Internship

Introduction

My internship site is Explorer Elementary School, my mentor is a science teacher named Ms Taylor. I hope to develop better communication and teaching skills. During my internship, I will be supporting a science teacher with her daily responsibilities, assisting with lessons and activities across all grade levels. My dream outcome from this project is to engage with younger students in a meaningful way and share valuable knowledge that will benefit them. A fear I have is being bored, but I doubt that will happen in a elementary school. This internship will affect my education as it will give me a better understanding on ways of communication used by teachers.

Week 1

Timesheet

This shows my attendance the first week. I stayed the full seven hours on Thursday, but on Wednesday I was allowed to leave early to go to work.

Culture at High Tech Elementary Explorer

The culture at high tech elementary explorer encourages continuous growth towards the students and staff. The staff have been kind and welcoming. During my first week I learned that everyone is treated equally including interns and volunteers. The students are all very close because it's a smaller school and teachers work to solve social problems that occur. This image is from my first day when I got introduced to the class.

What surprised me the most?

One thing that surprised me was the dynamics of students and the way they interact with each other. It has been interesting to see what helps the students learn and how changing around seating charts can produce productivity. I didn't anticipate that each student would need help in various ways. Learning how to adapt my approach towards different students has helped me develop better communication skills.

Week 2

Timesheet

This shows my attendance on the first full week. I have been staying the full six hours and thirty minutes in the school day. I have been a bit late a few days this week but I've never missed a full period or failed to complete the full 6 hours required. The only days where I don't meet these requirements are on half days which are every Wednesday.

Meet my mentor

My mentor, Taylor Anderson, attended Texas State University. Growing up in a family of teachers, she was inspired to pursue a teaching career. Ms. Anderson taught fourth grade at a Texas elementary school for three years. Her husband, stationed in San Diego with the Navy, influenced her decision to seek a position at Explorer, where she was drawn to project-based learning. She initially joined as a long-term substitute in the science class, then became a kindergarten teacher the following year, before returning as a science teacher. The photo to the left shows me with the fifth-grade class that has science. The photo to the right is me with Ms. Anderson and the 1st grade science class

Internship project week 1

I have spent the whole week deciding what project to do and what grade to do it with. I decided to do my project with 3nd grade because they are working on engineering. The project is to build alebrijes using cardboard and toilet paper roles. This project helps develop engineering skills because the creatures are connected using cardboard attachments such as slots or hot glue. The students are also required to create Pokémon cards describing the skills and traits of the different animals used in their alebrijes. This is a group project and increases collaboration skills within the students. This project will enhance my communication and conflict resolution skills. It will also benefit the organization by encouraging students to apply critical thinking and collaborate more effectively with their group members.

Limitations

I've noticed many limitations within myself during the course of the last two weeks. One limitation that I am unable to overcome is the limited amount of time. My mentor is an exploratory teacher, which means I work with six different classes across various grade levels. It's hard to be able to connect and help every student when I only see them twice a week. A limitation I overcame was learning to adapt my social skills while transitioning between different grade levels. Each grade has its own set of expectations, teaching methods, and classroom management techniques. In the photo to the left, I am assisting two second-grade students in melting butter to observe and identify the different states of matter. In the photo to the right I am reading a book to prek students.

Week 3

Timesheet

This week, I unfortunately missed two days of internship because I was feeling under the weather. Reflecting on my attendance this week made me realize something important, it’s actually really easy to get sick when working in an elementary school environment. With so many kids in close contact it can be hard to avoid getting sick. It's definitely something I hadn’t fully appreciated until now.

Who benefits from my internship?

While I’m able to assist students in staying on task and completing their work, I wouldn’t say my internship directly benefits them the most. I believe my mentor, Ms. Taylor, gains the most from my help. By offering an extra set of hands and ears, I can assist with managing the classroom and support her in ways that prevent her from becoming overwhelmed. I’ve also worked with the TK students, running stations where we’ve explored topics like fossils and the differences between living and non-living things.

How has HTHMA helped?

My time at HTHMA prepared me for interning in an elementary school by emphasizing the importance of hands-on learning and teamwork. Through my involvement with student ambassadors, I developed strong communication skills, which enabled me to connect and assist the students. Having participated in numerous group projects this year, I've learned to at identify well-balanced teams as well as those where some members are doing more of the workload than others.

