Museum Project" was. Instead os sitting back listening, I decided to contribute projects I did in Carlisle that might boost student engagement. I shared a few projects that the teachers actually wrote down to possibly incorporate into the curriculum.

My internship isn't changing my perspective on our schooling system, it is just reinforcing what I already believe. I believe that the school system we have now works for some people, but for others, it does more harm than good. I'm working to provide opportunities for kids who feel they want a change, who want to look at the world through different lenses. Im very thankful for Rivers and Revolutions, but also for Michael Goodwin. I thank him for giving me this opportunity to work on something I am so passionate about and for giving me the chance to make change for kids who want it.