Intern Orientation

Today was a short day at my internship.  We only had a two-hour intern meeting to get to know each other more and learn a little more about the program.  So I got to meet all the interns from the other school, and there are about eight of them, I believe.  They all seem excited and motivated too, which is great.  Most of us will have classes together too, since we almost all go to the same school.  

In order to get to know each other better, they asked us some interesting questions.  One asked what piece of cultural wisdom did your family give you.  I found this question rather difficult.  I'm not exactly sure what culture my family is really from.  We don't really identify with a specific ethnic group, nor do we identify with a specific religious group.  Certainly my parents instilled wisdoms in me, but I don't really feel like their values or whatever came from a cultural background.  My parents were certainly influenced by the civil rights movement and the feminist movement, but is that cultural?  I am not sure how else to interpret that.  

Another question was about what we'll miss about our previous residence.  While I don't miss much about my hometown except the weather, I definitely already miss the college lifestyle and people.  It is so different to not live with people in college.  I feel more serious.  I also have to consciously work to have a social life, since I'm not constantly immersed in one.  However, I am excited to move into my new apartment tomorrow, and I am excited to live with new people.  It's a new adventure.

I'm hoping to make it to more baseball games this year, since the school is right across from the ball field, and I'm generally hoping to experience more of the city, less of Somerville.  I want to get to know all the neighborhoods, partly because I want to know where my students are from.  They are required to reside in the city, so I should get to know the city better.  The intern directors want to take us on a bike tour of the city, which would be so much fun if I didn't hate the drivers so much here.  :-/  No, it would be a really amazing way to see the city and definitely the greenest choice!

We also discussed why we wanted to be teachers.  I always say that I want to teach because when I started tutoring math in high school, I realized that so many students were struggling to pass upper-level math classes when they were lacking in extremely basic skills and concepts.  It made me realize that these problems couldn't be fixed with a once-a-week math tutor - they just needed to have better math teachers that would have taught them correctly in the first place.  While the skills and concepts are extremely important, it isn't the only reason I want to teach.  Partly, I just really like schools, and I also really like working with children.  I am a pretty social person, and I am definitely not afraid of being in front of a group of people.  So it seems really fitting that I want to spend time helping students learn more about math.  My point is that there is a lot more to teaching than just a content area, and I hope I will be able to fill all those roles as a general educator first.

So I haven't met my mentor teacher yet, but I did meet another math teacher at the school.  He actually called my mentor teacher for me to see if she was around.  She wasn't, but I will meet her Wednesday, and I can't wait to meet the rest of the math teachers.  We did receive a list of questions that we should discuss with our mentor teachers to help make the relationship between mentor and intern healthier and happier.  Some of these questions are really difficult to answer.

1.  What do you expect to get out of your internship?  What are your goals this year?

Well... that seems easy enough - I want to learn to teach.  But what does that even mean?  I want my mentor teach to guide me, but guide me in what?  I don't even think I know enough about what I'm doing.  I guess I expect support and guidance, but I just think all these things are really general.  Everyone expects those things.  What specifically do I want out of this relationship?  What exactly do I want to learn?  I feel like I have so much to learn that I don't even know how to begin thinking about goals.  I want to learn strategies for teaching specific content areas; I want to learn classroom management; and I want to learn how to structure a lesson plan.  But I also need to learn how to connect with students on a more personal level while maintaining authority.  I need to be friendly without being disrespected.  There is so much I need learn, and I don't even know where to begin.  

2.  Have you worked with teenagers before?  What are your hopes/concerns about working with adolescents?

I have actually not worked much with teenagers.  Most of what I've done in tutoring and in summer camps has been with younger children.  So I am nervous about working with adolescents.  The older the students the more adult-like problems they'll have.  I'm only four years older than some of these students.  Can I really be of help to them when I barely have more life experiences than they do?  Will I have serious classroom management problems?  Or worst of all, will I cry in front of my students if I screw up or if they insult me?

3.  On co-teaching: Do you have experience working closely with someone else?  What were the positives and negatives of that experience?  Are you generally a collegial or a solitary person?  What are your concerns about building a good co-teaching relationship?  What are your pet-peeves?

I definitely have never co-taught anything.  I've assisted teachers and I've had assistants as a teacher, but I've never experienced trying to be equals.  I am kind of confused about what the relationship will be between me and my mentor.  I mean, certainly she's teaching me, but in the classroom, I will gradually take more and more control, and I think that might be confusing.  I think it may be difficult for me to figure out how much initiative I should take and how much instruction I should wait for from my mentor.  I definitely think I work well with others, but I am often shy in a new situation, because I don't want to appear stupid like I don't know what I'm doing.  But I don't know what I'm doing!  There are also little things to consider, such as what if the only time we can arrange meetings is at 7am?  I'm not a morning person, and maybe I'll appear uninterested, and my mentor teacher will get annoyed with me.  Or what if I really don't like something she does in her class?  Should I speak up?  Will I have the courage to speak up?

