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The Internship Field Experience is the second of three required field experiences for certification in The School of Education at The University of South Dakota. The Internship is designed to give students a more extensive and participatory experience than the Paraprofessional Field Experience, and students who complete the Internship will be better prepared to enter the Student Teacher Field Experience. In keeping with the School of Education’s theme of //Reflective Decision Making + Leadership//, the Internship is designed to allow students the opportunity to examine their interactions in the school setting and to evaluate the role they play in student learning. According to Donald Graves (2001), “Awareness that grows out of the specifics of your own situation produces energy. For this reason, you need to know the details of your own experience in order to make some judgments about how to set a personal and professional direction for your life.” The activities required during the Internship Field Experience and the associated written assignments will give you the chance to reflect upon your progress toward becoming a teacher. Perhaps more importantly, you will have the opportunity to reassess and, hopefully, reaffirm your commitment to teaching as a career path.

Graves, D. (2001). //The Energy to Teach.// Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann

=Check List - Next Steps=
 * Ashley Moeller's Spring 2009 SEED 394 Internship Placement**
 * School: || East Middle Sioux City, IA. ||
 * Field-based supervisor: || Jodi Mollet ||
 * Content area: || Civics and Geography ||
 * FBS e-mail address: || molletj@sioux-city.k12.ia.us ||
 * FBS phone: || 712-274-4030 ||
 * USD supervisor || Kevin J. Reins, Phone: 605-677-5831, e-mail: kreins@usd.edu ||

Next steps: Please check off the following items by replacing the "o" with an “X” in the left hand column of the table once you have completed the task. During the week of Spring Break, I missed hours that I had wanted to come to East Middle and intern due to weather. I had planned to put in extra hours but the weather kept me in Watertown. ||
 * X || Upon receiving this information, respond immediately via e-mail to Dr. Kevin Reins indicating that you have received your placement information and that you have no major conflict with the placement. ||
 * X || Contact your field-based supervisor within 48 hours of receiving your placement information either by phone or e-mail. ||
 * X || During this first e-mail or phone call to your field based supervisor, ask to set up the first meeting (at your FBS’s convenience) for you to visit the classroom. ||
 * X || Upon arriving at the school, go directly to the main office, introduce yourself, the reason for your attendance, (make a great impression from the beginning) and ask to be directed to your FBS’s classroom. ||
 * X || During the first visit to the classroom, notify your FBS of the URL to your wikispace and let her/him know that you will be documenting the __requirements__ of the experience in this space. Discuss the requirements. ||
 * X || Deliver the FBS’s packet with the evaluation forms and return envelope to your field based supervisor during the first meeting. ||
 * X || Also during the first meeting, exchange phone numbers in case of emergency (edit your wikispace and put your FBS’s prefered phone number in the informatin table above), confirm your visitation times, and discuss what you will be doing in the class over the course of the 45 required hours in the classroom. ||
 * X || When convenient, introduce yourself to the principal and other faculty throughout your stay at the school. Be kind, courteous and show appreciation for the opportunity to be visiting and working with the students and faculty at the school. Always try to leave a great impression on people. ||
 * X || Within the first two visits, ask for a copy of the school handbook or ask to borrow a handbook for the semester. ||
 * X || Report to Dr. Kevin Reins via e-mail after you have completed your initial visit. Briefly describe the visit and ask any questions or state any concerns you have at this time and through the semester. ||
 * X || IF YOU MISS A SCHEDULED TIME – REPORT IT TO DR. REINS IMMEDIATELY. ALWAYS KEEP HIM INFORMED. RECORD THE DATES THAT YOU MISSED HERE.

= =

My goals for the internship:
Write three goals for your internship experience. 1. //To learn to take control of a classroom while still showing respect to the students.// 2. //To observe how to teach the subject area to a group of students who do not find it as interesting as I may find it//. 3. //To learn how to draw a constant line between a teacher and friend with my potential students.//

Post-experience reflection on my goals.
After my Internship experience, it is easy to see that I improved in many areas that I had hoped I would. I believe that to take control of a classroom is to give oneself the authority to take control of it. My mentor teacher aided me with this goal, because she had authority in the classroom. The students respected her and did what she asked because she told them too. She was also, reasonable. She asked the students to act only when necessary. She did not get stuck on the small things, but made it evident that there were certain things that she would not tolerate. I believe what made her authority compelling is that she did not take no for an answer. If a student was misbehaving she would talk to he or she until they would act if they were supposed to and if not she would send them to the office. Now, that only happened once, but that was all that it took for me and others to know that she was serious. Ms. Mollet made things interesting to students because she would give them opportunities to do projects and art and other things besides sitting in a chair and listening to lecture. She made things interesting because she did not focus solely on one subject; she was interdisciplinary by incorporating many subjects in to learn one lesson. In the middle school setting it seems a lot harder to befriend a student than in the high school level. To that degree I did not learn anything more about how to accomplish that goal.

