Blog # 1 - My Workplace

My Workplace Is called Bret Harte . It is a middle school that teaches students between grades 7th through 8th. Bret Harte is a medium sized business, located in Hayward California On E st. Its painted blue , filled with hundreds of kids, and has many pieces of student art located on the inside walls. About 20 to 25 staff members work at Bret Harte . My worksite employs Teachers, Counselors, Tutors , Security and other people who help run the school such as the principal and vice principal . Most of the people at the school have attended college for 4 years , and eventually decided that they wanted to work as teachers. One teacher who I met is currently going back to school to receive her masters degree. My workplace serves a purpose to educate kids with important information to help them in school, in the future , and to teach them helpful skills that they will need in life. My Workplace also gives students the opportunity to play sports and join after school clubs that can help them with their homework and stay focussed for school.  The strengths of my workplace include its ability to help kids improve certain skills that they struggle with , such as reading and writing. The weaknesses of my workplace include its inability to effectively control a large group of kids , and help every single student stay on track and remain out of trouble. A lot of students at Bret Harte Middle school are on task most of time but a large amount are unfocussed , struggling in class, and are always in trouble. I hope that during my internship at Bret Harte I can help the school by working with students who tend to have the most trouble being on their best behavior .

Blog # 2 - My Mentor

My mentor's name is Kristian Hinz. His job involves teaching 7th grade students Social Studies and 8th grade students World History. A typical day for my mentor involves him teaching from 8:15 a.m. to about 2:15 p.m. After he is done teaching , he helps clean up the school's garden , which he helped build . Some days after class is over he will spend his time grading papers and filling in student's grades or attending staff meetings. On days that he does not have staff meetings, he will hold detention in his room and will monitor students who have received detentions for being tardy . My mentor became interested in teaching because he wanted to help motivate kids to work their hardest and he wanted to have the opportunity to teach students about important things in life that can be useful . He chose to work with middle school students because he felt that it's important to teach students useful skills before they enter high-school. He also thought that it would be easier to teach middle school students because in his opinion they are more mature than elementary students and more calm than high-school students. Also, a lot of students enter high-school unfocussed or unprepared, so Mr.Hinz thought it would be most effective to teach students before they actually enter high-school. In order for him to become a teacher , my mentor needed to graduate from high school and college ,and receive his teaching credential. Becoming a teacher also required him to have patience and the ability to counsel and help students when they struggle with certain things inside the classroom. According to him , one of the most important things that you have to do in order to be a successful teacher is "You have to love teaching and love being around people. Otherwise you'll want to give up or will be miserable everyday that you come to work".

Blog # 3 - My Role

My main responsibility at my work site involves working with a kids. I'm a mentor for the students at Bret Harte Middle school. I Mediate conflicts that students have with each other , inside classrooms , and help them with other things that they struggle with while at school. I also help students with their classwork and homework after school. On my last visit at Bret Harte I watched a teacher's classroom and monitored the kids while she met with a parent. It gave me the opportunity to meet other kids and learn more about what their assignments required them to do. Each week, the types of tasks that I complete typically involve working with student's in my mentor's class and other students outside of his classroom. My mentor asks me to a variety of things whenever I'm at my worksite. On my most recent visit he asked to participate in the classroom lesson with the other students and help explain it to them because a lot of them were struggling. Then I helped him print about 300 papers and staple packets together that were going to be handed out to the students to complete. On a typical day at work, I arrive at 9:30a.m. , greet students and work the student's who are in Mr.Hinz's first block. Some days I am asked to work with a specific student or visit another classroom by mentor. Other days I am asked to help put in grades and help students get a better understanding of what they are learning while Mr.Hinz is teaching. During the lunch hour, I buy my lunch at the school and eat and talk with different students. After lunch , it is 5th period , which is my mentor's last teaching period. During this period there is usually a group of students who have gotten into a conflict during lunch. Last tuesday , there was a group of students who had gotten into an argument over lip-stick , but after I spoke with them they were able to settle their differences. 

