America's Concentration Camps

There were a few parts in this article that literally made my jaw drop while I was reading, and immediately a long "Woow" came out of my mouth. One of these parts was when the author was describing the hunting of Japanese-Americans. In Nashville, Tennessee, one of the departments of conservation wanted millions of actual licenses that enabled people to "hunt" Japanese-Americans. When I read this I was in complete shock because they are treating these people like animals, like they are some sort of rare duck! I felt and know that this wrong in every way possible, you should not be allowed to hunt another human being no matter what. The response to the request of hunting licenses was even worse though. The purchasing department luckily rejected their request, but their response implied it was more than acceptable to hunt "Japs". They said "Open season on 'Japs'--no license required", and this was when the "wow" came out of my mouth because words cannot describe how terrible those seven words are.

After reading this article I realized how racist our country, especially the government of our country, was during this time. The president of the U.S., Franklin D. Roosevelt, was the one who technically started such segregation by signing the Executive Order Number 9066, which sent Japanese-Americans to internment camps. Out of the 120,000 Japanese-Americans sent away, 65% were U.S. citizens, meaning that our president at the time was separating people based on appearances and culture. "They had broken no laws...Their only crime was their heritage," a quote from the article states, supporting that the only reason Japanese-Americans were exiled from their homes was because our president was racist. He represented our country, and he represented racial segregation by signing this order. I also noticed that not only was the government racist, but they also tried to play off such discriminations with silly excuses such as Japanese-Americans being the enemy, and the fear of sabotage. For example, Lt. Gen. John L. DeWitt tried to justify the means of internment camps by labeling the Japanese-Americans. He characterized them as a "menace that had to be dealt with." By giving them a silly name and label, he believed he wiped away all the wrong from this situation, but that was impossible. This situation was messed up one, and it only got worse. Another example of the government trying to excuse such inequity was when the FBI got involved. The FBI began arresting Japanese-Americans left and right without a trial or anything, and what was their reasoning? The only reasoning they had was the assumption or suspicion that such Japanese American citizens were helping Japan, but they had no proof what so ever because there was no documented evidence of spying activity. Government officials had no excuse for their racist actions, and now I see how racist our country really was against the Japanese.

In conclusion, I did spot a few references and connections to other historic events. The author described such internment camps as the "largest forced movement of people in the United States, since the relocation of Native American in the nineteenth century." This was a reference to the Trail of Tears, and I found it interesting that the author put a little preview of how American events mirror those of its past. Also, I made a connection between the worst concentration camps in Germany, and these horrible ones in America. One of the members of the authors family described their traveling experience as such: "The trip took us five days and four nights by train. A contingent of armed MP's guarded us at all times. We slept sitting up in our assigned seats." This quote reminded me of a scene from the novel, "Night" by Elie Weisel, when he was describing his journey experience to the concentration camps. They both traveled night after night by train, which were packed full, and had to sleep standing up. I thought it was weird to see so make such a connection to an internment camp in the U.S. to a concentration camp in Germany.

Does LWOP for juveniles violate the 8th amendment?

In the 8th amendment it states "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted." Life without parole for juveniles directly violates this amendment because the punishment of being sentenced to life with absolutely no opportunity for release is extremely cruel and unusual. It was found unconstitutional to give juveniles the death sentence by the United States Supreme Court in 2005, but what is the difference between the two? In my opinion the death sentence and being sentenced until death are the same punishment because either way, that person dies as a convicted criminal with no chance of rehabilitation. "When I die, that's when they'll send me home," said Charles T. from article Teenagers Sentenced to Die in California Prisons. When Charles says this he means that even though he doesn't have the death sentence, he will still die as a prisoner. Juveniles that have been sentenced to LWOP don't have the opportunity to prove rehabilitation, and in the case of these adolescents, rehabilitation is more likely. Advances in neuroscience prove that teenagers continue to develop, and are still developing during their sentence, in ways that are relevant to being able to "learn their lesson". A person under the age of 18 has a brain that is still developing, they are still very immature, which makes them have limited comprehension of risk and consequences and the inability to act with adult-like volition. Being a teenager under the age of 18, I can agree that I have yet to grasp certain concepts that adults have, and looking back at my earlier teenage years I can prove how much I have developed and matured in that short time. Even in the sort time-span of a year, going for 16 to 17, I have noticed a drastic change in my maturity and common sense. Last year I used to be irresponsible and put myself in extremely dangerous situations, and it is not until now that I realize how dangerous they really were, or how severe the consequences could have been. Coming from a teenager, and an informed student, I believe that sentencing life without parol for juveniles is cruel and unusual, going directly against the 8th amendment.