4.  What is your definition of a good teacher?  What inspires you as a teacher?  Is there a teacher in your past who inspired you to consider teaching as a career?

I guess the easy definition of a good teacher is one the causes learning in students.  The harder question is figure out what good teachers do in order to cause learning in students.  I prefer teachers who are positive and encouraging as opposed to teachers who believe that disapproving remarks are good motivators.  I certainly want to be a teacher that is open and supportive so that students can come to me when they need help.  I actually had a lot of good teachers in high school and some good professors in college too.  I had excellent math teachers in high school - they were all very clear and organized in their teaching styles.  However, my English and social studies teachers were the teachers I was much closer to.  They were better at fostering a teacher-student relationship that was supportive and motivational.  So I suppose I hope I can combine those two so that students can both receive an excellent math education and also build a good, safe relationship with me.  Also, my college advisor was very encouraging in getting me to teach - maybe I can have him as a supervising teacher this year.

5.  What strengths do you feel you will bring to our school?  To your classroom?

I have no idea!  I don't really even know what I'm doing yet, so I don't know my weaknesses either.  I mean, I am outgoing, and I love the arts, so I feel that I have the ability to connect with the students over a love of dance/music/theatre/whatever.  Otherwise, I'm not really sure what I'm going to be good at, besides that I am passionate and that I really want my students to do well.

6.  What are your teaching fears and/or worries?  What are weaknesses that you might need to work on?

I have so many fears and worries, I don't even know where to begin!  I am so worried that I'll just completely screw up lessons, and the students won't learn anything.  I'm worried that I won't be prepared enough, and the students will just go wild or more simply just get distracted.  Teaching really is a craft, and I'm gonna be awkward at first.  I just hope that my mentor and the students will be understanding enough that I won't want to cry myself to sleep every night.  I am also worried that I won't be able to have control over the students.  I don't know what to expect from them.  The students are from much lower socio-economic backgrounds than at my high school, and I just don't know enough to know how different the dynamic of the classroom will be.  I feel very ignorant.

7.  What history (English, math, science, language...) topics interest you?

I think this question is written incorrectly or else it's just really odd.  I'm obviously interested in math, but I do really like other subjects.  I loved almost all the subjects in high school - it was more teachers that I really liked or disliked.  So I guess the lesson I'll take from that is that the teacher can really make or break a class.  But I do really like learning in general, no matter the subject, so hopefully I will be able to get involved in all sorts of areas at this school, especially the arts.

8.  For those teaching or assisting with reading/writing: How confident do you feel about grammar?  What are your strengths and weaknesses around grammar?

As I said before, I will have to teach reading/writing, and I don't really think that will be terribly bad.  I am actually good at grammar, because I like rules.  However, I don't have a particularly large vocabulary, and I am not great at flowery writing.  So I suppose it will depend a lot on how the classes are taught and what the curriculum is.  I am good at spelling!  So I can help out with that, but otherwise, I'm just gonna go with the flow.

9.  What are your interests outside of teaching?

This is easier to answer, and most people know this about me.  I dance, I sing, and I do some theatre.  I'm still trying to work out how I'll be able to keep up my interests while I'm in school, but hopefully I will stay active.

10.  How can I best support you this year?

This is just an impossible question for me to answer.  I have no idea how to ask my mentor teacher to support me other than to ask her to support me.  I don't know what that means.  Maybe smile at me when I look like I'm going to cry?  Or just help me out when I look lost?  I am still very unsure of what I'll be doing.  I will definitely need direction, but I'll also probably need a push to start doing more things on my own.  I don't want to step on my mentor teacher's feet, so I'm more inclined to sit back.  I just don't think I'm ready to jump into this.  I'd like to feel my way around first, but I don't really know how much of an opportunity I'll have to do that.  

Fortunately, they did give us a list of things we can start to do in the classroom without really taking over teaching any lessons, such as hand out materials, take attendance, review the day's agenda, help kids while they work, and remind students of their homework assignments.  Those seem simple enough and don't require too much planning.  I think this list will be really beneficial during the first few weeks, because I think it will be really difficult to find extra time to meet one-on-one with my mentor.  

