Photo Essay: Internship

Will internship change her views on a future teaching profession?

by Jasmine Jackson

“I think you should be a teacher, I was telling Charley you are a natural, and you seem more advanced than some of the other teachers I’ve worked with” quoted my mentor. While I process her thoughts I began to wonder is teaching something that I would enjoy waking up to or is it something that I would like to use as a jump start for a career of a lifetime? Growing up I always wanted to work with kids. My top three choices were pediatrician, dentist or Nurse. I choose this group because I was able to work with kids that seemed to be interesting, but I would also be able to live a comfortable lifestyle with the money that these careers offer. Teaching seemed like something I would also enjoy but the pay ‘was much too little to live happily off of and the work load seems to be slightly over baring.

“I knew in the beginning I was not going to make a lot of money, but my life is full of amazing experiences. As a kindergarten teacher, I am surrounded by smiley 5 and 6 year olds, excited about learning. It doesn't get much better than that!"My mentor freely stated when asked what was some of the perks of being a teacher during her interview. Her statement made me change my thoughts on my future profession. Maybe teaching is something that I do want to have as a longtime profession despised the money issue. But who could resist helping, teaching, and preparing kids with such wonderful personalities. Reflecting back on my 3weeks made me realize how memorable my experience truly had been. My first day in room 7 was a adventure within its own I look around the color room and notice the wall covered of photos many of the kids were smiling, laughing or tarrying back at me a nervous grin. Above each photo was the name of the kids.
I began reading left to right “Zaid, Daniel, Kevin S., Marcos, Ashley, Karen” I read out loud in a soft whisper.
I figured if I knew enough of their names I would be able to make a stronger bond with them.

During my entire internship I was looked at as someone who was making a difference and achieving things that were at a level adults in the ages of 25 and older were. My mentor had two classes of 24 kids that rotated throughout the day. A class in the morning and a class in the evening, Wednesday’s she would have each kinder garden class for heath. She taught me the quickest way to remember names. When you pass out papers or ask for volunteer s always say there name out loud it would help with matching names with faces. This helped somewhat until I began to mix the two classes together. Out of the total 48 kids there were two Kevin’s, two Marks, two José’s, and two Francisco’s. On top of regular names I had to remember the last names as well, what a challenge.

As the day progressed I was more observant than helpful. My mentor was lost in the beginning she didn’t know how much experience I had with kids so the task she gave me were more of a assistant working in a office rather than a teachers aid. One of my daily tasks was cutting papers making copies and or organizing book shelf’s file cabinets etc. After my first week I began to interact more with my kids. Doing activates, playing games, going over calendar and helping certain struggling students with work they didn’t understand.

After my first week I began to interact more with my kids. Doing activates, playing games, going over calendar and helping certain struggling students with work they didn’t understand. My project for internship was called level changes the point of the project was for me to explore the different levels of learning with kids in my classroom. One of my learning Objective was to find a way to communicate and also separate the teaching levels of each individual student.
Besides the nose picking, crying, fighting, and overly tying shoes, I have learned that teaching is something that I would enjoy being a everlasting profession.