International Woman's Day

Paige Ryan

My mother, Paige Ryan, is by far the woman I appreciate the most. Since 9 months before the day I was born my mother has sacrificed everything just to make my life a little better. From little things like taking care of me when I am sick, to bigger issues like making our entire family together again. When I was about 7 my mom turned her life around not only to better herself, but to better mine and my siblings' life. When we were just kids my mom and dad both had drinking problems, which made our whole family disconnected, but luckily my mom turned everything around. She made the hard decision to move me, my brother, my sister, and herself to live in Arizona. At the time I hated her for making us move to that horrible place, but now I appreciate how much she sacrificed just to get sober. While she was in Arizona she decided to get clean and go to rehab. It was a horrible 9 months living without her but she came back a new person. She was my amazing mom but a billion times better. I appreciate my mom so much for risking everything for my family and for me, and now she still sacrifices everything just to make my life a little better. A lot of the time its the little things she does, like texting me when its my dad's week to tell me how great of a person I am, and how proud she is of me and how much she loves me. I love my mom an incredible amount and appreciate her more than anyone does I would like to think. She is the most amazing woman and she deserves to be honored not only today but everyday.

Our White Supremacist Country?

Since the beginning of the United States, our country has shown a great deal of white supremacy, even to this day. Obviously, the intensity of this powerful belief has drastically decreased over the years, but there are still signs of superiority in America. White supremacy is defined as the belief that white people are superior to black people and other people of color, and though a lot of us may not feel this way, our society portrays it exactly like that. Racial representation in the media is a great example of how society illustrates white supremacy. For example, the news. Every news channel that I have watched, I have yet to come around an African American anchor. I mean there are probably some out there but I have never seen one in my life. But not only are all the anchor's white, but a lot of the "criminals" they talk about are black. I know this is a giant generalization, but being someone who watches the news only a couple times a week, I have noticed these patterns. When a white criminal commits a crime, the news briefly states what crime they have committed, but when a black person does the same thing, they show full on chases, like they are wild animals. In my eyes, a great amount of the news consists of white people talking down to other races, white supremacy.

Another definition for the term white supremacy, is a system in which white people have social and political dominance over black people and other people of color. Our country runs off of this system. Finally, for the first time in American history, we have a black President. It honestly took our country this long? The time it took for the MAJORITY of people in our country to finally elect and accept a person of color as President, is proof that white people have political dominance over black people. The word MAJORITY is capitalized because not everyone has accepted it yet, and not everyone has accepted the fact that black people are and can be better than white people because of white supremacy!

Internship #16

Internship Photos & Reflection
Personal Life Photos:

The photos above are pictures of me and the fourth grade kids I work with. This was the day I taught the hands-on, project based lesson. Aren't they adorable?! This picture shows my personal life at my internship because I love working with kids and this is what I wanted to do, so I pursued that desire!

Reflection:
The most significant personal learning experience at my internship was probably when I would see all the kids I helped out and they would all run up to give me a group hug yelling "Ms. Holly!" This was so significant because it made me realize how much I want to influence the lives of children and be a great role model for them. The feeling I got when they rushed over to see me was indescribable, but I loved it. Kids are so loving and that is why I would love to always be working with them.

Internship #14

Mentor Portrait & Interview
Portait of my Mentor:

Pamela Volker

Headmistress

Warren-Walker Elementary School

Point Loma:

4605 Point Loma Avenue

San Diego, CA. 92107

Mentor Interview Highlights:

1.~Q: How did you come to be in the career you are now?

~A: "I started out teaching in Escondido for 10 years, and during that ten years Mr. Volker was teaching at Francis Parker. We would come home and share our stories about public school, private school, public school, private school; and although I loved doing what I was with the kids I began to realize that my philosophy of education was not in sync with the public school philosophy of education. I realized that I needed to leave public education and go into private education. The story is this: One day when I was so frustrated with the things that were going on in the school district, we drove by a one room school house and i said ""Ray all I want is a one-room school house, if I just had a one-room school house of my own I could teach the way I want to teach and do what i want to do and I wouldn't have to deal with the school district."" I didn't mean it at the time but that's what I said to him. Then, he was at Francis Parker at the time, and before he had gotten his masters degree at USD in administration and was looking for a job as a headmaster. The former person who ran this school, Ruth Sweeney, called Francis Parker saying she needed to hire a headmaster, and they recommended Ray. So she interviewed Ray, saying she was ready to retire and wanted someone who would not only lead the school but buy it eventually. He came home from that inter view and said ""Pam do you remember years ago when you said that all you ever wanted was your own one room school house? Did you mean it?"" I said ""Absolutely, I want out of public schools now!"" So Mrs. Sweeney interviewed both of us and we decided it was something we could do."

