BLOG 10
overall, I enjoied my time. I loved working with kids and I didn't expect to. I really loved all the people and I learned things I can use in the future, like how to talk to strangers.Next year, I want a low key, almost boring internship I'm really interested in interning for a mortitian. I think it would be interesting to see the beginning of human life, and the end. It does seem morbid, but I'm really interested. I will always cherish the time I had with these kids, and will always remember it as my first job.
overall, I enjoied my time. I loved working with kids and I didn't expect to. I really loved all the people and I learned things I can use in the future, like how to talk to strangers.Next year, I want a low key, almost boring internship I'm really interested in interning for a mortitian. I think it would be interesting to see the beginning of human life, and the end. It does seem morbid, but I'm really interested. I will always cherish the time I had with these kids, and will always remember it as my first job.
BLOG 9
Today I helped the kids do a lava lamp lab. They used salt water dish soap and vegitable oil and created "lava lamps". The younger ones didn't see the point of it and were more interested in the process, but the older ones were really into it. As an intern, I think I've improved a ton. I can now actually have conversations with kids and I have a better idea of what is age appropriate when it comes to science projects. I also know what I need to do to be a good intern to my mentors. My workplace is amazing because there is a ton of diversity when it comes to people. There are so many cultures and people it's really interesting. One thing that isn't so great is the amount of energy. It's always so energetic with small children and a ton of them in one area is insane.
Today I helped the kids do a lava lamp lab. They used salt water dish soap and vegitable oil and created "lava lamps". The younger ones didn't see the point of it and were more interested in the process, but the older ones were really into it. As an intern, I think I've improved a ton. I can now actually have conversations with kids and I have a better idea of what is age appropriate when it comes to science projects. I also know what I need to do to be a good intern to my mentors. My workplace is amazing because there is a ton of diversity when it comes to people. There are so many cultures and people it's really interesting. One thing that isn't so great is the amount of energy. It's always so energetic with small children and a ton of them in one area is insane.
BLOG #8
Finding an internship was harder than I expected. To get hired I actually had to talk to people I didn't know on the phone which is a huge fear of mine. I had to send resumes and cover letters to all the places I applied to. Some requested phone interviews which terrified me and may have lost me some internships. I think the easiest way to find a job/internship is to just get yourself out there and know that you will be shut down a lot but if you're persistant enough, someone will hire you. I think professionalism varies with profession. I think professionalism can be defined as knowing what you're doing, being well versed in it, and being respectful. For example a pre-school teacher has a different kind of professionalism than a salesman, or the president.
Finding an internship was harder than I expected. To get hired I actually had to talk to people I didn't know on the phone which is a huge fear of mine. I had to send resumes and cover letters to all the places I applied to. Some requested phone interviews which terrified me and may have lost me some internships. I think the easiest way to find a job/internship is to just get yourself out there and know that you will be shut down a lot but if you're persistant enough, someone will hire you. I think professionalism varies with profession. I think professionalism can be defined as knowing what you're doing, being well versed in it, and being respectful. For example a pre-school teacher has a different kind of professionalism than a salesman, or the president.
Blog#7: What I learned reflection
My time here at CPNS has taught me that I am really good with kids. I never knew that and actually hated kids before I took this internship, but now I see that they're not that bad. I am also improving at communication. I now know how to reduse the size of my sentances and use smaller words with children. Like Code switching. Some challenges I had were the kids warming up to me. At first they were all scared of me because new things can be scary. I found that going to them scares them more, so you have to wait for the kid to come to you. This tactic helped me make friends with all the kids. I used to think that the role of pre-school teacher would be easy and fun, but I soon found out that it's actually really hard. There are so many things that could happen (accidents, temper tantrums, ect.) that make the job so hard. In this profession, patience is the biggest thing. If a teacher doesn't have patience, then nothing will work out and kids won't cooperate. I think what I've done here (creating science projects) has helped because I'm trying to get the kids started with science at an early age to hopefully create a stable foundation and help spark interest for the future.
