A Little Background

Hi! I'm Nicole and I am pursuing a degree in Early Childhood Education. I am a rising senior and will begin my student teaching (Internship II) in August. I decided I want to blog about my experience, mostly for my own benefit.

--Here is a little background on how the program works at my university.  You have to pass aPraxis I exam and complete various courses, submit letters of recommendation, etcetera to be admitted into what our university calls the “professional program.”  Once in the “professional program” all of the students are placed into “cohorts” of about 25-30 students.  The cohort you are placed with stays together for all of their classes and internships for the remaining two years of the program (therefore, you do become close with the girls in your cohort).  The first semester, you have about five courses along with a practicum experience at a school.  The second semester is “Internship I” where you have about five classes and an internship with a school.  You begin by going to your classes and attending the school you are placed with for just two days a week.  Closer towards the end of the semester, for three straight weeks you will only attend the school (not any of your classes).  The next fall semester is when you begin “Internship II,” your “student teaching,” where you go to the school every day.  You arrive at school and leave the school as if you were the actual teacher in the classroom.  You are expected to attend school wide meetings, grade meetings, etc.  We attend our seminar class once a week (mine will meet on Wednesday nights).  Once you survive student teaching, your senior spring semester is where you catch up on whatever courses you need to complete for GRADUATION! J

Throughout my first internship, I experienced burnout.  I was unorganized and was ALL about procrastination!  I know, guilty.  My fall semester of last year I had to play a little catch up and took 19 credit hours (while working) and by the time the spring semester rolled around (Internship I) I was just tired of school and working.  I asked as many people as I could to see if they thought working during student teaching would be a good idea.  Everyone I spoke with said, “NO!  Don’t do it!”  I have also heard that some supervisors make you sign something that states you will NOT work during your student teaching experience.  Therefore, I will not be working during my student teaching.  While it will be strange for me to not work for a while, I think it will benefit me in the long run, and ultimately I will enjoy it.  I am hoping that by blogging my experience it will make me stay on track, desire to work harder and do better, and that it will give me something fun to look forward to outside of student teaching.  Thanks for listening; I know this first post was long and boring.  I promise that future posts will be more fun and exciting.