2.-Q: What is your philosophy on education?

-A:"Basically it is that my goal for these kids is yes to have a challenging program that will get them into a challenging high school program but to do it in a way that is broad so that they have experience in music and art and all different things and all sorts of experiences so they can see themselves being successful in a lot of different ways. Rather than just put them on a track this is strictly academic, our goal is for them to get to college and see their many talents and many choices, so that's really our goal to help children be all they really can be."

3.~Q: What is your favorite part about being headmistress?

~A: "Having alumni come back! hahaha No really, truly, it is seeing the fruits of your labor. I go to eighth grade graduations and they used to want me to present but I couldn't do it because I'd always cry. So I said ""no I'm going to go to the 8th grade commencement and I'm going to enjoy every minute of it, so I can really see who these kids have become and just experience it."

Internship #13

Choice 1:
Post three pictures that show a specific "perspective" of your internship.

The two pictures above show the perspective from customers who are looking to buy merchandise and clothing from the Student Store at Warren-Walker Elementary School. These pictures I took will be posted to the Student Store website, and were a part of a project I am doing to help advertise the school's merchandise. Ms. Frans, the second grade teacher, and I took her students down to the cliffs today to take a photo-shoot of them wearing Warren-Walker customized clothing. We all had a lot of fun and the children loved modeling all the clothes!

This photo shows the perspective of the students I help out, along with the employees and teachers I work for. They have seen me every school day for the last couple weeks and this is what they see. I am usually always smiling anyways, but being surrounded by adorable children and people I grew up with, I can't help but to smile big for them everyday. Also, they see me dressed in professional attire, which shows students and teachers that I am serious about my internship!

This picture shows a unique perspective from the people who attended Warren-Walker Elementary in the 1930's. This picture is a picture of a photograph and shows what the school used to look like way back when it was first developed. As you can see they is just one big dirt patch that went straight to the ocean, but if you look at it now, that area is covered with houses and buildings. My mentor actually gave me the idea to take a picture of this because it shows such a unique perspective.

Internship #12

Collaboration
Part 1: Documenting collaboration



The photos above represent collaboration because these two students from different grades are working together to read a book. The littler girl is a preschooler from one of the classes I worked in, and the older one is a second grader in one of the classes I am working in now. They pair up every week to read.


Part 2: Writing about collaboration

-In the course of one typical workday, how many different people do you directly work with?
In one typical workday I directly work with multiple different people from different departments. At the beginning I only worked with two different teachers, all their students, and my mentor, but now I work with a new pair of teachers, their students, my mentor, the admissions/community relations employee, and the advertising employee.

-How many people are indirectly affected by your work?
I would say that a great amount of indirect people are also affected by my work, like the Warren-Walker alumni, maybe the parents of the students, or even other teachers

-Describe your direct collaboration with others—how does it go & how does it influence the work?
I collaborate with the teachers I work for, and their students the most. I collaborate with the teachers when I help teach lessons because I do not know the expectations they have for their students, or how they are regularly taught a certain concept. In order to teach lessons to the students, and plan when I can teach my own lessons, I have to collaborate with both the teachers and students. I collaborated with the other employees I work for a lot too, when planning the party, Mrs. Fisk and I would put our heads together to come up with great ideas like what music and if there should be bands. This influenced the brainstorming because I would have never thought to actually get real bands from past years at Warren-Walker, and I think it's a cool idea. I hope my ideas influence the work a lot too because I know the age group and what they would want for a party.

Describe your indirect impact on others through your work—there are probably many people you never actually see who are affected by your work. How does this happen? How does this influence your work?

My indurect impact on other would be with planning the teen party, everyone that participates in that event with be affected by my hard party planning. Also, other teachers and maybe even parents of the children I work with will be affected by my work too, because when I teach the lesson on Wednesday they will learn a new way of learning. It will be hands-on learning and hopefully they will learn a little more than before. This could happen if everyone sees the scores improve after learning a lesson NOT from a textbook, they coud start to take on the project based learning experience. This influences my work because I want to do a really great job on Wednesday and prove that project based learning can teach a lot, and hopefully even more.