Interview with mentor

TaylorI'm ready. Okay, okay, so.
AnnabellaWhat aspects of your work do you find the most rewarding,
TaylorI would say like being with kids and watching them grow and just watching them like when things make sense and they click. That's just so much fun.
Annabella Can you tell me about your career journey and how you arrived at your current position?
TaylorSo I taught, I graduated from college in Texas, I moved back home, and I taught in the district that I grew up in. I got hired in a fourth grade position, and I taught fourth grade, reading, writing and social studies for three years, and then I got married, and my husband got stationed here, so we moved to California, and when we moved here, it was the middle of the year, so substitute teaching. And I actually started subbing in the science classroom from January until the end of the year because the teacher left, and I had so much fun. I really enjoyed the school, and kind of like the vision that our admin has for our school, and so I decided I wanted to stay. I ended up teaching kindergarten last year because the science teacher was supposed to come back didn't end up coming back. This position was open this year, so I came back to science
AnnabellaWhat was, what played the biggest role in choosing your profession today?
TaylorUm, I like to try as many opportunities as possible. When I initially got hired at my first school, she kind of asked me. The interviewer asked me if I had a preference for a grade level, and I kind of told her I was open to anything. K through five. I had lots of experience with a lot of different grade levels, and they didn't really have a preference. So they put me in fourth grade, which was so much fun and then when I moved here, I just kind of landed in science, and I had so much fun. It was very like different than any experience I'd had before, and I really enjoyed it. And then when there was a kindergarten position open, I was like, yes, I will try it and we'll see how it goes. So I think just being open to wherever my career takes me is really important, especially having like, a military background I'm going to be moving soon, and so when I moved to a new school, it would be good to be able to say I have experience with all of these different grade levels.
AnnabellaYeah. And what advice would you give to someone starting their career in the teaching work industry?
TaylorUm, I would say observe as much as you can, I learned so much being in a lot of different spaces. Subbing was really valuable to me as a new teacher. When I graduated college, it was December, so I substitute taught for that last semester, because it's the middle of the school year. In the district that my college was in, and I learned so much being at all of these different schools that I had been to the school, so I kind of knew their routines and procedures, but I got to do a lot of different grade levels and, you know, observe different routines. The teachers had different strategies that they use to help support students, to group students different ways that they taught the standards. So that was really great for me. And then also at this school and my old school, we would pop into other teachers in our school and just kind of observe how they taught a reading lesson or how they taught a math lesson, just kind of stepping back and being able to see how other teachers are doing.
AnnabellaVery interesting. What regrets do you have, or what would you have approached differently in your career?
TaylorMy first year teaching, I taught in a co teach classroom,
AnnabellaSo two teachers?
