Placement+1+Week+1+Experience

Week of January 18th, 2010

1/18/10

Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. day which is a school holiday. That means I can't begin my Internship until tomorrow, which also means more time to become nervous! I hope the students like me! I hope my supervising teacher is nice! So much paper work to print out for her and so many assignments looming - eek!

1/19/10

So today was my first official day as an intern! I'm trying to take it all in - it was such a long and full day I think I'm suffering from information overload! Mrs. Herring is very nice. She teaches a mixed-grade level EBD class. The kids, there are eight total in her class, are all nice as far as elementary school boys will go. I was surprised to see all boys though. It made me think how I'd learned all along that boys are supposed to be overrepresented in this category of disability.

Overall, I liked the students though. I feel like the day was haphazard and rushed. I didn't really have the opportunity to learn all the kids by name because some are not in Mrs. Herring's all day but spend periods in other general education classrooms, too. That's all that Least Restrictive Environment stuff in action for ya!

I was also surprised to see these children were all so highly functioning for my experiences in the exceptional world. I mean, they all tend to their own bathroom, eating, and other needs virtually without assistance. These kids also have phenomenal vocabulary skills, too! I mean, I heard words like ocean liner, capacity, incisor, and ravaged being tossed around in conversations held by these 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders as though they had no concept that children their age don't typically speak and debate educational topics with such verbal prowess. Really, you never know what to expect with exceptional ed!

Also, I discovered that this is Mrs. Herring's first time having an intern. I'm excited that we're learning and going through this process together. I'm also very glad that Monday next week will be a student holiday/teacher workday. That means, hopefully, I'll have a greater opportunity to explore some of my assignments and program expectations with Mrs. H in a fully focused way. Plus, I'm looking forward to getting to know her better, too :o)

Phew! I'm just glad I lived through the first day!