Wednesday, March 6, 2019:

Today was my first official day interning, and I could not have been more excited. I was
assigned as a VTfT I intern to Ms. Jennifer Ackley’s fourth grade class at Strawbridge
Elementary School. Ashley and I drove together, of course, and we did struggle to find the main
entrance of the school, but that is typical for the two of us. After checking in with security and
having a few complications finding my way to Ms. Ackley’s room, I was finally able to meet Ms.
Ackley and my students. I felt a bit uncomfortable at first because Ms. Ackley barely greeted me
or introduced me to her class. However, one student immediately ran up to me, gave me a hug,
and said, “Welcome to my class. I hope that you enjoy it here.” Like I previously said, today was
my first day, so I was not quite sure of his name. At first glance, the classroom setting appeared
to be slightly chaotic. Ms. Ackley told me to walk around the class, meet the students, and assist
them as needed, so I did. At this point in the day, they were working on their writing skills. I was
able to meet every student, and I was also able to have a short conversation with each student
about the book that they were writing. Soon before I left, Ms. Ackley began to pull students for
small group reading, and I continued to help students with assignments. All in all, my first day at
internship went well! I look forward to forming relationships with both the students and Ms.
Ackley, as well as growing in my teaching abilities.

Friday, March 8, 2019:

Today was my second day interning. The schedule was a bit wonky today because there was
an assembly for the students who were being inducted into the honor society. Two girls in my
class were going to be inducted, so I was super stoked for them. Ms. Ackley met with me for a
short bit at the beginning of class. She eventually told me that I am interning in a special
education class, and she briefly explained to me the various students and their struggles. In all
honesty, I am so excited to be interning in a special education classroom. I absolutely love
working with students who have disabilities. She also discussed with me my feelings of possibly
beginning to meet with small groups next week. Of course, I was super happy to know that she
trusted me enough to possibly place her students in my care. The majority of the class
consisted of the students independently reading an article and answering comprehension
questions, which was going to eventually be taken as grade. As students raised their hands or
came up to me, I answered their questions and helped them out. I mainly observed Ms. Ackley’s
small group 22in which she was reading the article, questions, and answers to. I was amazed at
how much these students were able to understand the material, when their biggest weakness,
reading, was taken out of the equation. Once the majority of students began to finish their
assessment, I walked around and collaborated with the students about their bare books and
Achieve 3000 articles.

Tuesday, March 12, 2019:

I thoroughly enjoyed interning today! Of course, I was greeted with a hug from Braxton as soon
as I walked through the door. I was briefly introduced to one of Ms. Ackley’s students, Aidan,
who presents as having a disability. I suspect that he has, in fact, been diagnosed with some
form of autism, but I am not entirely sure. It is obvious to me that it is quite challenging for Aidan
to silently and independently stay on task to complete his work. Ms. Ackley personally asked me
at the beginning of class to meet with Aidan and help him cut and glue the story that he typed
up into his bare book. It was challenging for me to keep Aidan on task because his mind was
everywhere, but we eventually completed it. As Aidan cut and glued the strips, I asked that he
read what he wrote to me. I was extremely impressed with his cognitive intelligence. He is one
smart kiddo! With some persistence and patience, I was able to keep Aidan on task to complete
what Ms. Ackley asked of him. At 1:40, Aidan went down to Ms. Whitehead’s room. Ms.
Whitehead is one of the special education teachers at Strawbridge Elementary School, and it is
part of Aidan's daily routine to meet with her at 1:40. For the remainder of my time there, I met
with six other students in the hallway. As Ms. Ackley asked, we read a book about the earth, the
moon, the sun, and the solar system. I encouraged each student to read at least one paragraph
to the group, and we discussed the material as we read.

Thursday, March 14, 2019:

As usual, I was greeted with a hug from Braxton upon my entrance. Not only did I immediately
receive a hug from Braxton, but Aidan also sprinted to me to give me a hug as well. I could tell
that Aidan was extremely excited to work with me today because he had already set up the
materials to work on his bare book with me. I worked with Aidan, as he drew and colored
pictures into his bare book. I genuinely enjoyed the conversations that Aidan and I had about
the story that he wrote and about our personal lives. As the class began to transition into
reading time, I gathered a group of six students to read with me in the courtyard. I had several
students crowded at my legs begging to read with me, but I, unfortunately, had to tell a couple of
them no. Aidan and another special education student, Lucious, had to leave us at 1:40 to go to
Ms. Whitehead’s room. However, everyone, including myself, enjoyed learning outside in
today’s beautiful weather.