TaylorYes. So we had one teacher that was a teacher, that was there to support students that were receiving that had an IEP so students that needed like additional support, and it was a new strategy at the school I was teaching at. The school that I student taught at had been using that model for a while, so I was familiar with how it was supposed to look, and my first year, the teacher that was coming in to support students just wouldn't show up, which is illegal, because these students have a legal document that says they are supposed to get these accommodations, these supports, these minutes by a professional, and they weren't receiving those services. And I was new to the position, I spoke to a couple of people, and nothing was really done about it, and I wish that I advocated for my students more. I think about this a lot. I kind of, I spoke to my mentor teacher, I spoke to our counselor and our assistant principle, and it just kind of got brushed under the rug, and I felt like I didn't want to rock the boat or, you know, I didn't want to get her in trouble. But having the experience I have now, I realized that, like my students weren't getting what they were supposed to get, period, and I should have spoken up more and advocated more, and I also should have let parents know, because if administration knew and they weren't doing anything, then I should have told parents to make sure that they were getting what they needed. And I think about that kind of a lot, actually, but I learned from it, and I feel more comfortable like speaking out and advocating now.
AnnabellaSo like, if you were to turn it into like advice. What would you like say?
TaylorUm, I would say basically, just like not being afraid to speak up, even if you feel like it's not your place, if you know it's like, what's best, especially in education, there's a lot of like, everything feels really new, and it feels very overwhelming to be learning lots of different needs at the same time. But it is still important, and it's not something that you should allow to continue just because you don't know how to handle the situation. I guess.
AnnabellaWhat are some of the biggest challenges that you face, like in your job every day? How do you overcome them?
TaylorI would say probably my biggest challenge is managing my own time to make sure that students are able to get and do what they need. Um, it's tricky jumping from class to class and grade level to grade level, and logistically, I know that it's my job to make sure that I am managing the time in class well. But you know, things happen, and it's kind of tricky to figure out what you're going to trim, what you're going to cut, and what you want to leave more time for I tend to be a little bit rigid to the structure that I've set and try to speed things up a little bit, and I'm trying to slow down A little bit more and give students that time to, talk about what we saw, talk about what they did, and giving them that that think Time and Processing time to really absorb what they're doing and make those connections, and not just like moving on to The next thing.
Annabella Would you say you have, like, good, like, time management skills, like, outside of that, like, with prep stuff?
TaylorNo, I think I I'm, like, a very type B person, and I think I struggle as a whole with time management, and I see it more in my work life, because I see the impact. Yeah, but also, this is something I was talking to another coworker this morning, actually, about finding a better way to structure my prep time, because I feel like it's not as efficient as it should be. So that's kind of what I'm working on, growing on,
AnnabellaAnd what skills or qualities do you believe are most important for success in a teaching job?
TaylorUm,I think you have to be passionate and you have to have a heart to teach kids. It's not an easy job. It's really stressful, and it can be really crazy, but if you like, love what you do, and you are happy to come to work and see your kids every day, then it makes everything feel okay and better. And I think that sometimes there are teachers that stay in the profession when they don't have that feeling anymore. And I think once you once you realize you don't have that passion and that love to like see your kids and help your kids and laugh with them, then it's probably time to find a different like Avenue. And then I also think being flexible is an important one, also with things that change. With trying new things. If you are trying something and it doesn't work, whether it's like a lesson or a strategy or routine being flexible to say, Okay, this wasn't working. Like, let's flip the script, try something new, and yeah.

