I dont think I could have gotten paired with a better mentor for this internship.

Dyans
philosophy of inclusion and social awareness was directly in line with my ownand on top of
that, she shared my interest in fiction and narrative. Nevertheless, its interesting to look back at
some of my earlier journal entries and reflect on my own lack of surety those first few weeks.
On the first day, I was so concerned with the etiquette of coming into the classroom and
taking a seat. I felt a bit like an interlopernot just to the students, but to Dyan, too. How would
I feel if there was a stranger who insisted on sitting in on my class and observing? Now, of
course, I would be welcomingas was Dyan. Ive seen first hand how the actual in-class
experience provided by the internship was by far the most practically helpful part of this summer
training session. Without it, Im sure I would still feel the sort of unease I felt on my very first
day of the internship when I go into my first day of class as the actual teacher. But as I continued
to go, to get to know Dyan, and to learn more about the students themselves, I grew increasingly
more comfortable. I was so unsure at first if the students even remembered who I was, but by the
end, I felt like I had played a role in their class and genuinely contributed to what they might take
away from this section of 1101.
A lot of this is surely because of the atmosphere that Dyan set up from the very beginning
of her section. On her first dayand she always does thisshe tells all her students that this is a
class where participation is necessary. Thats not a threat, though, but works as an encouraging
notion as she continuously worked hard to encourage students to speak up and share their
thoughts and work, through exercises and through class discussion at large. After her example, I
learned some practical ways to keep a dialogue going and how to balance teacher input with
keeping the floor open for discussion from the students themselves. The most amazing part was
how after Dyan established the groundwork for discussion, the class followed through and

continuously exceeded her expectations. There were only a few students who never spoke up,
and almost every day 99% of the class would actively participate in discussion with one another
in a productive and respectful way.
That said, I do still wonder what I might do with those few students who refused to
participate. Sure, there was one or two who were clearly just very shywhich I can
understandbut then there were the select few who openly showed disregard and disrespect by
being on their phones throughout the class period. Of course you can tell the student to put the
phone away, or take points away if participation is built into the grading scheme (as it was in
Dyans class). But all that feels so punitiveand while it might be necessary, it probably wont
get the student to really focus and engage with the class.
Dyan, in general, dealt with this tactfullyby specifically addressing the few who acted
this way in a polite but firm way. The day I taught on my own, though, I was less comfortable
addressing these sorts of problems. I imagine when I have my own class and rapport set up with
parameters and expectations instilled by myself, I wont have these kinds of qualms, butas
someone who loves to learnit was still disheartening to see that one student who refused to
make the most of his time in the classroom.
Still, the most starling thing I learned from the internship was how challenging grading
papers actually is. Yes, there is the fact that it is quite time consuming. More importantly,
though, it was startling to feel how much responsibility the teacher has over the student. Prior to
this experience, I might have said grading would be easy and pretty perfunctorybut now I see
it as ultimately a reflection on your effectiveness as a teacher. In my own class, I will be sure to
give a great deal of attention to assignment prompts themselves, to be as clear and concise s
possible.

I will be sure to keep this all in mind, and everything else I learned from my experience
with Dyan as I begin to actually teach my own classes. The internship was most definitely a
necessary component to the summer training, and one that I feel really prepared me for the daily
practicalities of running a classroom.