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=This wikispace is presented by Nick Ernst in fulfillment of the requirements of= =SEED 394 Internship in Secondary Education= The Internship Field Experience is the second of three required field experiences for certification in The School of Education at The University of South Dakota. The Internship is designed to give students a more extensive and participatory experience than the Paraprofessional Field Experience, and students who complete the Internship will be better prepared to enter the Student Teacher Field Experience. In keeping with the School of Education’s theme of //Reflective Decision Making + Leadership//, the Internship is designed to allow students the opportunity to examine their interactions in the school setting and to evaluate the role they play in student learning. According to Donald Graves (2001), “Awareness that grows out of the specifics of your own situation produces energy. For this reason, you need to know the details of your own experience in order to make some judgments about how to set a personal and professional direction for your life.” The activities required during the Internship Field Experience and the associated written assignments will give you the chance to reflect upon your progress toward becoming a teacher. Perhaps more importantly, you will have the opportunity to reassess and, hopefully, reaffirm your commitment to teaching as a career path.

Graves, D. (2001). //The Energy to Teach.// Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann

Nicholas L. Ernst || Vermillion High School || Gary Culver || =Check List - Next Steps=
 * Nick's Spring 2009 SEED 394 Internship Placement**
 * = Name: ||= [[image:nick_owner.jpg]]
 * = School: ||= [[image:high%20schoolmain.jpg]]
 * = Field-based supervisor: ||= [[image:NOID00041.jpg]]
 * = Content area: ||= Algebra I ||
 * = FBS e-mail address: ||= Gary.Culver@k12.sd.us ||
 * = FBS phone: ||= 605-677-7035 ||
 * = USD supervisor ||= Kevin J. Reins, Phone: 605-677-5831, e-mail: kreins@usd.edu ||

Next steps: Please check off the following items by replacing the "o" with an “X” in the left hand column of the table once you have completed the task.
 * X || Upon receiving this information, respond immediately via e-mail to Dr. Kevin Reins indicating that you have received your placement information and that you have no major conflict with the placement. ||
 * X || Contact your field-based supervisor within 45 hours of receiving your placement information either by phone or e-mail. ||
 * X || During this first e-mail or phone call to your field based supervisor, ask to set up the first meeting (at your FBS’s convenience) for you to visit the classroom. ||
 * X || Upon arriving at the school, go directly to the main office, introduce yourself, the reason for your attendance, (make a great impression from the beginning) and ask to be directed to your FBS’s classroom. ||
 * X || During the first visit to the classroom, notify your FBS of the URL to your wikispace and let her/him know that you will be documenting the __requirements__ of the experience in this space. Discuss the requirements. ||
 * X || Deliver the FBS’s packet with the evaluation forms and return envelope to your field based supervisor during the first meeting. ||
 * X || Also during the first meeting, exchange phone numbers in case of emergency (edit your wikispace and put your FBS’s prefered phone number in the informatin table above), confirm your visitation times, and discuss what you will be doing in the class over the course of the 45 required hours in the classroom. ||
 * X || When convenient, introduce yourself to the principal and other faculty throughout your stay at the school. Be kind, courteous and show appreciation for the opportunity to be visiting and working with the students and faculty at the school. Always try to leave a great impression on people. ||
 * X || Within the first two visits, ask for a copy of the school handbook or ask to borrow a handbook for the semester. ||
 * X || Report to Dr. Kevin Reins via e-mail after you have completed your initial visit. Briefly describe the visit and ask any questions or state any concerns you have at this time and through the semester. ||
 * X || IF YOU MISS A SCHEDULED TIME – REPORT IT TO DR. REINS IMMEDIATELY. ALWAYS KEEP HIM INFORMED. RECORD THE DATES THAT YOU MISSED HERE. ||

= =

My goals for the internship:
Write three goals for your internship experience. (1) Middle School or High School, what is right for me? (2) Learn a different way to teach High School Math. (3) Learn to be a teacher, not a student.

Post-experience reflection on my goals.
I would say that my internship really helped me towards my second and third goals. My second goal was really well impacted. I came from an small school with very few students and therefore the students were much more quiet and my teachers didn't have to deal with distractions nearly as much. Here in Vermillion, the school was about four times that size and distractions were a much bigger factor and Mr. Culver dealt with these distractions very well. That is probably the number one thing I will take from this Internship. Also under the tutelage of Mr. Culver, I gained ground on the whole idea of being a teacher not a student. Being a teacher requires so much more work then I had anticipated and also takes a much stronger stranglehold of the knowledge of the material. Preperation can never falter or the students will eat you alive. However, my first goal for this internship never really came to fruitation as I was placed with a freshmen class and that is not a whole lot different then a class of Middle Schoolers. This goal will have to wait until I become a student teacher sometime down the road.