Annabella Even if it's like, something that's been working for like, a bunch of students?
TaylorYes or even per year. So it's a little different for me now, but when I taught fourth grade, I every group of students is different and has different needs, and just because you have a routine, like I did class jobs a certain way for a few Years, and then my last year in fourth grade, it just wasn't working. And I was like, why am I so stuck on this? If it's not working for my kids, then we need to find a different routine to help them. So I have worked with some coworkers that were maybe a little bit more rigid with certain things like that, and more reluctant to change. I think especially during COVID, when we were doing lots of tech stuff, they were wanting to send lots of packets home with, like students. And I was like, you know, let's, let's try a different way. Let's try making this more kinesthetic, where they're sitting up in the meeting, or they're doing things digitally. So I think, just like being flexible with changes that you have is important.
Annabella How has your field evolved since you started? And what trends do you see shaping teaching?
TaylorI think technology is a big one. Also being a young teacher, I do see the value in that, and I also do see where it can be a detriment, yeah, especially for younger students. You know, teaching kindergarten, I had a lot of students that were used to a lot of screen time at home, and you could tell in the classroom, attention spans were a lot shorter, even just listening to a story that was, you know, fairly short for like, a kindergarten age group, they couldn't sit through with a story. And that was, you know, that's, that's really tricky. Also, I think that affects their creativity. We saw a lot less creative play in the past years, because students are used to being entertained. They're not used to having to find and create entertainment, and that I think, also connects to that creativity piece, connects to their like problem solving in math, they want to know like one way, and they're not as creative about finding different solutions, like having solution diversity, I guess. Um, so I think it can definitely be a tool that we can use, but I also think that...
Annabella should be limited?
TaylorYes, like giving them so many programs where they have to have a certain amount of minutes every week, I personally don't feel is the best. I understand we're trying to support lots of diverse needs, and so computer programs can be good in that aspect, because they can target where students are. But I also think that we kind of need to be aware of students age and maybe, I don't know, maybe limit for our students, I don't know.
AnnabellaI agree. How has your field evolved? Oh, sorry, I misread that one. How has working in this profession contributed to your personal growth and development?
TaylorRepeat that...
Annabella How has working in this profession contributed to your personal growth and development?
TaylorUm I think it taught me, like I said, part of it is the time management piece. I also, the school I was at previously was a public school. It was very rigid on they had a scope and sequence for us, and we had to teach a certain skill every day. For example, they want us to teach main idea on Tuesday, and wanted us to teach text structures on Wednesday, and they weren't very flexible with how we were to teach that. And so I think moving here, I have been given a lot of freedom to adjust what my students need, what works for, what's going on in our world, in our community, and kind of tweak what we're teaching, when we're teaching it, and how We're teaching it. To make sure that it is relevant and interesting to our students, and just also kind of realizing that there are certain things that are a priority, and there are other things that if they fall, they can fall but it's more important that students have a deep conceptual understanding of larger, broader topics than touching everything just a little bit like they say, there's something that it's like, inch deep, mile wide. So that's like covering everything, but just a little bit it's more important that students have a deep understanding. And if maybe you're not getting every single standard before winter break, that's okay, yeah.
AnnabellaWhat are your professional goals for the next few years, and how do you plan to achieve them.
TaylorUm, I think I am…
AnnabellaIts okay to take your time.
TaylorThank you. I unfortunately don't have a lot of say in kind of what my next couple of years looks like I will probably be in California for the next two years max. So I would like to stay here. I would like to probably stay in science and continue to like deepen and hold my craft. I The beauty of having trimesters is every trimester I can, I can refine the lessons that I used, and maybe reflect on things that didn't go as well, and make those changes. And I, I want to continue to that next year. I really want to come up with more, more engaging projects that are a little bit more thought out and flushed out. This is the first year that we've been doing exhibitions for exploratory. So we're kind of just figuring out as we go. It's been a lot of new but, um, next year will be a little bit better as far as deeper into the future, I think just continuing to strengthen my soft skills as a teacher, and we'll see where it goes.
Annabella How do you decide which projects to implement in your science curriculum, and what factors do influence your choices?
TaylorSo I think my biggest thought this the first trimester, and then headed into the second trimester was I found something fun and engaging that they could be really going to be excited about. I knew I wanted something that was engineering forward, because that's kind of just what I was excited to teach. And then from there, I kind of dug into the standards, and I looked at what seemed like it would kind of fit in the most, and I kind of landed on force in motion. So my fourth, third, fourth and fifth grade students did a Marbel run project. And then my second grade students, we did a marble maze project. It was a little bit easier. I spent more of their trimester teaching them other domains, so we didn't have quite as much time for our engineering unit, and I wanted to make sure that they had really strong foundational knowledge, because second grade and third grade, like all of those domains, build on each other,and then kind of just like, what feels like It's going to be fun. I guess so for trimester two, I have done some tweaking and kind of figuring out what I can handle as far as like spacing and bandwidth on projects starting to run out of space. So I'm having to be a little bit more creative with what we do and where it goes as we're building. So yeah.
