Internship #11

A summary of last week at my work...Well, it was awesome. I love working with those kids more and more. I'm really gonna miss them. Each of them has one individual thing that he or she needs to work on, and that makes it entertaining.

Besides, they're kids, and I love them. I love their personalities and that they like me so much. I taught them some Spanish vocabulary. So far, we've go ntroduction phrases, colors, family words, and numbers.

And they're really excited about the Spanish lessons, too. I helped them all get done with their work faster, especially their math. This was kind of crazy, especially in short days, because they were all too anxious to go home. Anyway, they kept asking me for help, like, five at once, even yelling at me, and while I was helping one, like three more were asking me for help at the same time.

It really drove me crazy, but I managed to get it together well. It was a pretty busy week, in which I got an even deeper hang of the activities in the classroom. I even got to walk them to P.E, and while they were waiting for their teacher, I was in charge of keeping them under control. Eh, I'll tell you, that was not pretty.

Keeping them all in order when they're being chaotic and loud isn't my thing. But so far, I haven't had the need to make them turn any cards. There's a poster in the classroom. It has the names of the seventeen kids written on it.

Each kid has three cards under their name; green, yellow, and orange. At the beginning of the day, all names usually have green cards. Most of them still keep them throughout the day, which means they've been good, and some of them even get star cards, which means they've been on their best behavior. However, if some of them misbehave, their cards gradually change from green to orange.

I haven't had to make any kid go turn their card, and I'm glad for it. I had a lot of fun this week, basically, and I look forward for this week being interesting, too.


Also, here are some of the questions I'll be asking my mentor this week:

"Where did you grow up?"

"When did you decide you wanted to be a teacher? What made you want to be one?"

"Could you describe how you use what you currently learn in your classes in your first grade class?"

"What's it like for you to teach and at the same time be taught?" [I kind of already know how that feels]

Internship #12

For Part 1, I am not sure how I will be posting all the pictures I need. I need some cable to pass the pictures down to the computer.

-In te course of my work, I directly work with my mentor the first grade teacher, and the class, which is usually made up by seventeen great children. They're all affected by my work because I help them out with everything. I basically save time in there. I make a group of kds to read in the mornings while my mentor is working with another group and that way we're done with that activity faster, and I help keeping the class in order, too. I help the kids with the work they fall behind with, get some of them to go to me and ask for help so my mentor isn't so crowded with them. I also do little jobs for my mentor, like stapling some packets of work for the kids, notes to their backpacks, organizing works, etc.

-My collaboration with others is great. I get along with my mentor really well, with the kids, it's perfect. And Ithink they all like me, too. It affects my work because it makes it easier for me to deal with it all most of the time. Since my relationship with my mentor is good, she has no problem asking me to take care of some of the things she'd normally have to almost split herself in several parts to complete, I feel like she totally trusts me, and I also feel the kids really appreciate me and see me as more than a teacher. I think they see me like a friend, someone they really love.

-Well, I think that others are affected by my work because...Well, they get to see me every day, so even that is something for them to talk about. I bet they talk about 'the new high school intern on Ms. Smart's class' some time in their meetings. My mentor also talks about me sometimes with other teachers, telling her how helpful it is to have an intern in the class. During a meeting, she actually recommended the internship program and said she'd send an email to other teachers with all the information they needed. I guess I worked as an advertisement, time-saver assistant in that school.

Internship #5

• Project Title: Spanish Lessons.
• Project Description: The 1st grade class children will learn easy Spanish vocabulary such as introducing words, greetings, colors, numbers, and sentences. They will be asked to take notes, draw, take quizzes on the vocabulary, and record their assignments.
• Project Schedule:

The lessons might be from 12:30 to 2:30, except on short days, which would be from 11:00 to 1:00

• Materials Needed: Simple Spanish books, notebooks, pencils, colors, maybe some Spanish music.
• Project Documentation: I will have children take notes of the lessons or their assignments, practice whatever they learn every day, make them give mini presentations to each other. I plan to display my project in the presentation by showing their notes, and making them speak a little of what they learned themselves.

Internship #4

1. What academic skills could you use on the job?
-Reading, writing, math.

2. What forms of collaboration could you use in a project?
-An assistant to help me with material, was I ever unable to obtain it myself, help keeping the kids in control when they get too loud. I don't think I really need too much help.

3. What technical skills can you use at your internship?
-Maybe the help of a Power Point presentation, Microsoft Word, copying or printing some papers, but not too many of these skills are required.

4. What new things can you learn while working at your site?
-How to treat children better, develop teaching skills, self-confidence, independence, and probably what to expect when my own children are in that grade.

5. How can you exhibit, showcase or otherwise share your work?
-By displaying some of the work the children have done during the lessons, ask them to show what they've learned themselves, and displaying my own notes.

6. How can your work or your skills and abilities help your company or organization?
-I would be an assistant to a class and help make the teacher's work a little easier, and at times help out with errands the school might need. I can teach some of the Spanish I know to the kids so they can learn a new language.

Internship #3

Project Ideas

1. What skills would you like to develop at your site?

-Teaching skills, creativity, public speaking, designing my own lessons, and working with children on simple tasks.

2. What interests do you have regarding the work done at your site?

-I find it very entertaining and it's something I enjoy to do. It's interesting for me to teach children things that they'd find useful to learn and could help them in the future.