A. 45 hours of field-based classroom participation
Note: Some hours may be completed outside of your placement by the SEED 394 class as a whole.
 * **Date** || **Hours** || **Description of my activities/participation in the classroom....** ||
 * 3/23/09 || 1 hr. || Mr. Culver and I sat down in his room after he had completed his work for the day and we discussed the objectives and goals that we each had for this internship. He laid out a plan on when and how things were to be done. He told me that he has had plenty of experience with USD students in the past and said that there should be no problem with getting me the experience that is required for class. ||
 * 3/27/09 || 10 hrs. || I participated in the Omaha trip to Bensen Highschool. This is a magnet school that focuses on diversity. This was a phenomena experience and really punted me out of my comfort zone. I grew up in a small town, attended small schools, and have just become ac customed to small town life. Entering into Bensen High school with its 1,000+ student body almost gave me a panic attack, but I liked it! The teachers are amazing, they really want to be at this school, they're really excited about the courses they are teaching and the opportunity they are giving these students. The technology was amazing-entire labs filled with brand new equipment and enough staff to properly make use of it. The general mood of the school sort of felt like organized chaos run amok. At any given moment it felt as though someone were yelling or pushing or generally creating a distraction in the class room and there was really only limited control over the situation. That would be a big annoyance for me, I hate having distractions in the classroom, but these teachers dealt with it with ease. ||
 * 3/30/09 || 2.5 hrs. || On this day, I spent 2.5 hours in Mr. Culver's classroom and with it being my first day, Mr. Culver just wanted me to be present and mostly observe how his class operated. He also took this time to introduce me to the class. In doing this he had me tell the students a little bit about myself and also had me give them the reasoning for me being in their classroom. ||
 * 4/01/09 || 2.5 hrs. || On this day in Mr. Culver's classroom he had a few students who had missed the previous few days of instruction and therefore wanted me to catch them up individually. So over the span of a few periods, I took students down to the library and caught them up with factoring polynomials. This was fun, as I got to finally meet a few of the students in one on one discussions. For the first time I felt like the students accepted me into their classroom as an aide, not just an observer. ||
 * 4/03/09 || 2 hrs || When I first arrived to Mr. Culver's classroom today, I was given the opportunity to take a student down to the library and help him take a test that he missed from about 2 weeks ago. It proved to be quite the first challenge of the internship as the student had forgotten a lot of the material but after using a good hour to accomplish this task at hand we handed the test back to Mr. Culver and I feel personally that the student and I both gained a lot of good experience and knowledge from the experience. Then as I returned to the classroom, the students were all working on their worksheets so Mr. Culver and I both just walked around the classroom helping with all questions that were presented to us. ||
 * 4/06/09 || 2.5 hrs || With a test looming for the students on the upcoming Wednesday, Mr. Culver gave out a non-graded quiz over the last few sections of the chapter. This quiz was just to let both, Mr. Culver and the students themselves know what needs to be worked on before the test arrived. During the quiz, I walked around the room to help out the students and to give out little hints without solving the problems for them. ||
 * 4/07/09 || 2 hrs || Two days until the test. On this day in the classroom a practice test was given out to all the students and they were to finish it before they were to leave the classroom. Some students did, and well some students didn't. It should be interesting to see how well this correlates to how well they do on the tests tomorrow. Today is also the day that I attend my first ever Board Meeting. That will be documented a little further down this wikispace. ||
 * 4/08/09 || 2.5 hrs || Today's agenda was to just take a quiz over the last few sections of the chapter and Mr. Culver put me in charge of the class. Since there was no lesson to be taught, I was just suppose to explain the problems on the quiz and then help out the students who had questions. The quiz went over quite well and I got to know the students better individually for the first time. Also, Mr. Culver realized today that tomorrow was an early out and since he didn't want to give the tests on different days to different class periods, he pushed the test back to next Tuesday since Friday and Monday are off days due to being holidays. ||