AnnabellaIs there like, specific foundational, like pieces of knowledge, each grade has to learn. Like, how do you deal with like, being able to, like, make sure that like, everyone is like learning. So like, are able to learn next year. And so it makes sense for the year after that, and then middle school. TaylorThat is the challenge. So I am I know some classrooms are teaching science, and we do intergration with projects, but our school has a lot of focuses and priorities, and science isn't necessarily one of them. So the challenge for that is, I only have my students for 12 weeks, and I do have them for an hour and a half, but our time doesn't really make sense. If I try to do two different experiments in one day, it just feels very rushed. I did try that a little bit in trimester one, and then I decided that was too much. So I try to kind of pull a couple things from different domains. I also look at, for example, the first grade group did their project in their classroom was about space and stars, and so I didn't, I'm not teaching them anything from that domain because they got it in their project. Second grade is doing a planting project, so I'm not teaching them much of those life science skills because they are getting through projects. I'm trying to kind of fill in. But the tricky part is, is our fifth graders have a state assessment on science, and it's all K through five standards. So it feels a little stressful. I had a meeting with our director at the beginning of the year, and I was just very stressed out, because I was like, if I, we have three domains, so I'm teaching them essentially, three weeks per domain that feels really rough. That's not even a day per standard. And she really helps me kind of think through and talk it out and realize, you know, we would rather them have a strong understanding of certain things, and maybe there's certain things that we just don't cover as much, and we just kind of do what we can and make sure that students how to be excited and engaged about science, how to think like scientists, how to observe and wonder and talk about their learning and their predictions, and how to look at results and analyze them and things like that.
AnnabellaSpeaking of which, how, like, what strategies do you use? Like, to make sure students are engaged in science projects and to, like, ensure that they're so excited about learning.
TaylorI think part of it comes into picking activities that are more engaging. I think hands on is so important. I cannot stand giving students like paper worksheets. Um, I think we are very fortunate to have a space with lots of resources and so making sure that students have hands on activities that they can do, that they can build, that they can observe, is important. I think giving them the space to talk about what they are seeing and about what they're thinking is also really important. I try not to keep them in whole group for too long. When I see they're getting antsy I give them breaks. I try to incorporate kinesthetic stuff when I can, like our survivor tag for like, the animal adaptations. So just giving them things that are going to ignite all of their learning styles.
AnnabellaCan you share an example of how you encourage them to like, collaborate with each other during science projects? Because I know it's kind of like hard, like just putting like a bunch random students in a group, but maybe it's not random, and maybe you let them choose, and that's how you increase collaboration.
TaylorI think I most of my classes, I let them choose. I have a couple of classes where I just choose for them. A lot of that is, some of that has to do with pairing students that maybe quieter students that need quieter people around them that are going to give them the opportunity to speak up. If I put them in a group of leaders, they might feel a little bit more like introverted and not want to speak up. But I think the collaboration piece is it's dependent on the class and what we're doing. I think most part kids love to talk right? And so giving them something specific to talk about is really helpful when they're working on our project, specifically because it's engineering forward, I am trying to build systems that are forcing them to collaborate. Like I have a scrum board. It's kind of like a process board. They'll start when doing their marble runs, but it's basically they all start before they start building, they start in a group. meet for like two minutes.and they talk about what their plan is for the day, who's going to build what? They write their names on the keynote and it goes on like an in process.
Annabella Like brainstorming?
TaylorAnd then, yeah. And then that way, when they're finished, they can go back to the board, and can see, Okay, what's next on our to do list. And then I try to give them time to reflect at the end and talk about what worked, what didn't work. Also, I like talking to them about what they feel like they need in a group project, so they are better able to notice it in their group members, and then also be aware of how they're speaking to their friends when working together.
AnnabellaAnd in your experience, how has project based learning impacted students attitudes towards science and their overall performance?
TaylorI think, I think that they really take it seriously, especially our third and fifth graders, they really understand what exhibition is and what it looks like. And so when I tell them, hey, this is exhibition, they know their adults, their families, are coming, and they want to make sure that it looks nice and that they're doing a good job. And so when I have friends and a little bit more encouragement to get started, I say, "hey, you know, look at your project that you've built so far. What are you going to explain to your family that you've contributed to this?" And then they're like, oh, okay, I need to add something to this. I need to help my group so that they can talk about, oh, this is how I built this. I specifically had a group that I had one Sweet girl that was doing most of the work, and she was fine with it. She was in a group of friends, but I told her, you know, I'm happy that you are comfortable, but your group also needs to learn something. So, you know, maybe they might need a little bit more encouragement, or maybe they just need a little bit more direction. You can ask them to do something and once I had a couple of like, conversations with them, one on one, and I talked about, "Hey, your adults are going to come and see this. What are you going to show them? or practice with Miss Tyra's class of fifth graders, they're going to come in, what are you going to explain to your friends that you've built? And then they realize, like, oh, okay, this needs to look my best thing to make sure it's like, fully thought out.