Monday, March 18, 2019:

Immediately upon entering the class, Max, another special education student, was in the middle
of a meltdown. Come to find out, Ms. Ackley had kindly asked him to add some color, rewrite a
couple of words that were difficult to read, and add some more details to his bare book. I have
realized that Max is the type of student that has to have it his way or the highway. He obviously
did not like the underlying message that his work did not meet the criteria and expectations. I
took it upon myself to go over to Max and work the situation out with him. He was convinced
that his bare book was “the worst thing in the entire universe” and that it “deserved to be
“incinerated.” I proceeded to ask him what exactly he did not like about his bare book, and I
gave him a list of several things that I would help him do to make him feel better about his work.
He wanted absolutely nothing to do with my advice, nor did he have any interest in fixing the
things that Ms. Ackley told him to fix. Max continued to cry, throw his book on the ground, and
stomp on his book. Because he was being stubborn and was not taking the initiative to work, I
walked away from him and allowed him to work it out himself. Yes, I eventually got my welcome
hug from Braxton. Today is Monday and for some reason, the students seemed to be all out of
sorts. Ms. Ackley eventually gathered all of the students on the carpet and read Chris Van
Allsburg’s ​Two Bad Ants​ to the students. They were supposed to listen out for their vocabulary
words and pay close attention to the story to make inferences throughout the duration of the
book. Upon the begging of multiple students, I took a group of several students out in the
hallway to continue reading last week’s small group book. May I remind you that Braxton
eventually made an effort to approach me and ask me why my face looked “oily and shiny.” He
compared my face to a mirror. Man, children are not afraid to speak their mind! Oh yes, and
Braxton chased me down the hall to give me my goodbye hug.

Wednesday, March 20, 2019:

Unfortunately, Braxton was absent today, so I did not receive an abundance of hugs from him.
Upon entering the classroom, the class was in the middle of their sustained silent reading
session, so I sat quietly at the front of the classroom. Eventually, the class transitioned into their
writing time. Today was their last day to work on their bare books because they are being put on
display at Young Author Night this evening. I was happy to help AB finish up illustrating his last
couple of pictures in his book. He, Ms. Ackley, and I were all excited that he completed his bare
book. Several other students had yet to complete their books, so I walked around and assisted
as needed. For the last few minutes of class, I assisted in coordinating the centers activities. I
specifically met with the green group out in the hallway. They were required to read pages
48-52 in their social studies textbook, answer the questions on Schoology, and submit the
activity. I made a point to keep the students on task, answer their questions, and assist them as
needed.

Friday, March 22, 2019:

As I arrived, Ms. Ackley was in the process of transitioning the class into a testing environment
to administer a reading assessment. Several students have special accommodations to have
their assessments read to them. I took RJ out in the courtyard to administer the assessment to
him. I read the article, the questions, and the answer choices to him. When RJ’s learning
disability was taken out of the equation, I found it amazing to see how exceptionally smart he is.
Afterwards, I met in the hallway with Luc to listen to him read to me. He recently purchased a
comic book from the book fair that he was excited to read to me. A couple of sentences in, it
was apparent to me that Luc is dyslexic. In situations such as these, I am concerned about why
a student is reading a comic book. I noticed that books, such as this one, have an abundance of
challenging, made up words. In my opinion, it is crucial that the student master the basic, on
level skills first, before reading such a nonsense book. However, I willfully listened to his
reading, and I assisted as needed. For the remainder of the class, I helped Brody complete his
vocabulary assignment from Two Bad Ants. Oh yes, and Braxton gave me lots and lots of hugs
today.

Tuesday, March 26, 2019:

Soon after my entrance, Ms. Ackley began transitioning the class into a writing lesson. Ms.
Ackley introduced the big idea of persuading the audience through their writing. The students
were provided with two examples of persuasive writing, both of which were written by students.
One article argued for zoos, and the other article argued against zoos. The articles were
displayed on the Promethean board. As the articles were read aloud, the students raised their
hands to point out specific words or phrases that appeared to be “persuasive” to them. As these
words and phrases were pointed out, they were then highlighted on the students’ papers and on
the board. AB had a difficult time focusing, so I mainly sat by him to keep him on task. In the
next couple of weeks, the students will be writing their own persuasive essays on a topic of their
choice. For the remainder of the class, the students finished activities that were assigned in
previous days from centers, and Ms. Ackley met with small groups. I mainly walked around the
room and helped students as needed. My little friend, Max, ended up having a meltdown
because his P.E. teacher limited his volunteer work with the younger grade levels during their
P.E. period to one day a week. I found myself dealing with this situation, while Ms. Ackley
ignored it. I am not sure if this was because she trusted that I had it under control or if she really
felt that ignoring it was the best option. In anycase, I handled it by myself and did not receive
further feedback from her regarding the situation. I also attempted to discuss with her a concrete
plan to create and deliver my lesson plan that is due next Friday, April 5, 2019. She basically
told me to do whatever I want to do, so that was not much help at all. I struggle sometimes to
get an accurate read on how Ms. Ackley operates. On the other hand, I have absolutely fallen in
love with Aidan Blair. Although highlighters are not good for the body, his highlighted tongue
was so good for my soul. Thinking that it would be alright, I had taken my eyes off of AB to tend
to another student. I soon find AB tapping my leg with excitement, saying, “Ms. Emma, Ms.
Emma, Ms. Emma!” I tended to his exited call of my name, and he said, “Is my tongue orange? I
accidentally colored it.” This kid never fails to bring joy to my day.

Tuesday, April 2, 2019:

Lately, I have begun to feel more like a babysitter than an intern. I often find myself receiving
very little input and direction from Ms. Ackley. Unfortunately, she has not given me much
guidance or advice, and she rarely communicates with me. I have tried to initiate conversations
with her on multiple accounts, but it is quite difficult to get much response or feedback from her.
I have especially tried to talk with her about her ideas relating to a specific subject and topic
that I should plan a lesson on, but she continuously tells me to “do whatever I want to do.” I find
this frustrating because I feel that she should be providing me with more direction than what she
is, especially because I have not done this before. During the time that I am in the classroom,
the students are typically silently reading, working on an Achieve 3000, working on a writing
assignment, finishing late work, or meeting in a small group with her. This leaves me quite
confused as to what parts of the curriculum they have covered, are working on covering, and
have not yet covered. Being informed of some of this is necessary in order to create a
meaningful lesson. Therefore, I do not necessarily want to present my lesson to the class.
Until he was pulled out to go to speech, I worked with AB on a math assignment of his for a
short while. As usual, I walked around the classroom, and I checked in with a few students and
helped them out as it was needed. I fulfilled the school counselor position this afternoon. I think
that I am pretty good at it, if I do say so myself...thanks, Momma! Max expressed to me that he
hates himself, and he feels like everyone hates him. At first, I did not feel suited to carry out this
conversation with him, so I suggested that he go and talk to the school counselor. However,
Max did not like this idea, and he assured me that he wanted to talk to me about it. My
conversation with Max seemed to be quite influential on him, so I am looking forward to
checking in with him on Thursday. Towards the end of my time today, I ended up getting a nose
bleed due to the acne medication that I am taking. I found it quite amusing at how many of my
students freaked out and wanted to help me. My friend, Braxton, screamed, “MS. EMMA, YOUR
NOSE IS BLEEDING! I NEED TO TAKE YOU TO THE NURSE, SO SHE CAN TAKE YOU TO
THE HOSPITAL! YOU ARE GOING TO DIE!” I ended up going to the bathroom to get it under
control, but it was quite funny to see their reactions.

Thursday, April 4, 2019:

For the entirety of my time at internship today, the students took a science assessment on
SchoolNet. Ms. Ackley did not necessarily have anything prepared for me to do, so she
apologized for it being a boring day. Because I paced around the classroom for an hour, I was
able to reach my daily goal of 10,000 steps. A student of Ms. Ackley, one who I have never met
before, entered the classroom towards the end of my time at internship. Brielle has cerebral
palsy, and she is unable to talk partly due to her trach. Because she is nonverbal, she uses a
program on her iPad to type what she wants to say. She either shows the other person what
she typed, or she presses a button for the computer to read her thoughts aloud. Although this
goes against my morals about students constantly being wired into a piece of technology, I
found this program to be amazing! I was so happy to see that Brielle was still able to
communicate what she wished that she could say. Within seconds, I instantly sensed a
connection with her. She waved me over, and introduced herself as DW on her iPad program.
She did, in fact, introduce herself as someone different every time she introduced herself to
another individual. Brielle is a hoot, and she has quite the sense of humor. I told her that it was
time for her to get off of the couch to go back to the table to complete her assessment.
Hilariously enough, she typed on her iPad, “I have a great idea. I think that you should bring me
my Chromebook, and I will do it right here.” I was amazed at how well the other students
interacted with her; the majority of them seemed to be accepting of her. I found myself wanting
to hang around Brielle for quite some time: she is such a sweet girl.