Internship #11

Week Summary
Randy

My week was filled with new experiences, highlights, challenges, and memories, being that I had switched teachers, and started new projects. Although it started off with a sad day of leaving Mrs. Songer, Mrs. Thein, and their adorable students behind, I experience something extremely memorable. The first grade kids made me a book saying all kinds of nice things about me, with pictures and everything, kind of like a good-bye gift. It was adorable and this was definitely one of the highlights of my week because I felt like I actually touched the lives of these kids. One girl, Sabrina, wrote "You are the best helper you are also the best teacher's assistant. Thank you for visiting out classroom." This book made me feel extremely accomplished. The next day I switched over to Ms. Frans' second grade class, and Mrs. Huff's fourth grade class. I also began to work for Mrs. Fisk, the community relations employee, and Mrs. Wambaugh, the advertising employee. I divided up time to be with each evenly, which was a big challenge. I had to fit the schedules of four different people, so it ended up being that I had more time in the classrooms which I like a little more. Another challenge I had with helping out four different people is that now I have three different projects going on at the same time and I'm struggling to do them all, but now have a lot planned out. I am just scared for how crazy next week will be, but I'll get a lot of work done this weekend. Anyways, the rest of my week was me observing the students and coming up with a project for the fourth graders, while also planning out and working on my other two projects. Some highlights from this are that I think I can up with a really cool project for the 4th graders and am excited to see how it goes. I then ended the week with my mentor interview which was memorable and a highlight because I learned so much that I didn't know about her. The interview made me realize that if you know what you want, you can achieve it. Overall, my week had some challenges but I'm happy with the outcome of events.

Internship #10

Picture/Caption/Questions
Randy

Picture:



Caption:

This picture summed up my day because all day I carefully observed the student's work by walking through the isles and looking at what they were doing. I realized that their way of learning is standard and completely opposite from the way of High Tech High, they learn a lot of their material through textbooks. This inspired me to ask the world if textbooks are really made to benifit the education of students. Comparing and contrasting the learning habits of my old school to those of my new, made me wonder if there really is a difference in the education of a child based on the way its taught. Basically, I began to wonder if one of the students learns more from a hands on lesson, or a text book lesson. To learn more about this I have decided today to do an "experiment" with the kids from the 4th grade class I'm helping out in. This experiment will be on Wednesday of next week and what I will do is divide the class into two, based on averaged out grades, and then teach one half a lesson from the usual book and teach the other half with a more hands on lesson. I will plan the whole lesson this weekend and run it by the teacher on Monday.

Questions:

I did not post the blog from last night but I have found some information on my mentor. She grew up in Kansas and went to school there until she was ten. Later on she had to move to California for her family and ended up going to college at USD. She began working at my internship site when she got married to the head master, Ray Volker. Some questions I would like to ask her for our interview tomorrow would be:

1. Did you have any aspirations for your career when you moved to California? What were they and did you achieve them?

2. Did your aspirations and dreams change with time? How and why do you think?

3.How was the experience of moving from Kansas to California?

4. Any advice for success?

5. Overall, are you happy and living the career life you want?

Internship #8

Choice B Prompt
Randy

Choice B:

What new appreciations (for who? of what?) have you gained through internship that you did not have before? How did you develop these appreciations?

Through my internship I have gained a new appreciation for teachers as a whole. I never realized how much effort they truly put in to all their work, like planning lesson plans every day, making projects and then preparing for those projects, while also keeping organized and handling 20 kids. The main reason I have a new appreciation for teachers is because I learned how difficult it is to teach a lower education than yourself. For example, when I was teaching Math I didn't realize that the students had difficulty putting the numbers from least to greatest. I then told taught them how but it was hard to explain something that you know so well. I respect teachers more than I ever have because of my internship and now know how hard they really work.

Internship #7

Project & Summary
Randy

Before I begin my blog, I would like to point out that at my internship site I will be completing multiple small projects instead of doing one main project. These projects are going to be in three different categories: community relations, education, and advertising. I wanted to do explore all of these subjects because it will help me view my site from different aspects, in order to get the full experience out of my internship. The project I will be describing will be the largest of them all and will take the most time. I am really excited for this one as well, but I have yet to meet with the employee in charge of community relations, so i do not have all the details yet but I have a meeting with her tomorrow at 2:30 where we will figure out all the small details.

Project description:

Internship site: Warren-Walker Elementary School

Department: Community Relations

Project Title: Warren-Walker Alumni "Teen Party"

General Description: For this particular project, I will use my social skills to reconnect with old Warren-Walker students from years before and after myself in order to put together a "Teen Party". A couple years ago Warren-Walker hosted an event to celebrate their 75th anniversary, and this party I assume will be extremely similar to that. I will have to figure out where this event will be held, how much it will cost, when the best time will be for everyone, getting food, music and plan anything else that is needed.

