High School Internship
High School Field Placement
School & District: James Bowie High School - AISD
Subject & Grade Level: U.S. History 11th Grade / AP World History 10th Grade
Demographics: White: 57.0%, Hispanic: 29.6%, Asian: 6.2%, Two or more races: 4.7%, African American: 2.3%, Pacific Islander: 0.1%, American Indian: 0.1%
School Website: https://www.jbhs.org/
High Points
During this semester of student teaching I got the opportunity to experience and facilitate virtual learning to high school students. I was able to design and create lesson plans that are specifically for online instruction while being able to teach the content material the students needed. I learned how to engage with the students virtually and I learned how to create lessons that require them to participate and interact with the content and material while being instructed online. These learning aspects from my field experience will contribute me the most in my development as a social studies educator.
Challenges
One of the biggest challenges I overcame while teaching during the Covid-19 pandemic was my ability to connect with the students. I was able to connect and interact with the students in my classes despite the fact they were all virtual. I made it a top priority at the beginning of the semester to do my best to engage and receive student interaction from my lessons. Through the use of apps like Nearpod and Peardeck, I was able to interact and chat with my students through the duration of the lessons. This made virtual teaching and student learning more enriching because I was able to incorporate student engagement and participation.
Middle School Field Experience
My field experience at Park Crest Middle School was one I thoroughly enjoyed. At this placement the most important things I learned were daily classroom life, daily routine(s), and expectations for students. I was placed in a 6th grade world cultures classroom and I learned the importance of student expectations immediately. I learned that holding students accountable and having a set of expectations for them in which they all agree to will enable the classroom life and classroom routines to work accordingly. I learned that establishing student expectations, the classroom life will blossom and the environment of the classroom will be one in which students will thrive off of. I also learned that establishing daily routines in the classroom, such as a check-in, sets up the students for success because it allows the classroom life and community to blossom. Incorporating daily routines into the classroom improved students understanding of what is expected and allowed them to be in an environment in which they enjoyed being in and one in which they were intellectually challenged.
Elementary School Field Placement
My field placement at Galindo Elementary School was my first experience being in a school environment. I was placed with an inclusion teacher whose job was to work with individual students who required more directed and individual instruction. While I was there, I was with a group of 5 students, all in 3rd grade. The most important things I learned from this field placement was the importance of creating lesson plans for students that need accommodations or modifications to instruction. Being apart of inclusion instruction, I was introduced early on in my field experience as a preservice teacher the importance of modifying content and materials for students when necessary and I learned the importance at differential instruction for students who have their own plan.