Monday, April 8, 2019:

Ashley and I went to internship a bit early today, so we could leave earlier to get back to LHS for
an AP chemistry study session. When I got there, the students were silently reading, while Ms.
Ackley worked with four of the boys, all of which are regularly pulled out of class to go to Ms.
Whitehead’s room, on an article and questions to prepare them for their reading SOL. In days
past, I do not recall seeing Ms. Ackley leave her small reading group very often. However, today
I actually got to observe her out of that location, and she interacted with the students away from
the group table. The topic that she taught was ABC order. The students all received two index
cards, and they were instructed to all gather on the carpet in groups of five or six. They were
asked to write a word that starts with the letter B on one index card and write a word that starts
with the letter T on the other index card. With their group, they were supposed to alphabetize
the words that started with the letter B and alphabetize the words that started with the letter T.
Eventually, groups began to merge, challenging the students to alphabetize more words. For
the remainder of my time in the classroom today, I basically observed the students do their
centers activities. I tried my best to interact with the students without distracting them, and they
always know that they can come to me if they need assistance with their work. I asked Ms.
Ackley if there was anything that I could do, and she told me no. She said that she scheduled
the students to take their reading benchmark during the time that I will be here on Wednesday,
so I was told to bring homework to work on. Sometimes my experience is disappointing. I hear
about my peers having such amazing opportunities and interactions with their cooperating
teachers, yet I often leave feeling like Ms. Ackley doesn’t have much interest in me being there.
I hope this isn’t the case; however, it’s hard not to feel that way.

Wednesday, April 11, 2019:

The students took their reading assessment during my time in the classroom today. I used my
time wisely to finish my ten dialectical journals that are due to Mrs. Fok tomorrow.

Wednesday, April 24, 2019:

Today was my first day back in the classroom since spring break! I definitely feel for Ms. Ackley
and all of the other teachers across Virginia Beach because those students were bouncing off of
the walls. Ms. Ackley was in a meeting during the duration of my time at Strawbridge today.
While the majority of the students were independently reading an article and answering
questions that corresponded to the article, I worked alongside Aidan in the hallway. In situations
such as this one, my main focus is to keep him on task. Aidan is exceptionally intelligent;
however, he gets off of task easily. Towards the end of my time with Aidan, he ended up going
to the nurse because he supposedly did not feel good, so I joined the rest of the class. The
substitute was going over the answers to the multiple choice questions. I observed her
techniques that she used to keep the students engaged, and I was quite impressed. When it is
time for me to leave, more and more students get sadder and sadder.

Friday, April 26, 2019:

Ashley and I arrived at Strawbridge Elementary School quite early today. We anticipated the
traffic to be a lot worse because this afternoon marked the beginning of Pharrell’s music festival.
Neither of us arrived at Strawbridge knowing that our fourth graders were on a field trip at Plaza
Middle School’s planetarium. While waiting for our students to come back, we watched the
humongous storm roll in. Once my class arrived back at school, I chatted with my students while
they were eating their lunch, which ended up being what I did for the entirety of my time on
internship today. Not many students seemed to be impressed with the planetarium, as I am sure
that I would not be either. A few girls told me that they fell asleep during the presentation; a lot
of students told me that they already knew about all of the information that was presented, so
props to you, Ms. Ackley. The city of Virginia Beach was on severe weather warnings and
watches at this point in time, so a lot of my students were going bonkers about the weather.
Aidan Blair thought that it would be a brilliant idea to coax the class into believing that a tornado
was coming, so that freaked a lot of them out. My time on internship is beginning to slowly come
to an end, and I do not want to leave my students!

