Internship Expectations
5/2/18
Garret Esparza
11th Grade Internship
Yesterday I participated in 11th grade Career Day, where you go to your Internship site and get a small glimpse of what that career is like and what your Internship will be like. My mentor is a 1st grade teacher at Christa McAuliffe Elementary School, which is also the elementary school I attended ten years ago. The day went like this: my mentor did the things that she does with the kids every morning, things like pick a class helper, read out the date, time, sing some songs (about days of the week, months of the year, and insects), go over a simple math equation, and count the days of school. The kids then went to P.E. where stations were set up with tasks such as running, jump rope, gaga-ball, handball, tetherball, swings, climbing, ect. They then went back inside and set up different centers around the classroom where each center did a different Language Arts assignment. Next was lunch, but after that they did a math version of centers. During both of the times where they were doing centers I was floating around the room checking off the kids work and helping them if a problem was wrong. The assignments were simple, for language arts they were writing sentences and coloring, and for math they were doing basic addition and subtraction. However, I found that it was a lot harder to help the kids -- especially with math -- because these are the kinds of things that you learn how to do in your head and don’t think about at all. After math centers, the kids learned a little about four different types of animal groups: mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and birds. It was then time to go.
Some work policies I noticed my internship location to have were a want not to leave anyone behind. At the beginning of the day my mentor went over the homework from the night before because some kids were confused with it. They also believe in helping the kids see the answer and not telling them the answer, with sounding out words and using simple math techniques to make the kids see if the answer is wrong or right. It will be challenging for me to help the kids see the answer without telling them, but I will centernly get better in time. Policies like absence and tardiness are obviously not allowed (without a valid excuse) because the job involves teaching kids who are not old enough to do work without a teacher's guidance.
I noticed that all of the staff was dressed fairly casually, and I think as long as your attire is not inappropriate for kids you can wear anything you want. For me, I want to look a step above everyone else, so I will dress in collared shirts and nice pants.
Overall, my career day experience was very nostalgic. This is the elementary school that I went to and the teacher I had when I was in 1st grade and there are so many things that I remember doing. It was good to be back. I think that the professional work there will be challenging, as I have to teach kids in a way that they can understand. However, I also expect this internship to be rewarding as I am helping kids understand things that they will use for the rest of their lives.
Garret Esparza
11th Grade Internship
Yesterday I participated in 11th grade Career Day, where you go to your Internship site and get a small glimpse of what that career is like and what your Internship will be like. My mentor is a 1st grade teacher at Christa McAuliffe Elementary School, which is also the elementary school I attended ten years ago. The day went like this: my mentor did the things that she does with the kids every morning, things like pick a class helper, read out the date, time, sing some songs (about days of the week, months of the year, and insects), go over a simple math equation, and count the days of school. The kids then went to P.E. where stations were set up with tasks such as running, jump rope, gaga-ball, handball, tetherball, swings, climbing, ect. They then went back inside and set up different centers around the classroom where each center did a different Language Arts assignment. Next was lunch, but after that they did a math version of centers. During both of the times where they were doing centers I was floating around the room checking off the kids work and helping them if a problem was wrong. The assignments were simple, for language arts they were writing sentences and coloring, and for math they were doing basic addition and subtraction. However, I found that it was a lot harder to help the kids -- especially with math -- because these are the kinds of things that you learn how to do in your head and don’t think about at all. After math centers, the kids learned a little about four different types of animal groups: mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and birds. It was then time to go.
Some work policies I noticed my internship location to have were a want not to leave anyone behind. At the beginning of the day my mentor went over the homework from the night before because some kids were confused with it. They also believe in helping the kids see the answer and not telling them the answer, with sounding out words and using simple math techniques to make the kids see if the answer is wrong or right. It will be challenging for me to help the kids see the answer without telling them, but I will centernly get better in time. Policies like absence and tardiness are obviously not allowed (without a valid excuse) because the job involves teaching kids who are not old enough to do work without a teacher's guidance.
I noticed that all of the staff was dressed fairly casually, and I think as long as your attire is not inappropriate for kids you can wear anything you want. For me, I want to look a step above everyone else, so I will dress in collared shirts and nice pants.
Overall, my career day experience was very nostalgic. This is the elementary school that I went to and the teacher I had when I was in 1st grade and there are so many things that I remember doing. It was good to be back. I think that the professional work there will be challenging, as I have to teach kids in a way that they can understand. However, I also expect this internship to be rewarding as I am helping kids understand things that they will use for the rest of their lives.