Learning Objectives: Through this experience I expect to learn how to finance and plan an entire event. I plan to improve my "people" and networking skills by calling around and finding the best deals with different organizations.

Organization/Company Objectives & Benefits: This event will benefit the school through donations that will be asked to made through it. Also the event will cost money so if we keep our budget low we can gain money through the teens attending this event.

Schedule: For the first half of the day I will be working with two new teachers starting on Wednesday, Mrs. Frans the second grade teacher, and Mrs. Huff the fourth grade teacher. Then after lunch at around 12:30 I plan to work with the community relations employee Mrs. Fisk, and the Student Store advertiser Mrs. Wamba.

Academic Skills: The academic skills I will be using for this project will be my skills with financing that I learned through my latest Math project, This American Life. I will use my skills on how to budget well in order to better benefit the school.

Technical Skills: The technical skills I will be using for this project will be my social skills, my design skills with Adobe Photoshop, and my organization skills.

Collaboration—Skills and Opportunities: I will be reconnecting with as many Warren-Walker alumni as I can through Facebook, old school directories, and any other way I can. I will also be collaborating a lot with Mrs. Fisk to get everything organized according to their plans.

Exhibition Plans: Hopefully by the end of internship the entire party will be up and running, with signs and advertisements made by myself for this event. I can exhibit all my work on how I planned the party, with the people I needed to call and how I reached them, along with the advertisements I made for this event.

Schedule & Timelines: I will most likely be working on this project (along with other smaller ones) until the end of internship on January 28th, being that I have to plan an entire party. Everyday I will meet with the community relations employee most likely after lunch at around 12:30. Like I said earlier I have yet to have a meeting with her and figure out the exact times, but coordinating with the two teachers I am interning for, after lunch would make the most sense.

Summary of my Week

What were the highlights?
There were so many highlights of my first week working at my internship, especially because I am constantly surrounded by people I love. The teachers I am currently helping out I have known all my life, and I love children, so being in my old elementary school environment is amazing. The main highlights of my week were making a project for the preschoolers, teaching the second graders Math, and everyday when the kids see me: they run up to give me a giant group hug.

What challenges did you face and how did you manage them?
I didn't face many challenges this week except for sometimes not knowing what to do while the kids were at their electives, like music, computers, or library. I ended up following them to their electives to see what went on there too, and so far my favorite has been drama. They have such a great drama teacher and she makes it a lot of fun. That was the main challenge I faces, and it was not even a tough one.

How did you work with others?
I worked with both the teachers I am helping out, and the students of those teachers. I would work with the teachers by teaching lessons with them, while they helped out. For example, I taught the second graders Math this week with some help from Mrs. Thein when they would not give me their full attention, or understand a concept. I worked with the students when I walked through the tables answering questions and helping them out with their work.

What did you see and/or experience that you did not expect?
Something I experienced that I did not expect was being able to actually create a project for the kids in the short time of a day. I was able to create a project for the preschoolers that was relevant to the letter "n". Every week these kids learn a new letter and this weeks letter was "n", so I made them a project called "noodle names." In this project they were to choose from multiple different types of uncooked noodles and then paste those noodles onto a piece of paper to make their names. Along with that I also cooked some noodles for the kids snack time. I did not expect to be able to do this because I felt I had a lot of freedom with the project, which I loved.

How would you describe your first week to someone who has never had an internship?

I would describe my first week as amazing. To someone who has never had and internship I would highly recommend getting one because this experience is something that you don't often get the opportunity to have. I would describe my experience so far as almost eye-opening. I had no clue about all the background work that goes into being a teacher, or running a school. You learn so much about the place you intern and I feel it is an amazing experience.

Internship #6

Mentor Interview

Randy

What I would like to learn out of the interview:

-Through my interview with either my mentor or one of the teachers I work for, I would like to learn about these four main topics: their childhood/life long dreams, how they ended up where they are now, the challenges they had to overcome to be satisfied, and if they are happy with their whereabouts today. I would love to hear about what their hopes and dreams were when they were my age, and if they actually succeeded in achieving those goals, because hopefully it will give me motivation to chase my dreams and not settle for less. I'm curious to hear whether or not their lives went according to their plan, or went out of control. Also, I would love to know if at my age they knew what they wanted to do or not, and their college experience. Im interested in all of this because I want to know what to expect for my future, whether you can control it or you just got with the flow. If they did end up achieving their dreams I would love to hear about the challenges, if any, they had to overcome to get where they wanted to be, and if they ended up giving up on their dreams i would like to know why and if they regretted it. Knowing this information is important to me because I want to know my dreams now will be the same in a few years, and if they are worth breaking your back over. The last thing I would like to learn out of this interview is if they are happy to this day. If they are happy with where they are now, it will give me relief that everything happens for a reason, or that it was worth fighting for your dreams.