I think what is most important though is that I begin think a little more philosophically about teaching.  I am always so worried about the logistics, but what's really important is that I learn about how to inspire my students to learn.  It isn't just about teaching students how to graph a line - it's about demonstrating the importance of education and encouraging students to go to college and be lifelong learners.  One of the primary goals is to get students to develop skills so that they can teach themselves.  It's also about personalizing each student's education, so they learn the most they can.  So I'll have to be understanding if math is just really not their thing.  I wonder how to plan lessons for students who struggle more in math.  I'll also have to figure out how I can apply the school's mission statement in my classroom daily.  I wonder how many students I'll have in a class at a time.  I also wonder how they assess their students at this school, as everything seems so untraditional.  I also wonder how often they communicate with parents and how they primarily communicate with parents.  Moreover, I wonder how to handle bigger issues that may arise in the classroom, such as bias incidents and other forms of disrespect.  There's just so much I don't know how to do, and I really don't know how I'm going to learn it all in a year.  I guess I won't...

Day One

Yesterday was my first day of orientation at my internship, and it was really exciting!  I only ended up sleeping about 3 hours the night before, but at least I didn't oversleep, as I was worried.  But I arrived early, and I met such interesting people.  I'm not even sure where to begin.  

There are five other interns, four from my same school.  They all seem fascinating with lots of interests.  They're all from different places, and they're all interning in different subjects: science, humanities, visual arts.  I wanted to spend more time talking to them and getting to know them and why they want to teach, but I suppose that will happen all year long.  

It was also orientation for new staff, so I met some of the new teachers.  They also all seemed amazing with all kinds of interests and backgrounds.  I met the French teacher who I almost lived with.  I hope I'll get to speak French with her at some point.  I could use a refresher since it's been over a year since I studied abroad in Paris.  There's also a substitute Spanish teacher who sings opera, and I would love to talk about singing with him and hear him sing.  There's a new band conductor and a new part-time acting teacher.  She specializes in Shakespeare, and I would love to talk Shakespeare with her!  Everyone has so many interests, and I want to share with them, and I want to hear from them, and I just really want to get so involved in everything.

  

We went over some logistical stuff, but the day was mostly spent getting to know the concept of their school.  We discussed how we cannot friend students on facebook and how to use their email system and how to get keys, etc.  But more importantly, we discussed their mission statement and how it drives how their school is run.  I learned that the school is a pilot school, which means it is a public school with its own autonomy, so it can change rules, curriculum, schedules, but it is still part of the system - in the district and in the union.  I found that a really interesting contrast to a charter school, which is still a public school but outside of the system.  I don't really know how to explain it better than that.  They also explained how this school was created 14 or so years ago from six colleges, I believe, so they're part of this consortium of arts schools.  So the high school is highly connected with these six schools, and they receive a lot of support from them.  The school is also heavily involved in community outreach.  It sounds like they do a lot of performing in the community, and they're always interested in having master classes.  Apparently they had Bill T. Jones a while ago.  He is my favorite choreographer, and I am so sad I missed him!  They also require that all of their students either register to vote or have a conversation with a registrar upon graduation.  They cannot force them to register, but they do their best to encourage it.  I am just incredibly amazed at how much this school does.  I know I did a lot of performing at my high school, but I wish all the staff/faculty had been this passionate about getting everyone involved in the community.  It just seems like such an incredible school.  I have been infatuated since I visited in February for my interview, and I can't believe it's actually time to get started.

They also talked about the grade requirements for the students.  It is a little untraditional, but what isn't at this school?  :)  Students must receive a D- or better in their academic classes, but if they slip below a C in their arts classes, they are warned.  They use a positive term instead of probation, but I forget what it is.  The idea is that we all make choices about what we're going to do and learn, and it's their choice if they don't do as well in an academic class.  But why be at an arts school if you're not interested in your art?  It seems backwards at first, but it really makes a lot of sense.  

