| Even though the section on the internship
has a final product which is called 'Reflections on my internship', these
are some extraneous thoughts which have occurred to me since I have been
back (almost one month). I came back to a new job with my school
system. I am now an Instructional Support Team (IST) Coordinator.
My school is going to be a model school for this program and I get to be
the person who trains for it, pilots it and coordinates it in my school.
When my principal suggested the change of function, my first impulse was
to reflect how perfectly this new job fit as a continuation of what I did
in my internship.
In the schools I visited in Uruguay, and
in the English teaching institutes (Alianzas), my experience as an ESL/EFL
teacher was called on. Teachers asked for advice on class management,
discipline, teaching methodology among other subjects. Individual
students were pointed out as challenges. Teachers asked how we handle
our English language learners as well as our typical primary aged students.
Teachers also were hungry for materials
and web sources which might not be familiar to them. I found myself
researching web sites to answer questions as well as printing out articles
which offered teaching suggestions or ways to get free materials.
My supply of teaching materials was totally dispersed by the time I left
Uruguay. I had given away more than $500 worth of books and materials.
(My most popular item was the electric pencil sharpener which seemed so
very necessary in schools which still used the razor embedded in a wooden
handle to sharpen pencils.)
With my new job, I will be continuing the
role of resource teacher. No longer dealing directly with students,
I will be part of a support team for teachers who find that they need help
with either an individual or a class. This was the role I found myself
in in Uruguay. I enjoyed it and look forward to continuing in the
same vein. It should be easier since I am doing it in English rather
than Spanish, which is my second language. |