My Internship So Far

So for my internship this year I have been placed at foster Village Elementary School. It's a kindergarten class and the teacher that I am with is Jessica Simmons, who has been teaching for nine years. Her website. 

Since it is a kindergarten class there's a little bit of everything going on while I am there. They work on handwriting, math, or science, and calender. When I first walked into the classroom I felt nostalgic to be frank. I didn't know how these kids would react to me or how I'm going to react to them. But I love all my kids and they are the sweetest things. I try to help all the students when I'm there and mostly attend to those that need a little extra attention to make sure they get work done. I try not to get in the teacher's way and help her in any way I can without intruding. I can make sure the kids are behaving and I also add an extra authority to the classroom to keep the kids on task. They may not think of me as so but that's what I try to be. I'm looking forward to gaining experience on how to deal with little kids and hopefully be apart of these kids education experience as well.

Reflection on TAFE events

     

So this past weekend was the TAFE region XI competition. I was participating in Exploring Administration Careers as well as Children's literature. I was really surprised and glad that there were finals for both of them; it saves a lot of patience and nerves. I made it in the finals for Exploring Administration Careers to my surprise but not in the other. Since I put a lot more thinking in the book I didn't necessarily have a thought out plan for the other event. I had to think a little more on my feet going into the finals event. In the first round of the Exploring Administration Careers, I got to talk to the judges more and they gave a lot of feedback. It was really easy to talk to them considering that they asked a lot of outside questions about me. In the other event it felt more non-chalant in the room and with having to read the book like it was for kids it was very hard to follow through.
      So what I learned was to be prepared for whatever the outcome is and to make yourself memorable.

An hour for what?

So we all know that having time management in a classroom is key. But what if you had a free hour during internship to do anything you want? It's very important to take advantage of this time. I would personally focus on what my kids want to do as long as it is productive. Sometimes school is a bit to uptight at times and not a lot of kids like to learn this way. But no matter what kids always love to learn about their own interests. Maybe some like animals and wants to become vets. or maybe some like to draw and would like to become artists.
We could let one hour for these kids to explore their options and decide. The whole reason of going to school is preparing for that job or interest so why not create a variety of activities or stations specifically for these. Not normal old boring stations like reading, writing, or math. These stations do not the the students explore and let their minds wander because it's just another way of beating material into their heads. Stations like art, learning about animals, role playing, and etc.let the kids explore. If you have an extra hour, you could make extra room in the student's brain for themselves for once. Exploring is just another way of learning, without the school standards. The point is to focus on the student's interest.