Also, their academic curriculum is incredibly fascinating and innovative.  Let me start with the math curriculum, as that is the curriculum that I need to know most.  Instead of having Geometry, Algebra, and Calculus as courses, they simply title their courses Math 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.  So they somewhat align with the traditional course sequence, but the courses are highly integrated with an arts curriculum.  So they teach math through animation and through lighting design, etc.  It sounds so logical to teach math this way to arts students, but I am still so curious to see how it works.  Also, I may be good at math, but I know little about lighting design, so that will be interesting to see what I'll need to know.  So presumably students will be excited about learning math!  Also they've structured it so that more students will complete Math 5 before they graduate, because they realized it's important for students to get through high school calculus before they go to college.  I also forgot to mention that their courses are semestrialized (yea, I made that word up, whatevs).  So each academic course is only for a semester, and they take two academic courses at a time, plus their arts classes.  It is such a cool system, and I can't wait to see how it works.  Also, all of the teachers, including math and science, co-teach seminar classes, which are reading/writing skills classes.  This means I will be teaching this too - ahh!  I hope I can read and write...  Also, they teach Humanities instead of English and Social Studies.  So it's all combined, and they especially focus on teaching history through the lenses of different groups of people, it's not just the European white male's perspective on stuff.  It's really fascinating, and I can only imagine that I'll be learning so much from this school, the staff, and their students.  Also, they send 96% of their students to college, which is a really, really awesome statistic!  So many of these students' parents never went to college, so the school really helps provide them with the resources and opportunities and support to go through the college admissions process.  Can you tell I'm excited yet?

They talked a lot about things that I don't understand yet.  I know they have an advisory program, but I am still unsure of what it is and how it works.  There's also a student support team for counseling and stuff, but I don't know how that works either.  I also really have no idea about the schedule of the school, so I have no clue when I'm teaching and whatnot.  So there are still a lot of unknowns.  However, I experienced so much warmth there yesterday, and I am more confident going into this week knowing that I have a lot of support around me.  I can't wait to meet my mentor teacher.  Hopefully that will happen Monday, but if not, it will later in the week.  And I really can't wait to meet the students!  They sound so motivated and passionate.  I know that I've definitely built up this school in my head, and there will definitely be downfalls, but I just hope that there won't be too too many.  

Overall, I'm really, really excited to start interning here.  I'm so excited to meet everyone, and I can't wait to see how a school day will actually go.  I can't wait to spend some more time with the other interns, and I know I'll learn a lot from them too.  I can't think of what else we did/talked about yesterday, so I guess I'll leave it at that.  I'm also sure that some of what I said is incorrect, because it was a LOT of information in one day, and I easily could have misunderstood something.  Oh well... I'm learning!

Anxiety

I am terribly nervous about tomorrow morning.  The thing I'm most worried about is that I won't be able to sleep tonight, and I won't be able to wake up in the morning.  I need to be in Davis by 7:30am, and I'm not very good at waking up early.  I hope my anxiety wakes me up super early.

I don't know what to expect tomorrow.  I'm just going in with an open mind, and I hope everything works out well.  I don't know how else to prepare myself.  So hopefully that will work out well.  

Do we think I need to pack a lunch?  Or is lunch provided if it's on the schedule?  I don't think it's very clear.  Oh well!  Too late now.  Haha.  Oy vey...

Buddy!

So I have a buddy to go to school with on Friday morning for our first day on the job!  I'm so glad that I'll be able to show up with someone I know.  I'll feel much less out of place.  I've still got a lot of stuff to do before it starts, but I'll manage if I have support.  Tomorrow I'm going furniture shopping, so hopefully I'll be prepared for the move.  Can't wait to see how orientation goes.

First Breakdown

So I've already had my first breakdown, and my internship hasn't even started yet.  I'm thinking about how much I have to get done in the next two days before the internship starts, and I just can't imagine how I'm going to do it all.  I got an email yesterday saying I'm supposed to have read a book off the summer reading list, as well as complete a writing assignment along with it.  I also am supposed to read another short story, the school goals for the year, teachers' reflections from last year, and one more thing that I can't remember right now.  They all have different deadlines, and I'm really confused about the schedule for the next few weeks.  I hope it all gets straightened out when I show up on Friday.  In the mean time, I'll try to stop crying and tell myself that it will all work out.  I hope I'm overreacting, and it only gets better...

An Introduction

Hello all!

My name is Cassie, and I will be chronicling my adventures as a teaching intern this year.  I just graduated from Tufts University in May with a major in math and a minor in dance.  This summer I started an MAT program for math education, and this Friday I will begin my teaching internship.  I have been selected to intern at an urban, public arts high school for the entire school year.  The theory is I will get more experience by being in the classroom every day for a full year instead of only student teaching for a single semester.  The school where I will be working is an arts high school, so every student has auditioned and been selected to attend this high school, where they study academics and also their art, which is one of music, dance, theatre, or visual arts.  The teacher I will be working with teaches math and dance, as every teacher has to be able to teach both an art and an academic subject.  

As orientation day approaches, I am excited and scared.  There is still a lot I have to do before school starts next week.  I am a little overwhelmed, especially since I have to move and buy all new furniture too.  Anyway, here is where I will explore the mysteries of teaching, and I hope you will all help me out and support me in any way you can as I start out on this crazy journey.