3. What needs can you address (needs your mentor has, your company has, etc.) based on your skills and interests?

-Bilingual teachers, more things to learn, more content.

• What my mentor and I are planning to work on for my project is a Spanish lesson for the kids in her class. I will be teaching them simple Spanish vocabulary, reading them Spanish children books, and help them develop their Spanish writing, reading, speaking, and understanding so they could later do their own short story in Spanish based on the vocabulary they learned; similar to what my group had to do for a project in Spanish class in 9th grade.

Internship #2

1. What have you actively done to start off on the right note?
-I've been there, offering my help, doing whatever it is my mentor needs, keeping track of the kids and their work, etc. I've taken my role pretty seriously and started to feel what it all is about. I've behaved professionally, taking great responsibility for everything I do in that classroom.

2. What have you actively done to create interesting opportunities for yourself?
-I stay engaged. I walk around the room, finding kids who need help on their assignment and show them how to do their work. I get books from them when the shelves are too high, I help them read complex words in books, I staple papers my mentor asks me to put together, I do things that seem simple but mean a lot to me and my performance in my internship. Doing this simple tasks keeps me really interested on my work and I feel excited about it.

3. What have you actively done to advance the interests of your mentor and/or site?
-I've worked my best with her, established a good relationship between us, and been very cooperative and respectful.

4. What can you do in the immediate future to improve yourself and your experience in the above areas?
-I'll be working on more things. My mentor will assign me more tasks in which I can do more than just walking around and assisting. I'll be able to help kids with their reading in groups, conduct spelling tests, and work with students individually on other problems.

Internship #1

Sarah's Economic & Life Q's & A's

My internship takes place in Nubia Leadership Academy. I assist a 1st grade classroom. I interviewed my mentor, 1st grade teacher Laura Smart, and these were her answers to my questions referring to the Great Recession and its impacts.

1. How do you think Nubia Leadership Academy and its educational performance has been affected by the Great Recession?

"It has affected the school's budjet, since it has decreased. We've also ran out of supplies/materials for the class, so teachers have to buy them with their own money. There's been some downsizes, and we have limited resources; have to borrow from other teachers, etc. The district doesn't want to give us any more money for materials or other useful things, so if we ask for any, we get lectured and denials."

2. What is Nubia Leadership Academy's role with the larger economy? How does it participate?

"We prepare students to be productive in society later on in life and to contribute with higher, better performance. We teach kids what's necessary so they can stay on track of securing a better future."

3. How do you think Nubia Leadership Academy participates in the field of education in ways other elementaries do not? What makes it better?

"We're a charter school, so we have more freedom to teach students what they need rather than just what we are told to teach in the teacher's manual. We are able to give students the support and time that they need; we meet their needs in a better way. I think we have more concern about students and their academic potential, so instead of just teaching subjects in general, we adjust to the children's need and learning style more freely."

4. How is Nubia Leadership Academy dealing with the problems of recession?

"We have asked parents to help bring in materials that the students might need, to help with transportations when we're going to fieldtrips, we're saving supplies as long as we can, buying things with our own money, and trying to do our best to 'survive' the downsizes."


My Day

Here I'll give a summary of the activities I did throughout the day.

• I woke up at 6:55 in the morning.

• Had a beef tamal and milk for breakfast. (Not to mention my medicines)

• My parents drove me to my internship site. It took about an hour to get there because we couldn't remember how to get there and we got lost. It went...Sort of chaotic. We were all stressed out, especially Mom, and I was worried of being late in my first day, and wondered how my mentor would react when I finally arrived.

• What I did when I first arrived at my internship site was greet my mentor, who introduced me to her class, and watched how everything was running to start getting a feeling of it. I saw and talked to my mentor and her sixteen, little 1st grade students.

• I work at a...Building. In a classroom. It's, a pretty nice neighborhood, all things considered.

• What I did for lunch was helping my mentor keep track of her students, helping them grab their lunch, and once they were settled, talked business with my mentor for a while and heard her talk with her friend.

• What I did in the afternoon was assist the kids. I went around the room checking if anybody needed help with the assignments my mentor handed out. I passed out papers, answered questions, and even sent a misbehaving, fit-throwing kid out of the classroom to another room when he started acting up. (It was SO...Scary. I was nervous about it)

• I see myself assisting the kids, helping out, reading stories outloud, correcting some work, probably even giving a lecture, or maybe even scolding some kids.

• I feel prepared to pretty much everything, I even feel I might have enough patience to deal with the kids when they're acting up and trying to be funny, but I don't know if I'll handle the 'being stern' part so well. I'm far too nice for that. I hope I can do well on everything, I think I'll be able to round up the kids well and make them better listeners.

• What I will need to succeed in my internship is leadership, teaching skills, how to explain things in a simple way, how to stay in a level the kids can understand, be patient...

• I've always been excited about spending time with little kids, and just wanted to know what teaching them was like. I think little kids are so much easier to handle than older kids.

• What makes me nervous about it is that some kids just won't listen, and I'm not trained enough to make them listen. I might mess up or something, or just teach them or show them things I shouldn't yet, or at all. Mainly controlling the children when they're acting wild, don't want to cooperate, being too loud, or are goofing around.

• I got home pretty late. A little. Since we went to eat after my hours were over, I got home at around 5:30 in the afternoon.

• I did nothing special, just reflect and think back of my first experience today, thought how I could do better the next time, and started gathering some ideas for my project.