POL PREP

I made a meaningful contribution to my workplace during my internship by cleaning the Multimedia room, which was extremely hideous. I also tutored elementary and kindergarten kids, and made posters for the school. Being an intern was a lot of work, and got me prepared for the real workplace, as I was constantly being asked to do things for teachers. I am very nervous for my POL oh goodness what do I do halp

Special Education

Special education has always interested me. But after tutoring a few students here, and working around this general environment, I'm becoming more and more interested in special education. I have a lot of empathy for these kids and I really hope that I make a difference in their education, even if it's the slightest difference. This field seems fairly challenging however, because you have to be extremely patient and sympathetic for all of these students. Hopefully, in the future I can find a career that I enjoy, such as special ed.

Entrance

Even with only around 110 students attending, Balboa City School is a very diverse environment. Unruly kids, special ed kids, and many others attend this school.

Advocacy

I've advocated for myself many times while here. While I ask the staff for help on certain things, I try to complete everything on my own without any help. It may seem simple, but I found the copy machine difficult to work with when it came to complex copies. Instead of asking for help, I just did trial and error and figured out how to work it on my own. The only time that teachers talk to me about what I should do is the first time I talk to them about tutoring certain students. I speak to my mentor when I desperately need to find something to do, but for the most part I only speak to him in the mornings and randomly throughout the day. I seek out work from teachers on my own, asking if I can grade anything, type anything for them, and the like. I like to think that I am very self-advocating because I get all of my work done by myself and basically assign myself work instead of having a solidified assignment each day. I feel much more comfortable being flexible with what I'm supposed to do, choosing what I'd like to work with on my own accord, which makes me feel much more like a staff member, rather than just an intern.

First Day Impressions

Today was my first day working at Balboa City School, and it was a pretty fun day. I arrived at 8:25, and visited my mentor, Andrew Fletcher, the school's student counselor. He had typed up a tutoring schedule for the week for me to follow. Everyday I would tutor a 2nd grader named Seth in 2nd and 4th period, and in 6th and 7th I would help in Laura's class. In the open periods, I was available for anything the rest of the faculty members asked me. In first period I talked with Buffy, the high school's English teacher, who promptly sent me to make some copies of tests for her. Though copying papers may seem like a tedious task, I actually found it pretty fun with all the whirring and beeping and whatnot. When I brought the papers back, she gave me a stack of Of Mice and Men books so I could number the chapters. I quickly finished that, and headed down to the lower school to help tutor Seth. Seth is a rather unruly kid, and is surprisingly rude and defiant to his teacher. Math isn't his strong suit, and is far behind in that subject, which is why I was asked to help. We were able to get through the period with very few problems, and we managed to finish his division classwork, and homework. I think that having someone that isn't and adult helping him with his work is a very good thing. After that, I helped graded some assignments for teachers, which was incredibly tedious. This teacher is assuming I'll be available for her everyday to grade her assignments, which I really, really do not want to do. I want to do something productive, rather than just do the work that the teachers don't want to do. After grading, I returned back to tutor Seth in reading, but everyone was discussing the schools mission statement and talking on how to be a good learner. Lunch came next, I talked with some students and a few teachers and then moved on to tutoring some more kids. The teacher I was assigned to help during 6th and 7th period was gone, so I just tagged along with the P.E. teacher. We walked up to the outskirts of Balboa Park and played a bit of soccer.

Over all, I really like this school and the environment. I respect the goals this school has in helping disabled children to succeed. In order to work here effectively I believe that you must be extremely patient and benevolent towards these kids, and it seems like it would be a very tough job. I'm very excited to work here for the next month.

Mentor Interview

My site visit was today, and my objective was to become oriented with what I was doing, and interview my mentor with a few questions. My mentor is Andrew Fletcher, the counselor at Balboa City School in downtown San Diego.

Owen Jones: Tell me a little about yourself.

Andrew Fletcher: I went to college at The University of Oregon, majoring in psychology. This sparked my interest in the human mind. In college, I was a peer advisor, which made me think about becoming a counselor for my career. After graduating, I moved to San Diego to attend USD for my post-graduate studies. While I was in San Diego, I began interning at public schools.

O: What's a typical day of work like?

A: I meet with each student weekly, so everyday is a little different. I generally stay in my office in between scheduled appointments with students, because students occasionally drop in if they have any problems with class, their peers, and the like.

O: How long have you worked here?

A: I've worked here three years, and I plan on staying for much longer.

O: What kind of personality traits are important to be able to work with Special Ed students?

A: You need to be flexible, helping, caring, patient, caring, open minded, non-judgmental, and empathetic. You cannot be sympathetic though, you have to know what it feels like to be in the students situation, but be able to approach it in a reasonable way.

O: Do you find there to be more rewards rather than just money in this field?

A: Oh, yes, absolutely. I feel as though I make a difference in these students lives and I want to be able to help as well as I can.

O: Thank you for answering my questions.

A: Absolutely.

Blog 1

I'm very excited for my internship at Balboa City School. I will be able to work in a school environment, not as a student, but a member of the faculty. Hopefully, I'll learn some habits that will aid me in the future when I have a job of my own. I'm excited to be working with special ed students, and learning to communicate and befriend them.