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Running head: INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCE

Journal Entries of Internship Experience

ED8550-Curriculum and Instruction Internship 1

Instructor: Dr. Jazzar

Capella University

Lavern Stubbs

December 13, 2014

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Running head: INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCE

As I embark upon my internship, I have faced some obstacles. Since I work at a Technical

College with Adult Education, it does not meet the requirements for my internship. It has been a

long wait to find out what school I will be placed at. In the meantime, I am contacting my

advisor, and she has comforted my mind that she is working on a contract in my district for

placement. Since Ive volunteered at a Catholic School for the past 4 years, it is a possibility that

is where I will be placed. Finally great news arrived a week before class, I will be completing

my internship at St. Peter Claver Catholic School.

Description of the School

St. Peter Claver School offers a culturally rich and diverse educational experience for

students in preschool through 8th grade. For over 100 years, St. Peter Claver School has stood

for the best in academic and spiritual development, cultivating the life skills and self-discipline

students need to meet the challenges of a competitive, fast pace world. The school is under new

leadership, Sr. Cheryl Ann Hillig, DC, who has her Bachelor of Science, Elementary/Special

Education, and a Masters of Science in Administration and Supervision from St. Johns

University in New York.

In June of 2013, the Florida Catholic Conference renewed Saint Peter Claver Schools

official accreditation status. This renewal came after the school completed a two-year school

improvement process culminating in a visit from FCC members to evaluate the schools mission,

staff, instructional program and facilities. The FCC Visiting Team applauded Saint Peter Claver

School for:
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Running head: INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCE

A comprehensive academic program.

Its growth and expansion over the past 4 years

The dedication of the staff to providing a strong academic education

Creating a high culture of expectations for all students

Likewise, the school developed academic goals for the next seven years. These goals

will be reached as dedicated teachers, committed parents, concerned community members, and

responsible students work together for excellence. In addition to the FCC, St. Peter Claver is

also accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The school follows the

curriculum laid out by the Diocese of Savannah, as well as the Georgia Performance Standards.

Entry 1: Units 1-3

Pivotal Events and Experiences

On September 30, I had my first conference call with Dr. Jazzar and Sis. Hillig. I was

excited about my internship placement, but yet nervous about juggling my job along with my

assignments. On the phone, we discussed Specialization Outcomes and Competencies and how

we could find them on the website. Sis. Hillig was concerned about what would be expected of

her as this is her first year at the school and she too was trying to get a feel for the culture of the

school. Dr. J. gave me my approval and wished us both the best and welcomed us to call if we

had any questions are concerns.

Right away, Sis. Hillig and I put together an outline of what I would work on. My first

assignment is to look at the 2014 Terra Nova Test Data to get a breakdown of results by skills in

each subject area. Also, I am to work with Mrs. R and Mrs. Strange because they are teaching
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multi-grade levels. There will be a possibility that I will be able to sit in on a board meeting and

some faculty and staff meetings. She gave me two books, Teach Like A Champion and

Setting Limits in the Classroom to read.

November 16 at 6:30 p.m., I had the opportunity to attend Open House. The students

hosted the event which I thought was great. The students took the parents on a tour of the school

and they served light refreshments. This event was very successful.

I am also working on my Internship Proposal and Plan. This task is getting me familiar

with the Specialization Outcomes and Competencies and allowing me to think about which areas

my activities fit under. This is very helpful to me as I gather information from the teachers and

test data.

Successes and Challenges

On October 24, I received the 2014 test data. I have had success with setting up the

Excel template. I will have a layout of Mastery, Moderate Mastery, and Low Mastery. The

difficult part is going through each childs test results to record the information. I have a feeling

that this is going to take some time to complete. I made a chart in my notebook to star off. I

started with 1st grade and in two hours, I still was not finished recording all of the reading skills.

It will be important that I come up with a different method to collect the numbers, so I am

making tabs in the Spreadsheet to represent each skill. I decided to print it out and now this has

made it easier to collect the information.

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Artifacts

I decided to outline the book, Teach Like a Champion in order to list goals and

strategies that may work for my internship experience. For classroom management, I created an

agenda for a possible professional development.

After meeting with Ms. Milam, the 2nd grade teacher, she addressed her concern about

Social Studies and Science. I have the current curriculum for both subjects. I also met with the

Kindergarten teacher, Ms. Mayo. She had the same issue so I was able to get the curriculum for

social studies and science that I will include in my collection.