 * 4/09/09 || 5 hrs || Today was my first full day in the classroom and it was a pretty hectic day to start. It was shortened periods all day long due to the early out for Easter so with that being said, today was another review day and since it was short periods, Mr. Culver thought it would be a good idea if i got my use of technology in the classroom out of the way. So I created a short powerpoint to use as a tool for reviewing the last few sections of the chapter. Everything went over real well. I did this for the majority of the day and then I went and helped out Mr. Culver at the High School track meet. ||
 * 4/15/09 || 2.5 hrs || Today was finally test day. As the students took the tests I was just suppose to go around and make sure to answer any questions that any of them may of had. This proved to be quite tricky as alot of the students tried to take advantage of me and get the answer out of my mouth instead of going through and doing the work themselves. I did this same thing in both full periods that I was there for today. ||
 * 4/17/09 || 2.5 hrs || Upon my arrival to the classroom today, Mr. Culver already had students waiting for my assistance at my desk. These students missed the test on the 15th and we suppose to take it today. In all three periods that I was in Mr. Culver's classroom today, I took down a few students to the library to not only take the tests that they all had missed but to also catch them up on the lesson that they were currently missing by taking the test late. It was a challenge once again to keep the students on track but I would have to say that I improved in that area from my last time working with a group of students. ||
 * 4/20/09 || 2.5 hrs || A couple of students missed the tests from last week and still had to take it so I took a few of them to the library again today and helped them accomplish the tests. This is the last period of pure observation before I start to teach my lessons in the classroom. ||
 * 4/22/09 || 2.5 hrs || I arrived at the school for the beginning of the 3rd period of the day and this period started out the same way every other period of my internship. Mr. Culver went in front of the classroom and taught the lesson and then as soon as he was done teaching, I would go around and hand out the homework and then help the students with all their questions and what not. But then when 4th period came, the roles of Mr. Culver and I reversed. I went up in front of the class and presented my first lesson of the internship. It went real well after the initial shock from the students that I was teaching them instead of Mr. Culver. The lesson was over mean, median, mode, range and the box and whisker plot graphs and all of the students had a pretty good background knowledge of all of that so it wasn't a struggle at all. ||
 * 4/24/09 || 2 hrs || Today is Friday and therefore it is the block schedule for the even numbered periods of the day, so all considering Mr. Culver didn't want me to teach my 2nd lesson of the year in this block schedule. So once again today was a day of pure observation for me as I watched Mr. Culver go to work. He started off by giving a quiz over sections 10.1, 10.2 and 10.3 before moving on and starting in on lesson 10.4 and 10.5. He told me that he wouldn't usually do two sections in one class period but with this chapter being so easy generally in years past, he thought it was a good idea. ||
 * 4/27/09 || 2.5 hrs || Today I taught my 2nd lesson to the class. Today was more of a challenge then the 1st one because I didn't consult with Mr. Culver first on how exactly he wanted this lesson to go about. So I had to deviate from my lesson plan a little more than I did during my 1st lesson. I first had to go over the previous day's worksheets and then hand out a quiz over the previous sections and then I had to begin with my teaching segment. I taught a section on misleading graphs. It went over real well with the students because of the lack of difficulty in the subject matter. ||
 * 4/29/09 || 2.5 hrs || Today was another pure observation day for me. Mr. Culver told me that I had accomplished all my required hours and work and told me to just help out students if I wanted to stay around. ||
 * 5/01/09 || 2 hrs || This was my last day in the classroom and everyone knew it. Today, I just walked around the classroom and helped students with anything and everything they were behind on. ||
 * Total Hours: || 49 hrs || With 45 hours required, I must spend atleast 35 hours in the classroom and 10 additional hours outside of it. ||