A. 45 hours of field-based classroom participation
Note: Some hours may be completed outside of your placement by the SEED 394 class as a whole.
 * **Date** || **Hours** || **Description of my activities/participation in the classroom....** ||
 * 2.13.09 || 2.5 Hrs || During this first visit to East Middle in Sioux City, I spent time meeting with the principle and my FBS. I took a brief tour of the school and went over common policies and practices with my FBS. I also briefly observed a classroom setting. At this point I have found East Middle to be very large and diverse than what I came from and where I was for my Para-professional. However, my FBS is very accommodating and kind to me. ||
 * 2.20.09 || 6.5 Hrs || This is my second time at East Middle. I met my FBS for her first block planning period and we discussed the day. My FBS is a SPED specialist with a master’s degree in Deaf Education. She works primarily with level one integrated students in civics and world geography classrooms for 6-8th grades. Ms. Mollet’s specialty is very exciting to me, because I will not only be able to observe my area of emphasis but I will also learn about SPED students in the classroom. This is the first day that all of Ms. Mollet’s students were able to meet me and I was able to interact with them. Throughout the day she and I focused on the students that she helped and we aided them in test and note taking throughout the day. At the end of the day I was able to participate in the student activity of the school play. We watched //Pirates of Penzance// and I was able to help my FBS chaperone the students while they were observing. The play was very good! I was taken aback at how much talent these 8th graders possessed! ||
 * 2.27.09 || 3 Hrs || Today was the day I taught my first lesson. I taught an immigration lesson for Ms. Pape’s 3rd period 7th grade World Geography class. The lesson went over very smoothly; the class was very responsive and attentive to me. Overall, the lesson went pretty in sync with my lesson plan, however, I can tell that one problem I have with middle school aged children, is that I am not sure at what level I would be asking them questions. Since immigration is such a hot button topic, the kids did respond to questions best they could and I tried to ask follow ups based on their responses; however, I am certain that some of my open ended questions may have been too broad and too complex for 7th grade students. I know that what I will have to develop for the future is a good understanding of the expectations of each grade level for my classes. ||
 * 3.20.09 || 3 Hrs || This was a short day. I viewed only two instructional periods. It is nice now, as the students get to know me, and are used to me in the classroom it is easier for them to ask me questions. Being with Ms. Mollet, because she’s a special education teacher brings a different perspective to the instructional periods. The students that are close with her and feel comfortable asking us for help are those who work with her in special education. It is obvious to me that the students act more openly with her than they would with other teachers. It gives me a unique vantage point. ||
 * 3.27.09 || 10 Hrs || On the 27th of March we took a field trip to Benson Magnet School in Omaha, Nebraska. This trip was enlightening because it gave me a perspective on inner-city schools that I otherwise would not have had. We arrived that day and spent a couple of hours speaking with the principal of the school as well as asking questions and getting a tour. We learned that being a magnet school, they were able to recruit other students to come to their school that may not have otherwise as well as getting financial grants from the government. Benson school had 75% of their students on free and reduced lunch, which tells us that the Socio-economic level of the families attending the school is low. Being a magnet school they have the opportunity to change that a bit. We were also able to shadow a teacher in our field. The teacher that I spend a class period with was Ms. Croissant . She was a US History teacher and seemed very good despite the liveliness of her students. Overall, the experience was wonderful, and definitely gave us a lot of incite towards other schools and teacher in different conditions. ||
 * 4.2.09 || 7.5 Hrs || Today I taught my second lesson. In 3rd period World geography with the 7th graders, we had our world culture day. The students and teachers brought food and artifacts from other cultures to put on display for the rest of the class. I myself facilitated the entertainment and read Aesop’s Fables to the class. After reading a story I would check for understanding by the students and ask questions to not only show that they were paying attention, but that they could relate the stories to their own lives and draw similarities between their culture and others. This lesson went very well. The students kept quiet because of the food and were interested in the stories. Most of them did a great job at answering the questions. It was important to scan the room to make sure everyone was engaged and listening because the lack of their normal structure made it so that some students were chatty. ||
 * 5.1.09 || 7.5 Hrs || I shared a duty with my teacher today of ISS, or in school suspension. This was the last period of the day, but I did not get to see her do her duty thoroughly because no students were sent to ISS on this day. It was rather disappointing because I wanted the full experience, but also good to know that no one was getting in trouble. On this day I learned that East Middle has a special position for an Outreach worker that comes in and helps those with low socio-economic levels or who are having other various problems at home. This was interesting to me because the school I went to did not have a staff member like this for kids to see when they need alternative help. ||
 * 5.4.09 || 5 Hrs || This was my final day of interning at East Middle in Sioux City. My day was fairly average. I shared the ISS duty, which was again fortunately uneventful. Janet Coon who is Ms. Mollet’s 6th period 7th grade world geography co-teacher just got back this weekend from her two week long trip to Costa Rica because of the Toyota Grant that she received. She was able to tell us all about the trip, her research and experiences. While this was not Social Studies related, there are similar grants to find in the field if you look and are qualified to apply for them. This gave me some motivation to do something like this because her experience was so rich. Doing field work in your area of study is I think one of the most rewarding and educational experience. Additionally, it would enhance your teaching abilities to be able to relate your lessons to your life experiences. ||