Correlation of Artifacts

As I work on my ePortfolio, I am going back into my archive to find previous documents

that define Specialization Outcome 1: Develop curricula reflecting the local philosophy and

mission, professional research, current trends, and community and societal needs. The following

artifacts will be in my portfolio:

PowerPoint Presentation Infinite Possibilities of PLCs

Teaching and Learning Purpose Plan

Parental Apathy Case Study Analysis

Faculty Teamwork Case Study Analysis

Student Success Plan

Transformative Agents of Change

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Vision and Philosophy of Curriculum Development PowerPoint

Entry 2: Units 4-6

Pivotal Events and Experiences

I am still collecting the test data for grades 2 through 8 for the reading skills. As I go

through this notebook, it can be very challenging to keep up with the half- dot being moderate

mastery and the whole-dot being Mastery, so I am having to go back and check my numbers to

make sure that the numbers add up correctly to the number of students in the class. I wish that

this was already in a file on the computer; I could just analyze the data.

I met with Sis. Hillig on Nov. 7th, for a brief moment to discuss my progress. I wanted to

make sure my Excel Spreadsheet was set up correctly and it was. She explained that she is

trying to get in as many teacher observations as possible. She gave me a copy of the teacher

evaluation form she is working on based on The Framework for Teaching Evaluation

Instrument by Charlotte Danielson. The focus area will be Domain 3: Instruction. I am going to

check to see if I can get a copy of this in the Capella Library. Sis. Hillig had me to note that

Faculty meetings are on Tuesdays at 2:15pm-3;30 pm. She will give a date on when I can attend

once she talks to the staff.

Successes and Challenges

Of course my challenge at this point is finishing up the data, but also getting my

ePortfolio together is another challenge. At first, I could not load any documents into my

binders. I figured out that it was my web browser that was the problem. It requires Foxfire and

now I am on my way to getting my ePortfolio ready.

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I completed a report on Closing Student Achievement Gap where I chose to look at the test data

of 1st grade reading and broke it down into subgroups of Black, Hispanic and Males compared to

all of the students in 1st grade. It was very interesting to find that there was a gap between

Blacks and Hispanics. I was able to look at different instructional strategies that may help close

this gap.

Artifacts

I do not have a lot of artifacts at this point. Nov. 2nd, my assignment on Closing the

Achievement Gap will be an artifact that I will include in my ePortfolio. The teacher formal

observation form and evaluation form will be in my binder. My notes from my observation on

November 11th can serve as an artifact.

Correlation of Artifacts

In this unit we are focused on Specialization Outcome 2: Instruct, design, and assess
learning.

I have placed the following items in my ePortfolio:

Key Theorists in Curriculum and Instruction

Assessing and Shifting Educational Paradigm- ED8534

Leading the School: Culture and Effective Instruction- ED7820

Teaching and Learning Purpose Plan-ED8009

Qualitative and Quantitative Research and Data Collection- ED8112

Instructional Practices-ED8009
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Entry 3: Units 7-9

Pivotal Events and Experiences

I had the opportunity to attend an Academic Excellence meeting on Nov. 20. The meeting

focused on ways to improve the culture of St. Peter Claver School. The discussion included

adding more programs as well as more professional development opportunities for teachers. The

committee would like to review the Terra Nova Test results. I stated that I was still working on

the data and hope to have it ready the first week of December. The next meeting is planned for

January 15, 2015.

Successes and Challenges

I finally completed the test data on December 4th. It took 20 hours to date to complete.

Now I am working on analyzing the test data and hope to have feedback from Sis. Hillig. The

big part is completed. My challenge is getting a chance to be on site because of end of the year

meetings at work. Not working at the school, is a big challenge for me at this point because I

feel like I am missing out on opportunities to meet with the students and get insight on their

experiences as students. I would like to visit the after-school program as well, but I do not get

off from work in time. I am so concerned about getting all of my hours. I plan to get more time

on the 17, 18, and 19 of December.

Artifacts

For this part of my internship, I have the data collected for the 2014 Terra Nova and I

also have the Agenda from the Academic Excellence meeting.

Correlation of Artifacts
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Specialization Outcome 3: Lead in curriculum and instruction is the focus for this part of

the internship. I have found the following to be important to addressing this outcome:

Long-term Curriculum Map

Short-term Curriculum Map

Leading the School: Organization, Group Processes, and Learning Resources

In Conclusion, I am anticipating the completion of my internship in a positive way even though

I am not able to be on site. For the second part of my experience, I will again focus on the data

for the Terra Nova Test and help with the curriculum maps.

Resources:

Lemov, D. (2010). Teach Like a Champion: 49 Techniques that Put Students on The Path to

College. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Lemov, D. (2012). Teach Like a Champion Field Guide: A Practical Resource to make the 49

Techniques your own. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Mackenzie, R., & Stanzione, L. (2010). Setting Limits in the Classroom: A Complete Guide to

Effective Classroom Management with a School-wide Discipline Plan. (3rd ed.). New York:

Three Rivers Press