B. Work with a group of students
1. Describe the group of students you worked with. The group of students that I worked with were the students that were currently struggling with that particular section of Algebra I, which happened to be factoring with the use of square roots. 2. Did students have cleary defined role/or tasks? The students most definitely had well defined roles and tasks. They were to use me as a tool or reference in order to help them better understand the material and that was important to them because they not only had a quiz coming up shortly but also had a test over the material within a week. 3. Describe your interaction with this group of students. My interactions with this group of students were different from head to head. Some students treated this time with me outside of class almost like a reward and used it to mess around while not being on subject but other students used this time very wisely and got much more of a greater understanding over the section. 4. How did your interaction affect student learning? Our interaction from intern to student was very apparent in some of the students, paricularly the ones that paid attention to me. These students really understood the concept and had a much better chance of doing well on the course. However, on the other hand, the students that misused our time together really didnt show much improvement and I noted this to Mr. Culver and he understood, some students just don't do well in those kind of situations.

C. Work with students individually
1. Describe the individual you worked with. The individual that I worked with had missed the last two days worth of class. 2. Did the student have clearly defined role and/or task? The students clearly had no idea how to factor polynomials. She was a few days behind the rest of the students in the class. 3. Describe your interaction with the student. The student was a little intimidated by me at the start but as things progressed she began to open up greatly. I would say that she felt very comfortable with me by the end of our discussion. 4. How did your interaction affect the student’s learning? The student gained much ground on the rest of the class. She was no longer two days behind, she was able to follow along without being lost in the next days activities. 5. How did you assess your impact on the student’s learning? The student had eight homework problems to solve and with each problem I gave her more responsibility in solving the problems. By the time we reached the last two or three problems she completely did them herself correctly.

D. Participate in redesign of a lesson with technology
 **Standard 1**: Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity By creating a powerpoint I showed them a new technique in learning as Mr. Culver doesn't like to use technology whatsoever in his classroom. As I went through the powerpoint, I had students from the class come up to the board and solve the problems themselves also just to make sure they completely understood the material. By using the powerpoint and by also making the students come up to the front of the class to do the problems in front of their peers, it really put the pressure on them to pay attention and I believe that was a good thing for most of them. The powerpoint saved time by eliminating the erasing of the markerboard which usually has to take place after each problem at hand. So the powerpoint promoted quicker learning for all. I gave credit to Microsoft PowerPoint before I started the instruction period therefore giving them all credit.  **Standard 5**: Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership I was never an advocate of the powerpoint instruction style in the classroom but after using it in the classroom I got a better understanding that it could definitely have a good effect on learning. I don't necessarily think its necessary to use but I do now hold it as an option.
 * Standard 2**: Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments
 * Standard 3**: Model Digital-Age Work and Learning
 * Standard 4**: Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility

E. Classroom teaching two lessons with lesson plans and documented impact on student learning
Lesson plan #1
 * Lesson #1 - Title**

Link to your analysis of instructional planning for Lesson #1 

Lesson plan #2
 * Lesson #2 - Title**

Link to your analysis of instructional planning for Lesson #2 

F. Design an assessment tool for evaluation of one of the lessons taught
This worksheet was given out after I taught lesson #1 to the class. The worksheet went over everything we did in class including mean, median, mode, range, interquartile ranges and box-and-whisker plots. With the results, you can see most students completed the objectives and goals of the lesson #1 with the majority of the students showing complete understanding as they accomplish a good score on the worksheet.

G. Share two duties with field-based supervisor
1. What were the two duties you shared with your field-base supervisor? 1 - Helped students during homework assignments, quizzes and tests. 2 - I helped Mr. Culver with the monitoring of halls between classes. 2. What did you learn about collaborating with another colleague? In speaking with Mr. Culver about monitoring the hallway, I got a statement from him that I didn't expect in the least. He told me that it was one of his more favorite things to do during the day at work. He said that it was rare that he got to talk to his fellow teachers and that sometimes he could go a whole week without talking to any of them and he added that, that wasn't a good thing at all. He thinks teachers should talk amongst one another more often. That would be the first thing he would change about the teaching environment. The other teachers in the hall agreed with Mr. Culver on this.

H. Attend an extra-curricular activity with students
1. What did you learn from your extracurricular activity(ies) with students? Well the main thing I learned is just how much pride and joy they take and put into their sports at Vermillion High School. The kids really had a fun time participating. And I also got great experience running a stop watch during track meets. It was quite the job to partake in. 2. Describe what had the most impact on you from this outside-the-classroom requirement. The students that also have me in the morning for Math got to see me outside of the Math world so they realized that I am just a person like them. I think they really got to know me better as a person and therefore be more willing to talk to me in class.

I. Attend a school board meeting
1. What date and school board meeting did you attend? I attended to school board meeting on Tuesday, April 7th of 2009. This board meeting was for the Vermillion High School of Vermillion, South Dakota and it took place in the Neuharth Building on the campus of the University of South Dakota. 2. What did you learn about the policy and procedures of middle/secondary schools? The two main things that I took from the school board meeting was the fact that not many teachers show up to them and also the vast array of topics that come up during it. First off, the number of teachers that were there could be counted on one hand easily. I never thought this was that case, in my High School days I guess I just figured that almost all teachers showed up to school board meetings. To add to the attendance, there were the eight school board members in the front of the room and about six to eight others in attendance. Maybe the lack of attendance were due to the fact that it was also on television on channel 3 here in Vermillion. Secondly, the topics discussed varied greatly. They discussed lunchroom tables, safety concerns, teacher contracts, teacher resignations, broadband licenses, alternative school funding, cash balance, athletic associations and bullying. Some topics were discussed for less than a minute or two while other topics went on for a good 10 - 15 minutes. These board members were all very efficient and very good at their jobs.

