This was my second week of my internship at Virginia Beach Middle School.

This week
started with reading A Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe. The gifted specialist Ms. Mallkowski
joined the zoom meeting that day to help with this lesson. We used another Pear Deck, and Ms.
Horner, Ms. Mallkowski, and I would take turns reading sections of the story. After each section
students would respond to questions about A Tell Tale Heart. The pear deck is interactive, and it
allowed the students to draw pictures and type to answer the questions, which was good because
the students got to use their creativity. While we were going through the pear deck, we did have a
technical difficulty when Ms. Horner’s computer restarted without warning, and she had to leave
the zoom meeting. Even though Ms. Mallkowski and I could not show the last couple slides of
the pear deck, we continued to read the story out loud, and then instead of the students answering
the questions in the pear deck we had them answer in the zoom chat. Even though we were
presented with this issue, we were able to still teach the lesson. This was a very good experience
because with online school, technology can cause many problems, and learning how to continue
the lesson even when the technology is not working is a very important skill. Ms. Horner asked
me to take charge of the lesson the next day, which was a goose chase on Edgar Allen Poe. The
night before, I pre created teams, and I went on Zoom to learn how to screen share. I also went
on my chromebook, and figured out how to play the goose chase app on a chromebook, since the
last time we did a goose chase, the students without phones could not participate. The next day in
class, I was able to screen share, and show the students how to download goose chase on their
chromebooks. They each joined the team that I had assigned them, and then completed the goose
chase. The goose chase went very well, with no technology issues. The students all gave really
good responses, and worked very well together. Goose Chase has been one of my favorite
programs that I have used this year on my internship, because it allows students to be interactive
and work collaboratively. Thursday was the day that the students started taking their English 3
Writing Local Performance Assessment. We started off the class with a review Kahoot on
persuasive writing, and grammar. After the students finished the kahoot, it was time to start their
writing assessment. Ms. Horner and I instructed all of the students to close all of their tabs,
except for the assessment, and then they could start writing. The test is 4 days long, so for their
first day they each picked the prompt they wanted to write about and then they started
brainstorming. While the students were taking their test, Ms. Horner showed me how to use
Securely, a program where the teacher can see each student’s screen live, and see what they are
typing. The student’s screens needed to be monitored at all times to make sure that there was no
cheating on this writing assessment. Ms. Horner let me monitor all the students so that I could
learn about securly, and have experience using it, since it is such an important program to use
during online learning. Thursday also happened to be my 18th birthday, Ms.Horner and the
students surprised me with flowers, and a card. It was extremely sweet, and made my day.
Things like that are one of the main reasons I wanted to become a teacher in the first place, the
relationships you build with students is extremely important, and makes a real difference. I am
extremely grateful to my class, they made my 18th birthday extra special, and I am so glad that I
get to intern with Ms. Horner and her class! On Friday I was at Cox High School, instead of at
my internship, because I was preparing for the Educators Rising competition. I competed in the
job interview portion. I prepared a cover letter and resume, and had multiple practice interviews
with administrators at my school. Competing was so much fun, and I learned so much about
what to do and say at an interview, which will definitely be something that I will use when I am
applying for a real teaching position after college. This week was so much fun, and I cannot wait
to continue my internship!