Blog #6: Leadership skills
For this project, I am using communicate powerfully the most. It's really hard to communicate what I am trying to say to kids with a vocabulary of about 50 words. For example, when speaking to kids, if I just want to communicate a simple command, some kids will get it, and others won't. It's really hard to determine what level the different kids are at, linguistically. At my workplace, the teachers are specialists in child development, so I've also had to learn how to speak to kids and teach them at the same time, by doing things like asking probing questions or pointing out things and letting them notice things. I could improve on this leadership skill by trying to limit my use of more complicated words around the younger kids. Or, if I do you a bigger word, I could define it or use a synonym with it which might actually help build their lexicon. This leadership skill helps me communicate with the children and helps me to do my job which mainly is communicating with the kids. My mentors use thinking critically the most. They have to think of different entertaining projects for the kids with a tight budget and limited supplies.
Blog #5: Progress on my WLE
Today I did my interly duties. It was picture day for the children so I spent the day gathering them for the photographer which took up most of the day. I had to find the kids and line them up for the photographer. If there were kids with siblings I had to make sure they were together. I also had to make sure everyone who wanted a picture turned their money in. My mentor approved my idea of creating a binder of science projects. So, for my project I will create 6 projects that parents can supervise that will be apropiate for kids. The projects will be science related with a focus on physics.
Blog #4: Project brainstorm
FOr my project, I am thinking of creating a science binder for the school full of different science projects that are physics related. This will be beneficial to the company because they don't have a science binder, but they do want one. They say they just don't have the time to create one, so i will do this for them. I will also perform some of the projects with the older kids (as a test) then if they work, I'll perform them with the younger kids and add them to the binder. I'm super excited to do this project for the next 3-4 weeks because I love science and the kids here have the ability to make anything fun. In order to do this I will need to find out what would be fun and interactive but also educational for the kids.
Blog # 3: My Role
My title is Intern. My role is to assist the teachers and parents and to perfrom science experiments with the kids. Usually I help the teachers get set up in the mornings by getting name tags out, rounding kids up for circle time, and setting up activites in rooms. Some tasks I complete each week are giving parents breaks by watching their stations and cleaning up after the kids leave. My day consists of setting out name tags, rounding kids up, and setting rooms up with acticvites in the beginning. Next, I'll usually set up a science project. Lately it's been with mixing colors. Midway through the first class I'll end the project, relieve parents, and let them have a break. Next, I'll walk around and clean up what I can and when it's time for the kids to leave I'll finish cleaning. I usually repeat this schedual for the second class.
Blog #2: My Mentor
I have mulitple menotrs. My main mentor is Conny Schivers. She teaches Pre-Kindergarden and Pre-Pre-Kindergarden. She also teaches the parents of her students how to communicate with children. Her typical day starts with prepping the art activity in the art room, setting name tags out for both the parents who work there and the kids, and making sure eveything is ready for the day. Once the kids and parents come she welcomes everyone and begings circle time in the music room. During circle time, the kids aren't really in a circle, they just call it circle time. Circle time lasts about 15 minuites. During these 15 minuites they sing abnoxious songs and play games. Usualy these songs and games help with developing a certain skill. After circle time, the kids are free to go to any room they like and can wander around as long as they like. The rooms/stations are art, snack. music, blocks, and outside. After abouth three hours, at the end of the day it's circle time again and more songs and games are played. The employees need a background in child devolopment and teaching to work here. My main mentor says she became interested in this field because she always got along with children naturally and discovered that that wasn't easy for everyone, so she stuck with it.
Blog #1 My Workplace.
My internship is at a cooprative nursery/ pre-school called Carlmont Parents Nursery (CPNS). It is located in Belmont California and is pretty much run by parents. It's a small buissness in the basement of a church, although it is in no way affiliared with the church. The school is essentially a long hallway with multiple rooms with multiple activies. There is an art room, snack room, block room, a science room (which isn't used often) and a playground open to the children. There are 4 employees at the school (that I have met) and the parents are the ones who pretty much watch the kids. My workplace employes people with child development experience. Most of the people who work here have at least 4 year degrees in child development. My workplace serves children and parents by teaching parents how to communicate with children and teaching children life skills like sharing. A strength of my workplace is the communication between parents and employees. They have an amazing simple system set up to communicate. A weakness would be the lack of variety in what is provided to the kids.
