Internship advice

billy_boy23 · August 27, 2008, 06:41:07 pm

I am no where near to interning however when I do I would like to be prepared. I attend Arkansas Tech University in Russellville, when it's time to begin your internship theres a long process to get approved first. Once your approved they place in a school to begin your internship. Going into that internship is their anything I should be know before hand? I just like to know what I'm getting into before I actually get into it. Thanks

AHM™ · August 27, 2008, 06:42:28 pm

This is something that Rambling Man might be able to help you with..He's done internships for awhile now...

billy_boy23 · August 27, 2008, 06:47:30 pm

haha well I dont want to do internships for a while I would like to just get in do what I'm supposed to and get out. No offense Rambling man

Cambodian Midget · August 27, 2008, 09:20:55 pm

If you're talking about a teaching internship where you take over a classroom with a teacher mentoring you for a semester here's some general advice.

A.) Contact your mentor teacher early. If you are starting your internship during the fall semester ask him/her if you can meet with him/her to discuss classroom rules and make sure you're there on the first day when those rules are set. It's important that there is a smooth merge between your mentors teaching style and yours. I had a spring internship and one of the hardest things was a difference in classroom rules and norms. It's hard enough for students to make the transition between the teacher they are used to and you.

B.) Meet with the principle and chat. Obviously each principle is different but my experience is that they want to know you and want your internship to go as smooth as possible.

C.) The students know you are a new teacher and will take advantage of that. You've got to call them on everything early and often, and once the students get to know you, you can ease up.

D.) Get to know the students and get involved. Knowing your students and being interested in them makes the days go by much, much quicker.

E.) Find out your teaching schedule and access frameworks for those courses. Print them out and know them, they'll be your best friend.

F.) Know what a lesson plan is, know how to write one. Go into the internship with lesson plan skeletons saved on your computer so that you have to do as little typing as possible. Pull up the lesson plan skeleton and flesh it out with the details of a given lesson.

G.) Stay ahead of yourself with lesson plans, 1-2 weeks in advance if possible. Before you start your internship go to your mentor teacher and get books for all your subject and work through them from the point that you'll be picking the class up. Write your lesson plans from there. Trust me it makes a stressful situation that much easier having what you'll be teaching for the foreseeable future on hand, and when things come up you can always push lessons back.

H.) Know your age group. I taught 6 different classes a day, with age ranges from 7'th grade through 12'th grade. Seniors appreciate free time and don't take advantage of you. On the other side of the coin you can not give 7'th graders one stitch of free time or they will be a classroom management nightmare.

I've got more but I'll stop there. If you have any specific questions ask away I'll try to help.

billy_boy23 · August 27, 2008, 09:53:25 pm

Sweet man thanks...also got anything on coaching internships??

Quite Frankly · August 27, 2008, 09:56:07 pm

billy_boy23 · August 27, 2008, 10:04:12 pm

Please and thank you

parpar · August 28, 2008, 10:39:59 am

You won't find it written down anywhere, but I suggest that you find a supervising teacher that you want to work under and ask them if they would take you on. Then work with the folks at ATU and get them to place you there.

whitedevil · August 28, 2008, 12:30:54 pm

If you want to coach, it is a good idea to be a GA for a team while your in college. If you aren't currently involved with a college team, that is not a problem. Which ever school you are going to teach at should also contact a supervising coach for you to work with. Be prepared to be dumped on, because you are THE lowest man on the totem pole. You will get the crappiest jobs no one else will want to do. You will also work the hardest for absolutely no pay. It can also be a crap shoot with the type of coach you work with. Some coaches enjoy working with a student teacher/coach, in which you will learn a huge amount of real life coaching knowledge, or you will get a coach that thinks that a student teacher/coach is a waist of time, in which you will learn nothing and probably question yourself why you chose to be a coach in the first place.