B. Work with a group of students
The groups of students that I worked with were SPED students in the 7th grade. They were taking a test and we helped to assist with questions or clarification. These students, because of their IEP, were taken out of the classroom and tested apart from the regular education students. My interaction helped to give them special guidance on their test and it also helped me to understand the importance of understanding the SPED students in the classroom.

C. Work with students individually
The students that I worked with individually were 6th grade SPED students in world geography. Ms. Murphy's class was doing brochures and I worked with the students to research and set up their brochures. These students were level 1 in their IEP, so therefore they needed extra help from other students but were still able to do a lot for themselves. As a SPED student, the number one accommodation is giving them a clearly defined task with little or fewer options. After I helped the student find a webpage or book that would help them fill out the necessary information for their brochure, they were able to fill out the information themselves. I believe that once these students learn to work they will be able to work more for themselves and have a more productive life in the future.

D. Participate in redesign of a lesson with technology
The students, when learning vocabulary, would usually just write the definition. This is a lesson my teacher and I designed so make the vocabulary experience more entertaining. Type your interview questions and the field-based supervisor's responses.

E. Classroom teaching two lessons with lesson plans and documented impact on student learning
When planning the lesson I considered the activity that we found in the book. It was a writing assignment that allowed students to look at the different viewpoints of immigration. I thought the clips were the most effective, because it showed real life situations of immigration and gave interviews from common people who lived on the boarder and experienced immigration first hand. It gave the students incite on the issue that they may not see living in Iowa. I followed the lesson plan very closely. They were appropriate because they were short and found on teachertube.com, which allowed me to use them in the classroom.
 * Immigration**
 * analysis of instructional planning**

If I were to teach this lesson again, I think I would spend more time with talking about immigration. I gave the students time to write in class, but instead using the time to develop their thoughts, they just wrote and handed in the assignment. That is not to say that they were all badly written, but I should realize that they were only 6th graders and their thought processes are not very complex and it should be what I help them with. My strengths in teaching are that I’m knowledgeable on the subject and not shy. I have had many years of public speaking and can very easily command attention in the classroom. I also feel as though the issues that we are learning about are some that I have spent time with and have prior experience or knowledge to help me to know more about them. However, a goal that I would like my teacher to help me with is to be a little bit more middle school oriented with my questions. I have a hard time teaching towards my age group.

When planning this second lesson, I considered some things that went wrong in my first lesson as well as the context of the unit. First of all, we were studying cultures around the world, so I wanted to make sure to do something as a final lesson that would engage them but be easily understood and enjoyed by the students. This lesson was not something that was based out of the book so I had more room to arrange things. I think the most effective part of the lesson was choosing stories and having food in the classroom that the students would like and would be age appropriate. They really enjoyed the food, so on the whole really listened and engaged because they were relaxed and content. I followed the lesson plan pretty closely; however, I did choose some different stories from Aesop’s Fables then I had planned. I wanted to make sure to read a story that would interest the students on that day. The activities were appropriate and the visual aids, such as the artifacts that were brought in really interested the students. The only thing that I might do differently next time is to plan the questions that I asked while reading a little more so that they would reflect what we learned on questioning in Module 7. I would tie the questions together so that one question would lead into another and sort of build off the same information, so that they could analyze and draw conclusions. My teaching strengths I think are still my presence in front of students, and actually, I was rather impressed with my ability to read the stories with feeling. The students really enjoyed my voice inflections and I think they added to the experience. <span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">
 * World Culture**
 * analysis of instructional planning**