Week 4

Timesheet

This week, I did really well with attendance and stayed longer than the 6-hour minimum most days. The only day I missed was Wednesday, but even if I went, I would have only gotten 3 hours and 30 minutes.

Photo essay

Tk

This image captures me working with TK students in small groups. We explored worms and an ant farm, teaching them to be gentle and respectful while distinguishing between living and non-living things. Since these young students often need extra guidance, I found that reading a story before activities is an effective way to grab their attention and create a calm atmosphere. This class can be highly energetic as they are learning the routines of participating in school.

1st grade

This photo features me with four students from the 1st-grade class. Helping out in 1st grade has been such a fun experience, and I've really bonded with many of the students. I've had the chance to assist with various engineering projects and even teach a few kids how to tie their shoes. It's been an incredibly rewarding experience!

2nd grade

The image shows me with the 2nd grade class. This class has been focusing on matter and have been doing so many fun projects. They made Oobleck, created carbon dioxide, and use critical thinking to make observations. The students are always eager to dive into hands-on learning, so much so that I often have to remind them to take notes. This class is full of bright minds, and I feel like I’ve really gotten to know each student well.

3rd grade

This photo shows 3rd grade students working on a balloon car project. The class is centered around engineering, and I had the opportunity to complete my internship project with them. The balloon car project was designed to teach them about wheels and axles. This group of students focused on art during the last trimester, so they've had plenty of time to develop their creative skills. Their passion for art shines through in everything they do.

4th grade

The image above is a group of fourth graders doing an engineering project. This class has been working with circuits and did scribble bots. Watching these students tweak their engineering, and finding the route of their issue by themselves has been really fun. These kids are very intelligent, and I try not to help them but instead encourage them to apply critical thinking.

5th grade

This photo captures fifth graders presenting a project where they created prototypes of fake bunny traps. I had the chance to be there for their first dissection, which involved examining owl pellets. The students are currently learning about the food chain, and it's amazing to see how engaged they are in the process. The fifth graders are incredibly passionate about their work, and it’s truly fun to watch them dive into these hands-on projects!

Advice for aspiring teachers

The greatest advice I have for someone going into a teaching career, specifically as an exploratory teacher is to be sure your passionate. I already knew that teaching was a very difficult career but by interviewing my mentor and interning here I realize its much more than that. Science for early grades shape how kids will view the subject in the next years, so its important to have engaging and impactful lessons that spark critical thinking. Without being passionate it can be hard to create a positive learning environment everyday. This photo shows 5th grade students doing a dissection on owl pellets.

How has my role developed?

My internship has grown a lot over the past few weeks. In the beginning, I mostly helped the kids and floated around. As time went on, I had the opportunity to read books to students of all grades, help in teaching an engineering project to third graders, and even lead learning stations for TK. Getting to know the kids, being able to learn all their names has been so fun, and it’s been amazing to watch them learn and grow. Above is a picture of me with a group of fourth grade students.

Week 5 (last week)

Timesheet

This week I had perfect attendance. I wanted to spend as much time with the students as I could before I had to leave. I spent the whole ipol day there, even though I didn't have too because I wanted to be able to say goodbye to the students.

Most thankful for

I am the most thankful for having the opportunity to get to know all the students, specifically 2nd grade who made me this sign. I plan on visiting and helping out when I can because I feel like I got to know every single kid and am going to miss them. I wish I had more time there because watching these kids get excited to learn and have so much fun has been really rewarding. This class was so funny we had inside jokes and they always made me laugh. When we were learning about matter and made Oobleck it was so fun. It was hard to encourage critical thinking when I felt like I was a 2nd grader again. I am thankful for Ms. Taylor for letting me work with her class and for being so supportive, even while dealing with lesson planning for six different classes. She taught me how to deal with conflict and make the students feel heard. We had so many fun times and I'm really going to miss her.

Thank You Ms Taylor!

Thank You Miss Taylor. I appreciate you for being so patient with me especially when I was just getting to know everyone. Watching you keep calm the day when TK was going crazy was so inspiring. Seeing you talk to students and calm them down taught me so much about communication. I was able to use those skills with TK student Kiki when she was crying. I've learned so much about differentiation and adapting to each individual students needs because of you. You let me read books to the students and even help teach lessons. Seeing how caring you were really impacted how I talked to the kids. I noticed how I grew with teaching the TK kids. At the beginning I would kind of just let them do whatever at the station and let more students come to the table then I was supposed to because I was scared that they would be upset. Over time I was able to kindly let students know that they had to come back and encourage them to think. I had a really fun time teaching the TK kids and thank you for giving me the opportunity.

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