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For the last semester I was Jessica McCallum’s teachers assistant. She is a 9th and 11th grade humanities teacher at Animas High School. I assisted her with her 9th graders during first period and when my schedule was more flexible first and second period.
Project and Process
I spent the beginning of the semester observing Jessica and watching her teaching style. I took physical and mental notes on her approach. For example, when she is talking to a student she physically meets their level. If a student is on the ground she will sit down next them to have a more intimate conversation. This creates a stronger bonds with her students.
During the semester the class produced two projects, the Shakespeare shadow puppet show and the This I Believe essay. The Shakespeare project ending up taking the majority of the semester because of the snows days and many field trips the freshman attended. I spent the majority of the this project I observed and did odd jobs for Jessica. I was also cast in the puppet show. Fortunately, when the puppet show concluded my schedule was less full so I could help more. Jessica and I decided to use the remaining time in the school year to do the This I Believe project. Coincidentally, I did this project during 10th grade and was intrigued to help teach it. My final project was officially giving feedback to all the students’ rough drafts. When I was giving the students feedback I used my own experience getting teacher feedback and the previous comments I have seen Jessica make to give the 9th grader edits. After I gave them feedback I was available at school for writing conferences, so students could have one-on-one attention. I was proud of the improvements the students made after I critiqued them. Additionally, I was pleasantly discovered how much I enjoy editing and how it came naturally to me It was fulfilling to see them want to create beautiful work and I cried when they read them at All School Exhibition.
Throughout this internship, I struggled with getting the students to take me seriously. I am only three years older than them and in some cases they are my friends. When I tried to tell them to pay attention or get to work I noticed they would ignore me. This was frustrating because I could have done more in-front-of-the-class teaching if they took me more seriously. They simply saw me as a peer, not an authority figure. They would tell me about the parties they went to and I would have endlessly remind them I was technically their teacher and it was not appropriate. Reflecting back, I should have set firmer boundaries with the students. I tried to get to know them at the beginning of the semester and I think they thought this ment we were friends. In the future I will use other techniques to get to know them, like asking about their experience with school instead of asking what they did the past weekend.
Future Thinking
I am not going to study teaching in college, but this internship has solidified my plan to do Teach for America. Even though this will not end up being my long-term career, my passion for education will not change. I am studying politics and will use my experience both from LINK 2.0 and Teach for America to make decisions about education policy.
Project and Process
I spent the beginning of the semester observing Jessica and watching her teaching style. I took physical and mental notes on her approach. For example, when she is talking to a student she physically meets their level. If a student is on the ground she will sit down next them to have a more intimate conversation. This creates a stronger bonds with her students.
During the semester the class produced two projects, the Shakespeare shadow puppet show and the This I Believe essay. The Shakespeare project ending up taking the majority of the semester because of the snows days and many field trips the freshman attended. I spent the majority of the this project I observed and did odd jobs for Jessica. I was also cast in the puppet show. Fortunately, when the puppet show concluded my schedule was less full so I could help more. Jessica and I decided to use the remaining time in the school year to do the This I Believe project. Coincidentally, I did this project during 10th grade and was intrigued to help teach it. My final project was officially giving feedback to all the students’ rough drafts. When I was giving the students feedback I used my own experience getting teacher feedback and the previous comments I have seen Jessica make to give the 9th grader edits. After I gave them feedback I was available at school for writing conferences, so students could have one-on-one attention. I was proud of the improvements the students made after I critiqued them. Additionally, I was pleasantly discovered how much I enjoy editing and how it came naturally to me It was fulfilling to see them want to create beautiful work and I cried when they read them at All School Exhibition.
Throughout this internship, I struggled with getting the students to take me seriously. I am only three years older than them and in some cases they are my friends. When I tried to tell them to pay attention or get to work I noticed they would ignore me. This was frustrating because I could have done more in-front-of-the-class teaching if they took me more seriously. They simply saw me as a peer, not an authority figure. They would tell me about the parties they went to and I would have endlessly remind them I was technically their teacher and it was not appropriate. Reflecting back, I should have set firmer boundaries with the students. I tried to get to know them at the beginning of the semester and I think they thought this ment we were friends. In the future I will use other techniques to get to know them, like asking about their experience with school instead of asking what they did the past weekend.
Future Thinking
I am not going to study teaching in college, but this internship has solidified my plan to do Teach for America. Even though this will not end up being my long-term career, my passion for education will not change. I am studying politics and will use my experience both from LINK 2.0 and Teach for America to make decisions about education policy.