Scheduled Time and Place:

If I interview my mentor I would probably have to figure out some time with her ahead of time because she is very busy, but if I were to interview an important co-worker, I could get the interview in while the kids are at recess. It would be especially easy to schedule interviewing the first grade teacher that I am working for, Ms. Thein, because she stays in the classroom with free time during the children's recess and elective classes. I will most likely interview her, and I can do this anytime next week, so hopefully Monday in her classroom! As for a recording, I could bring my MacBook to internship that day just to record it.

Internship #5

Projects Continued

Randy

Project title: Character Counts

Project description: I will be teaching every class I intern for, preschool, first, second and fourth grade, all about the character of honesty. The entire school of Warren-Walker Elementary has a program that assigns a characteristic for each month, meaning that during each month the students are supposed to focus and practice on the given characteristic. For example, the month of January is given "self discipline", while the month of February is "honesty". Although, January is almost over, so for my project I was going to teach a lesson to my students about honesty, to prepare them for the next month. I have yet to fine tune the lesson itself but I know I want to give them a hands-on experience.

Project schedule: I must figure out with the teachers the exact dates to when I can teach the lesson, but i have a vague project schedule. From today to next wednesday I will be with the preschool teacher Mrs. Songer, and the first grade teacher Mrs. Thein. I will be with Mrs. Songer from 8:30 to 11:45 when i switch to Mrs. Thein from 12:30 to 3:15. Throughout this time I will be fine tuning my lesson and making it appropriate for their age groups, then towards the end, probabaly on next monday, tuesday, or wednesday, will I teach the lesson. Starting on the next thursday the 21st, my schedule will change completely, I will switch off to help out the 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Frans, and the 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Huff. We have yet to figure out how to spit up the time, but once again towards the end of the week will I present the enhanced lesson to the classes. It will be enhanced because the children will be a little older and can take on some more challenges.

Materials & Equipment needed: Very little equipment and materials will be needed for my lesson because my main priority is to use the kids.

Project documentation:

-How will you keep track of your work?

I have been keeping a spiral notebook and a binder in my bag to take to internship everyday so I can keep track of all my work and write down my observations. I will keep all my work relevant to my lesson plan in both this notebook and binder so I won't loose any of it.

-How will others know about it?

I do not know how others will know about my project, but I could make a hard copy of my lesson plan and post it on the internet maybe, or even hand it out at Explorer Elementary school for them to try.

-What will you have to show when internship is over?

I will have the hard copy of my lesson plan, along with many, many pictures.

If anyone has any ideas to further benefit my project please let me know in a comment, thank you :)

Internship #4

Project Brainstorming

Randy

1. What academic skills could you use on the job?

Some academic skills that I can use on the job would be to read, write, be creative and know about important historical events. Basically my entire eleventh grade education is my main academic skill I can use on the job.

2. What forms of collaboration could you use in a project?

There are multiple different collaboration forms I could use in the projects I have in mind, but for almost any project I would most definitely collaborate with the students. I would love to be a big part of their education,and by collaborating with them I feel I could accomplish that. Another form of collaboration would be with my mentor, and all the teachers I am helping out. I could create a project or lesson with them, and figure out the best day to do it.

3. What technical skills can you use at your internship?

Some technical skills I can use at my internship would be how to use both adobe photoshop and adobe indesign in creating an advertisement for the school. Other technicals skills I can and have been using are cutting, gluing, organizing, and even making notebooks. I have not been doing much computer work so far at my internship but if needed in the future I could use the skill I have with Microsoft powerpoint, word, excel and almost any basic computer program.

4. What new things can you learn while working at your site?

While working at my site there are an endless amount of new things I can learn because I am viewing a school experience from another point of view, the teacher's. I can learn how to create projects and lessons based on the students education level, while also learning how to present them. I can learn how to be even more creative to keep the attention of small children and to make projects new and interesting. The most important thing I can learn while working at my site is how the real-world life of being a teacher really is.

5. How can you exhibit, showcase or otherwise share your work?

I could exhibit some of my work through the weekly newsletter which is sent out to the parents at home through the Tuesday folder. Every tuesday students are given multiple pieces of paper that show upcoming events, new programs, hot lunch schedules and almost anything a parent needs to be updated on. If I were to make an advertisement for the student store, it could be published in this newsletter and exhibited through the Tuesday folder.