G. Share two duties with field-based supervisor
<span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">I went to ISS or in school suspension twice during my internship time to share the duty with my teacher. I learned a lot about Ms. Mollet’s idea of discipline and thoughts toward ISS and the best way to be an ISS teacher. While ISS is necessary we spoke mainly about the demographics of the room. When Ms. Mollet first started at East Middle they tried to move ISS into a closet sized office, which make the environment far too difficult for the students to do their work independently. Ms. Mollet thought that in order for ISS to be successful there had to be space and organization for the students to work and study quietly if they could not do it in a classroom.

H. Attend an extra-curricular activity with students
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">The extracurricular activity that I attended with the students was the school play, //Pirates of Penzance.// It was interesting being in Middle School again, where the students it seemed mainly went to the school play to get out of class. They did not watch it well and liked to talk with other students that were sitting around them, despite the heavily chaperon efforts by the teachers. What I learned was that students are not always going to watch and listen well to things like that, and sometimes the best thing to do as a teacher is to ignore the small stuff. Now, I do not mean to let students do what they want nor do I mean to only punish some, but instead of being a distraction to discourage a distraction, a teacher should only act if necessary. I think the impact of me being there was simply exposure. I was not able to verbally interact with the students, so I think that just seeing me as a fixture in the school, altered my students in that I was a member or a part of their niche.

I. Attend a school board meeting
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">I attended a school board meeting in Watertown when I was home for my birthday, April 13, 2009 at 7pm. This school board talked about not only talked about k-12 policies and procedures but also about the Lake Area Technical Institute that presides within Watertown. They discussed teacher’s wages and additions to their contracts. They moved that so many teachers resign. They discussed the laptop initiative within the high school and many other things. What impressed me the most is the parliamentary procedure that they used. Everything had to be moved and seconded in order to pass and be made official, which ties into a lot of things that are done within government. It made me think that it be an interesting field-trip for students down the road.

J. Reflective interview of field-based supervisor around teaching standards
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Ms. Mollet I think values standards so far as they help teachers to teach to one common goal; however, a problem that she had was that the curriculum and standards that they have to go by are written by head teachers of the department, and further more some of these teachers do not actually teach. They pick out the books to be purchased by the school district, which limits other teacher’s authority. From Ms. Mollet’s perspective as a SPED teacher that services many different teams and grade levels in her big school is that she does not have any common planning times with the teachers she co-teaches with. Therefore, she does not have a definitive say on how to promote standards within the classroom and impact that instruction. From her perspective it is hard to know what is coming from one class to the next, let alone concentrate on standards. When I teach I hope that I am able to focus on standards because I think they are important to make sure that each student is entering and leaving your classroom on an equal foot, so that they do not miss out on other educational benefits because they did not get all that they needed out of my class. Standards are a great summative assessment check point, so that when students leave the class they are ready for the next grade and have all the tools necessary to learn at the newer and higher level. = =

=How your wikispace will be graded=

<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Cambria','serif';"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Cambria','serif';"> <span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">Name: Ashley E Moeller _ Completing the Internship Application Form (3 points) _ Writing goals for internship (3 points) _ Post-experience reflection on goals (5 points) _ Log of: A. 45 hours of field-based classroom participation (10 points) _ Reflection on: B. Work with groups of students (5 points) _ Reflection on: C. Work with students individually (5 points) _ Artifacts for: D. Participate in redesign of lesson with technology (10 points) _ Artifacts for: E. Classroom teaching two lessons with lesson plans and documented impact on learning (40 points) _ Artifacts for: F. Design an assessment tool for evaluation of one of the lessons taught (10 points) _ Reflection on: G. Share two duties with field-based supervisor (2 points) _ Reflection on: H. Attend an extra-curricular activity with students (2 points) _ Reflection on: I. Attend a school board meeting (2 points) _ Transcript and Reflection on: J. Reflective interview of field-based supervisor around teaching standards (5 points) _ Documentation form for field experience (3 point) _ Maintaining wikispace (6 points) _ Performance on Knowledge and Skills from Evaluative Comments (21 points) _ Performance on Professional Dispositions (18 points)
 * Wikispace Grade – SEED 394 Grade**

Total points possible: 150 points