Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Simon Falltermnarrative2015
Simon Falltermnarrative2015
Introduction
This term was a difficult one for me... it took me a long time to get an internship and I still
need to get a lot of required work done. Still, I managed to pick up steam near the end and I
have a few things that I'm really passionate about that will spill over into Spring term.
Learning and Project Plans
I left both my learning plan and all of my project plans undone... I've never been one for
planning when I know exactly what I want to do and now, in order to gain proficiencies for the
work I've done, I need to write up and submit rubrics.
Meeting Learning Standards
Apprenticing- It took me five weeks to get an internship, but luckily I had some hours
logged from the farm-to-school workshop I attended over the summer that made up for most of
those that I missed. When I finally did get settled at ECHO and the SBHS Art Department,
though, I found both experiences to be valuable in their own ways.
Communication- I expressed most of my learning through writing, as I always do, and
created art for my own enjoyment.
Civic & Social Responsibility- I didn't specifically aim for any of these proficiencies this
term, but I did participate in Socratics (especially the discussions).
Reasoning and Problem Solving- I worked for some time on the required science project,
but ultimately ended up scrapping the idea I had been going with, as I hadn't been that
interested in it to begin with. As a result, I didn't gain any proficiencies this term- although I am
taking a stats class at CCV that will net me some of the ones I need.
Personal Development- I didn't aim for any of these proficiencies either, but I took care of
myself as best I knew how (as I always do).
LTI Experience
As mentioned before, it took me five weeks to get an internship. I had a shadow day at
reSOURCE, but the environment that employees created made it hard for me to succeed and I
didn't end up returning. I got an internship all set up with Orchard Vet before finding out that
they were already hosting another intern and I would have to wait until spring. I tried a few other
vets and doggie daycares with no success and ended up going with backup plans I'd had since
last year- ECHO (having already established volunteer positions) and the SBHS art department.
So far my work at ECHO has been all cleaning and feeding the fish, even though I came there
with the idea that I would be working directly with the animals. It's tedious work that I don't feel
particularly fulfilled by, but it gave me much-needed hours and gave me an idea of what working
with wildlife vs. domesticated animals is like. Special care needs to be taken in order to prevent
cross-contamination and the animals are treated more like parts of the exhibit rather than their
independent own being.
I found more success at the SBHS art department. I was assigned on my first day to
repaint a mural of Barack Obama that had been vandalized, and being able to pour an entire
day's worth of effort into a single project was a welcome break from fruitless internship
searching (up to that point). Most of my time was ultimately spent doing watercolors (my
preferred medium) for various other projects, as well as doing drafts for the Cafe 3 mural project
that I'll touch upon later.