J. Reflective interview of field-based supervisor around teaching standards
1. What is your impression of your field-based supervisor’s attitude toward teaching standards? Mr. Culver believes that they are good for the majority of the students. He thinks that having equal standards for all students keeps them on an even playing ground and allows for an easier transition to college. This way college professors know what every student should already know. 2. What is your impression of the impact of standards on instruction? They seem to make the life of students and college professors easier but not so much for High School teachers. 3. How do you intend to incorporate standards into your teaching? While making my lesson plan for every lesson I will try my best to incorporate as many standards as possible. These standards are required all students.


 * School of Education Standards for Initial Preparation of Teachers**


 * 1. Understands Content:** The teacher understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and the structures of his/her discipline. The teacher demonstrates the content, pedagogical, and professional knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to help all students learn meaningful subject matter.


 * 2. Understands Development:** The teacher understands how children learn and develop and can provide opportunities leading to active learning that support their intellectual, social, personal, and physical development.


 * 3. Understands Difference:** The teacher understands how students differ in their approaches to learning and creates instructional opportunities that are adapted to diverse learners.


 * 4. Designs Instructional Strategies:** The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage students’ development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance skills while incorporating state and national standards.


 * 5. Manages and Motivates:** The teacher uses an understanding of individual and group motivation and behavior to establish a safe, orderly, and equitable learning environment that fosters positive social interaction, active engagement in learning and self-motivation.


 * 6. Communicates:** The teacher uses knowledge of effective verbal ,nonverbal, and media communication techniques with students and their constituents within and beyond the classroom. The teacher fosters active inquiry and engagement in lifelong learning to prepare students for workforce readiness.


 * 7. Plans for Instruction:** The teacher plans instruction based upon knowledge of students, subject matter, technology, curriculum goals, and the community.


 * 8. Evaluates:** The teacher understands, creates, selects, and uses formal and informal assessment strategies to evaluate and ensure the continuous intellectual, social, and physical development of the learner.


 * 9. Reflects on Practice:** The teacher is a reflective practitioner who continually evaluates the effects of his/her instructional choices and action on others (students, parents, and other professionals in the learning community) and who actively seeks out opportunities to grow professionally.


 * 10. Participates in the Professional Community and Seeks Professional Growth:** The teacher fosters relationships with school colleagues, parents, and agencies in the larger community to support students’ learning and well being, reflects on their professional behaviors, and actively seeks opportunities for professional growth and development.

1 **1. Integrates Technology to Enhance Learning:** The teacher uses current technologies, software, and telecommunications networks to plan, design, deliver, and evaluate learning experiences to enhance learning. The teacher employs the ethical use of technology and uses it to further his/her professional productivity.

 Name: Nicholas L. Ernst _ Completing the Internship Application Form (3 points) _ Writing goals for internship (3 points) _ Post-experience reflection on goals (5 points) _ Log of: A. 45 hours of field-based classroom participation (10 points) _ Reflection on: B. Work with groups of students (5 points) _ Reflection on: C. Work with students individually (5 points) _ Artifacts for: D. Participate in redesign of lesson with technology (10 points) _ Artifacts for: E. Classroom teaching two lessons with lesson plans and documented impact on learning (40 points) _ Artifacts for: F. Design an assessment tool for evaluation of one of the lessons taught (10 points) _ Reflection on: G. Share two duties with field-based supervisor (2 points) _ Reflection on: H. Attend an extra-curricular activity with students (2 points) _ Reflection on: I. Attend a school board meeting (2 points) _ Transcript and Reflection on: J. Reflective interview of field-based supervisor around teaching standards (5 points) _ Documentation form for field experience (3 point) _ Maintaining wikispace (6 points) _ Performance on Knowledge and Skills from Evaluative Comments (21 points) _ Performance on Professional Dispositions (18 points)
 * 12. Understands Evolution of Public Education and Its Legal and Ethical Responsibilities:** The teacher understands the foundations of public education, technological and societal changes in the schools, and upholds the legal and ethical responsibilities of the teaching profession.
 * Wikispace Grade – SEED 394 Grade**

Total points possible: 150 points