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.
This week, I created, designed, and planned a full day lesson for the 5th graders at Willard. Then, when Thursday came I helped facilitate and taught my ideas to the 5th grades, as well as my peers, and the 5th grade teachers at Willard. Although it was not easy and not always "smooth sailing" it was incredibly rewarding. I have gained so much more patience, developed the skill of trial and error, understand the importance of asking for feedback, learned the ways of time management, and improved my skills in hard-work and group-work.
Q: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?
After working on my lesson plan for a field trip all week, we realized that the location (Egg Rock) where we were suppose to spend all day at, was completely flooded. The lesson I had planned completely revolved around the location we were suppose to be at, so I was very concerned that my plan was going to be completely ruined. After a few deep breathes and realizing that nothing good could come out of me worrying, I quickly decided that we would change our location to the Old North Bridge and keep the same activities. I acted excited with the kids about our switch of location and hid the anxiety of anticipation of how it will all fall together. I learned the importance of positive energy when working with younger kids because of how much they mimic your reaction and copy your physical responses.
Q: How is your internship changing your impression of your career field/industry as a whole?
I have always known that I wanted to be a teacher of some sort, and this year I began to see myself teaching in an Elementary School more and more. However, my internship is constantly changing my impression on this possible career field. I thought more about teaching in Middle School or even High School, because of the worry that I do not have enough patience to teach young kids. Then after having a one-on-one moment with one of the 5th graders -- helping her understand a concept that was being taught that she was having trouble with -- I realized the option of working with kids with learning disabilities.