Tess Miller May 5, 2013 Classroom Intern Final Report Internship Final Report Learning is finding out what

we already know. Doing is demonstrating that you know it. Teaching is reminding others that they know just as well as you. You are all learners, doers, and teachers." -- Richard Bach I used this quote at the start of my midterm report and I decided to use it here as well because I think it captures my experience at Blacksburg High School this semester very well. As a classroom intern, I was placed in Lisa Newmans tenth grade English classes. At first I had no idea what to expect; I had no idea how old Mrs. Newman was, what style of teaching she had, what kind of personality she had, I felt like I was going in blind. I was also nervous because I want to teach older high school students so I was a little worried about working with younger students. However, I have thoroughly enjoyed this semester in Mrs. Newmans classroom and it has improved so much from my experience in the Academic Lab. Learning is finding out what we already know. This internship has mainly been an observation internship. I observe the way that Mrs. Newman teaches, the way she and the other teachers interact with the students and how the students interact with each other. Through this I have learned so much about the way in which students learn and what the teachers do that makes them responsive. While I have worked in classrooms before I have always been working in the classroom so I have never been able to really study these interactions. While Mrs. Newman and I have very different personalities I have learned so much from her. This semester I have learned by finding out what I

already know. I have known everything I have observed this semester but since most of the time it was strictly observation, these lessons became more real to me; I truly learned them for the first time. Doing is demonstrating that you know it. From time to time, I would grade papers or get more interaction with the students rather than strictly observing. This is where I could demonstrate what I had learned. By observing what students respond well to, I knew what to do for them to respond well to me. Also, by observing what they did not respond well to, I knew what to avoid. I was able to demonstrate what I learned from observation in action. Teaching is reminding others that they know just as well as you. This applies to my future. I hope to take everything that I have learned through this internship and apply it to my teaching career. I want to remind my students of what they already know so that they may learn. I want to inspire them to be passionate about learning and about literature. And maybe one day I could even give some college intern the same opportunity that Mrs. Newman has given me. My English courses were not very relevant to my internship this semester because I had never read the books they were reading in class before. However, my overall experience in English was relevant when the students wrote essays or discussed literary terms and poetry. Despite the differences in our personalities, I have learned so much from Mrs. Newman. While we both love students and teaching we have very different ways of showing it. Something I have learned from observing teachers over the years is that I either find a part of myself in the teacher or I want to be completely different than a

teacher. In terms of Mrs. Newman I feel as though I relate to her care for students and the root and cause of her teaching we just have different ways of showing it, we have different personalities. Through observing her, I have been able to get a tighter grasp on the type of teacher I want to be. I would definitely recommend this internship to other students. Since as a classroom intern, every intern works with a different teacher I cannot speak to the internship as a whole, but I have had a great experience. It also depends on the personality of the person applying; if they are the type that need something to do all of the time and cannot learn from observation then I would say that this internship is not for them. That leads into the one suggestion I have to improve the internship. I would make it more clear that it is a classroom observation internship. I remember Professor Le Corre emailed us emphasizing that before we started but I still remember the application saying something along the lines of some students may even get to teach for the l ast few weeks. Since I have not heard of this happening, I would not add it in the application because then the applicants will have false hope of their role as an intern and then be disappointed in their role in reality. Overall, this has been a great semester at Blacksburg High School. In comparison to the Academic Lab last semester, I thoroughly enjoyed being in a more normal classroom setting as well as being in my own discipline. I feel as though I will be able to apply what I have learned this semester more towards my future career as an English teacher.