6. How can your work or your skills & abilities help your company or organization?

My work will help Warren-Walker Elementary school because it will hopefully create bigger business with the student store, selling more merchandise. One project I was counting on doing was create an advertisement exhibiting all the merchandise in the student store, and then send it out to the parents in the weekly newsletter. This advertisement will hopefully benefit the school by marketing the Warren-Walker sweatshirts, shirts, and even cardigans.

Internship #3

Project Ideas

Brandon/Randy

Post your project ideas here!

-Some ideas I was thinking of for my project were to make an arts and craft project for the pre-schoolers to do that would help them better understand a certain subject. For my first graders I was thinking of either making a lesson plan based on a subject they were having difficulty on, or becoming a tutor like person. For the school as a whole I was thinking about creating an advertisement for the new student store they just opened with all the merchandise and prices. Hopefully this advertisement would be sent home with the weekly newsletter.

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

Some skills i would like to develop at my internship site would be how to discipline, earn respect, and how to solve problems. Both knowing how to discipline and earning respect is extremely important when teaching children from all ages, especially younger ones, and I would like to develop these skills because they are important anywhere. Learning how to discipline will help better myself, by helping me saying no to things I don't want to support, while earning respect is important to do with everyone. I would also like to develop problem solving skills because this skill also comes in handy everywhere. Problems in life will come out of nowhere and can hit you by surprise, and knowing how to solve these problems will make my life much easier.

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

I have always been interested in teaching since middle school because not only do I love kids, but I am also great at seeing from a different perspective. Teachers do this all the time when teaching an education that is lower than theirs, they put themselves in the shoes of their pupils and teach to their understanding. I share this skill with teachers because I have always been able to see the world from a different stand-point. All this means that my main interest regarding my site's work is to teach.

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

Some needs I can address based on my skills and interests would be to actually teach my classes a lesson, and come up with projects that are suitable or their education. Maybe some students are having trouble grasping a certain subject, I could be sort of like a tutor that stays after with them and view their challenges from their perspective. I could then try and see exactly why they are struggling and would hopefully teach them how to overcome that.

Internship #2

Questions and Answers

Randy

-What have you actively done to start off on the right note?

I set goals for myself to start off on the right note. Sometimes I have a problem with being on time, so on the first and second day of internship I woke up a whole 15 minutes early just to make sure I wouldn't be late. Being late and in a hurry is a horrible way to start because it makes you stress and freak out, while also setting a bad reputation. Another goal I set for myself was to constantly ask if there was anything I could help with. I feel that if you ask they are more willing to accept your aid, giving you a better experience.

-What have you actively done to create interesting opportunities for yourself?

Recess is a big part of an elementary school, and when the children from both my pre-school and first grade class get the opportunity to go out and play I join them and watch carefully. This part of the day can be extremely dramatic, with throwing of sand, not sharing toys, calling names, and even holding up the long slide line. To create interesting opportunities for myself I approach a problem with the kids head-on. For example, on my second day at internship I was watching the students play when I look over and see a little boy crying on the playground. I had two choices, I could let a teacher handle it on their own because they know how to, or I could challenge myself and try and handle the situation on my own. I decided to go over and see what I could do. Two boys were standing next to each other, and only one was crying so i knelt down and asked what happened. He answered but I could not comprehend over his sobs, when a teacher on duty came over to see what the problem was too. She asked me what happened and I confessed that I couldn't understand him, so she asked him herself and after just a few seconds figured out that they had bonked heads. I was surprised she could understand the boy, but was impressed with this skill. I challenged myself and created interesting opportunities by throwing myself out there and trying to handle situations I have had no experience with.

-What have you actively done to advance the interests of your mentor and/or site?

To advance the interests of my mentor I have showed enthusiasm with every job I am asked to do. Even with the smallest job of handing out snack, I was still excited to help out and showed that excitement. This advances the interests of the teachers I am working for because it shows them that I am willing to do anything, with a smile on my face. They will be more interested in giving me harder jobs.

-What can you do in the immediate future to improve yourself and your experience in the above areas?

In the future I plan to ask more questions and request that I do the things that I want. Asking more questions will improve my experience at internship because I will understand the concepts of being a teacher to a deeper level. I will be able to compare and contrast the knowledge from grade level to grade level, while also figuring out how difficult it is to teach such a small age. On my second day at internship I was asked to teach the class math, which I did extremely willingly. When I began teaching I found it hard to realize that these first graders might not understand why the number 26 is before 35 when putting them in order from least to greatest. I assumed that they knew why, but the teacher then pointed out to me that I should expand and explain why by using a number chart.