Tuesday, April 30, 2019:

Ms. Ackley’s students are currently preparing for the SOLs that they will be taking in two weeks.
When I entered the classroom, the students were reading an article and answering
comprehension questions regarding the article. This activity gave the students the opportunity to
exercise their test taking strategies and practice their comprehension skills. For the duration of
my time spent at Strawbridge, Ms. Ackley reviewed the passage, the questions, and the correct
answer choices with the class. For each question, students raised their hands and provided
their selected answer choice. It was interesting that the students were able to identify the
important parts of the questions. When students provided their selected answer choice to the
class, they were required by Ms. Ackley and I to refer to the article and provide textual evidence
to support their answer choice. I am very proud of my students’ performance, and I am wishing
them the best of luck on their SOLs!

Thursday, May 2, 2019:

During sustained silent reading time, Aidan and I took a book outside to the courtyard to read
together. It was such a beautiful day out today, and having AB by my side made it even more
beautiful. He is an absolute sweetheart. Ms. Ackley also assigned the students another article to
read and answer questions about. Today’s article was about bones, and I led Aidan in
completing this assignment. I am not sure how much he took away from this activity because he
was preoccupied with going to the nurse’s office to get more calamine lotion applied to his
mosquito bite. However, Aidan does seem to soak up a lot of information without being fully
invested in the activity, conversation, or lecture. Ms. Ackley conducted a similar structured
review of the article as she did last time. As the students started to transition into their centers
activities, I was headed out of the door. I did have a good conversation towards the end of my
time with Cole and Rylee about the importance of taxes.

Monday, May 6, 2019:

I went to Strawbridge today not feeling very well. I was extremely dizzy, and I had tunnel vision,
which eventually led to a killer migraine. Aidan Blair still managed to crack a few funny jokes,
which made me feel a bit better. The students were silently reading when I entered the
classroom. Aidan was sprawled out on the couch, and he immediately called me over to read
with him. He was fidgeting around with a rubik’s cube while reading, and he eventually asked
me to solve it for him. I tried my best, but I have never been able to solve them. Ms. Ackley
reviewed yesterday’s article with the class. The students answered the questions, and those
who answered were encouraged to explain why they chose the answer choice that they did by
backing it up with evidence from the article. I joined a group in they library’s book nook, as they
read today’s article about elephants and answered the corresponding questions.

Wednesday, May 8, 2019:

Aidan and Luc were on their hands and knees begging to read with my this afternoon, so I took
them out in the hallway to read with me. I am a big fan of the program that several students in
my class use on their Chromebooks to read, TumbleBooks. Because this program uses a
karaoke-style read along, I find it to be especially beneficial to students who have a reading
disability. Ms. Ackley is wrapping up the science unit this week. The students enjoy watching
science experiments in space, so Ms. Ackley was showing several YouTube videos of
experiments done on the International Space Station. I enjoyed seeing how excited the students
got over the outcome of the experiments, they’re so innocent!

Friday, May 10, 2019:

I was absent from 4A today.

Tuesday, May 14, 2019:

To introduce my second lesson, I presented my Google Slides, and the students played the
Kahoot that I created. I hope to finish the planned activities on Thursday. The fourth grade
students will be taking the reading SOL on Thursday, May 16, 2019. For today and tomorrow,
Ms. Ackley planned several reading activities for the students to complete at “Camp Read
S’more.” The room was extravagantly decorated to evoke a sense that the students were at
“camp.” Each student was placed into one of six groups, and each group had its own color
theme. Ms. Ackley assigned the students several articles to read with their groups, and they
were about s’mores. The students were required to work together with their group and answer
comprehension questions about the article. The six groups were competing against each other
to earn the most points, and points could be earned through answering correctly, respect,
coraperation, and active participation. As the students were working on these activities, I
assisted several groups with their work. I am looking forward to finishing up my lesson with my
students on Thursday, but I am upset to leave them!

Thursday, May 16, 2019:

Today is the day that I have been dreading since Wednesday, March 6, 2019, my final day as a
VTfT I intern. Today’s schedule was a bit wonky because the fourth grade students were SOL
testing all morning, so I wrapped up my lesson that I started on Tuesday. I had taken my
students outside for their mind to be sparked with some ideas to include in their haiku. I was
proud to see that my students retained the material that was taught to them on Tuesday. The
students were extremely excited about their work, so I often looked down to several students at
my legs begging for my approval. Other students needed some assistance counting out the
syllables to include in their haiku, so I also went around to assist them with that. Because we
were cutting it close on time, the students were given the option to present their haiku to the
class. In celebration of an amazing experience, the students and I enjoyed popsicles in the
courtyard together. I will definitely miss my students, but I look forward to my experience as a
VTfT II intern next year.