Asking to do the things you want to do at an internship is also very important. If you don't speak up and tell your mentor what you want to do you might be stuck with something you are not interested in, like cleaning, or organizing. Luckily for me the teachers I am helping asked me right off the back if I wanted to be at the front teaching, and I said yes because I am interested in that. But in the future if I begin to stop doing the things I would prefer to do, I will request to do them.

Internship #1

PICTURES:

Brandon

1. Workspace

Throughout my internship experience I get the opportunity to help out three different teachers from three different grades, preschool, first grade, and fourth grade. The first week I will be working with the preschool teacher, Mrs Songer, and above are pictures of her classroom. Her classroom was my working space for today, and will be for the next few days.

2. Typical Dress

The staff of Warren-Walker Elementary School had a wardrobe that varied from semi-casual to extremely formal. The pictures above represent the attire I would be aiming for, kind of the exact middle. These two looks were both pleasing to the eye and professional, while also being comfortable enough to work with small children. The pictures above show the typical dress at my internship.

3. My Work

The pictures above show the work I was requested to do for my first day at internship. When I was working with the preschoolers for the first half of the day (before nap time) I had to cut out 24 circles of each color, according to the size, so each student could create a "Mickey Mouse" character. The next half of the day I moved up to help first graders, and finally I got to stand in front of the class! I was asked to write words the students did not know how to spell down on the board.

4. Something that Struck Me

Something that struck me at my internship was the way they taught different subjects. For example, the picture above is a picture from Science class for the preschoolers. What the teachers did was drop five "Mentos" into four different kinds of drinks, Diet Coke, Coke, Diet Pepsi, and Pepsi. Once the mints were dropped in, they would measure the height the explosion went, and marked it on the page behind. In the end Diet Pepsi exploded the highest, and I feel this was an interesting way to keep the attention of preschoolers, while also teaching the ways of science.

5. Interesting Photo

I found this photo interesting because I did not expect to find this in the staff room. The idea of a suggestion box at a school is a great idea because it shows how respectful every staff member is to one another, while also improving the school suggestion by suggestion.

Q&A:

Sarah

1. Has the recession impacted the amount of students each year?

-The amount of students from when I attended the school in 1994 until now has decreased by a few, and very gradually. Every year the amount of students attending fluctuates only a couple of kids, and while the ideal amount of preschoolers a year is 12 per class, this year has been short a few. Mrs. Songer's class has 10 four year olds, and the girl to guy ratio is extreme, 3 girls and 7 boys.

2. How has the recession impacted the school's source of funding?

-The schools main source of funding comes from the tuition of each student, which is quite 'pricey'. The tuition amount does fluctuate with each few years but not by much. Warren-Walker is a private school so no funding comes from the state, but from being around for 75 years, the school knows how to handle the hardest times.

3. Have teachers had to be "laid-off"?

-Some teachers were asked to leave, but they usually were going to leave the next year or were brand new. The teachers that have been with Warren-Walker for years have worked there so long that no matter how bad the financing was, they would never be laid-off. Even though some teachers were asked to leave, Warren-Walker has never had a problem with a teacher shortage due to the minimal amount of children.

Logistics

Darren

This morning I woke up a whole 15 minutes earlier just to make sure I would be at Internship on time, and as a matter of fact I arrived a few minutes early. I had no breakfast that morning, and drove my car just down the street to Warren-Walker, taking me only 3 minutes. My mentor Mrs. Volker, and the teacher i would be helping, Mrs. Songer, were standing outside greeting the kids and helping them get their stuff out of the car. I watched while they finished up and only had a few words with my mentor until I was taken away to the classroom I would be working in. The whole first half of the day I worked with that preschool class, handing out snack, playing at recess, and helping with projects. When lunch came around I was given a 30 minute break to come home and eat, which I did joyously. After lunch I arrived back to help the first grade teacher, Mrs. Thein by, cutting out more paper for one of their projects, playing with the kids at recess, spelling words on the board in front of the class, and even reading to them at the end. My work there was done and I was off to speak with my mentor. Overall I feel the tasks I was asked to do were not challenging, but I feel over the course of the next few days I will be at the front of the class more, and working more hands on with their education. For the most part I think I am prepared to each at their level, but I am nervous that one time I won't know the answer to one of their questions. I'm excited to see what challenges I will have to overcome, while also learning that being a teacher isn't as easy as it looks.