Blog # 4 - Project Brainstorm

My experience at Bret Harte middle school has been amazing. I love working with the kids and giving them advice about how to overcome the challenges that they face. I want my WLE project to be focussed around the kids because I want them to benefit from it the most. I am thinking about putting together a school assembly with other interns at Bret Harte that teaches kids about important things that should be focussed on in school and important skills that they should practice. A lot of the students at Bret Harte are unfocussed and are at times extremely off task. However, when I talk to them , they always accept my feedback and a lot of them show me that they really appreciate it. I am also thinking about creating a pamphlet for the students that will go onto Bret Harte's "College Wall" and will also be given to students who request it. I don't want it to be a large pamphlet because I want it to be something that they will actually read and will be able to carry around in their pockets. The pamphlet will also give advice to students about important things that they should practice and important tips for school , similar to the school assembly. I am also thinking about creating a girls group. This group will help me talk to girls and give them the opportunity to express themselves and share personal stories or ask for advice . I want to be someone that the girls feel like they can talk to. I came up with these three ideas for this project because I wanted to do something for the student's that will be valuable for them and that they will remember after I leave , and even in the future. I am planning my project with my mentor. I am excited to do this project for the next 4 weeks because I love the student's at Bret Harte and I love helping them. It's something that I feel like I'm obligated to do. No one really talked to me or gave me advice while I was in middle school other than my mother, and it would have been useful having a mentor/ counselor that I could have received advice from. I know that there are a lot of young girls at Bret Harte that would appreciate having someone to talk to , since there aren't really any counselors at the school. In order to finish my project in the next 3-4 weeks I need to talk to my advisor and my mentor about my ideas , plan out each idea so that I can get a better idea of how I will do it, Ask the school for permission (for the assembly) , and ask the students about things that they would like to do with me that they will benefit from. I also plan on sharing some of my ideas with a few students next week to receive their feedback on them and to help get a better understanding of how much they will like my ideas. 

Blog # 5 - WLE Project Progress

Walking into my Internship felt different today. My mentor was in an all day meeting, and was unfortunately absent from his classroom. The principle , Mrs.Davis, was helping to sub the classroom along with another teacher. When I walked in, students were writing down ten facts about themselves and then creating  paragraphs that included all of the information , and presenting them to the class. Today , we learned how to analyze data and model it on graphs. I created model graphs for students to help teach them how to correctly graph their information. I also talked with a lot of young girls and mediated several conflicts between students and their friends/ other students. Because I wasn't really able to speak with Mr.Hinz about my project, I spoke with Ms.Tracy, who is a counselor at the school and who also plans on being involved in my project. We discussed how on my next trip to Bret Harte, we are going to meet with several different girls who will be involved in the "Girls" group that I am starting. Our first meeting with the girls will be the launch of my project , and I plan on setting up a schedule that outlines when and where the girls and I will meet on Tuesdays. So far I've been able to talk about my project with other staff members at the school and gain their support. I also mentioned it to a few students yesterday, which helped me conclude that students actually want to participate in the group that I am creating. I was glad that I was able to talk with Ms.Tracy yesterday about starting my project. Next week, I plan on speaking with Mr.Hinz and informing him about my plan to launch my project next Tuesday and what I've officially decided that my project will be. I am really anxious to start the "Girls" group and have the opportunity to talk with the girls and listen to them as they express themselves and their feelings about the different things that they deal with.

Blog # 6 - Leadership Skills

Everyday that I walk into my internship I look forward to working with the students. I do a variety of different things each time I visit , and practice a lot of the skills that I am taught at Impact. The leadership skill that I use the most while I'm at my internship is Thinking Critically. I am constantly trying to help students solve their problems and find solutions for them so that they can focus on other important things. For example , I mediate a lot of conflicts and counsel a lot of students while I am working. This requires critical thinking because I have to figure out what the students did wrong , why they really did it and how they can fix it. My job also requires me to think critically because I have to break down my ideas / solutions to student problems in terms that the students will understand . In my opinion , I am using my leadership skill very well. Several students  have walked up to me while I am at my worksite and have said , "Wow you give really good advice" and even thank me and tell me how my advice has helped them. I use critical thinking to help students figure out reasonable solutions for the problems/ challenges that they face . When students thank me for meeting with them and counseling them it shows me how well I have done my job. I can improve my critical thinking by using it in everything that I do at Bret Harte. The more I practice using this skill, the better I will become at using it. I can do this by using it more when I am working with students inside of classrooms to help explain/interpret information for them. I can also give them reasons why certain things are important and help them connect issues that we discuss inside the classroom to their own lives. Critical thinking helps me to do my work because it allows me to analyze the actions of the students who I am around, understand them better, and give them advice on things that they can do to make themselves better. My mentor practices Critical Thinking and Communicating Powerfully a lot. He lectures students a lot during the day about historical topics, and explains to students why these historical issues are important . His job as a teacher is an example of communicating powerfully because he is trying to convince/ help students understand important issues by speaking with them and having class discussions with them. His job also requires him to use Critical Thinking a lot because he has to figure out what students are good at, what they are bad at , what they need the most help understanding, how he can break down important topics into terms that they understand, and how he can help them make connections with the different things that they learn. I hope to improve my ability to Think Critically as I continue to work with students in the "Girls" group at Bret Harte and other students who I work with around the school. 

Blog # 7 : Reflection

After working at Bret Harte over the past several weeks I have learned many different things about myself. One of the most important things that I have learned is that I love being around kids. I love working with kids and helping them accomplish goals that they wish to achieve. I also love helping kids with challenges that they face and helping them become more confident in themselves. I've also learned that I'm a good listener and I am very patient. My job as a counselor at Bret Harte required me to listen carefully to students as they speak in order to help them find the best solution for whatever problem that they face. Also, working with kids taught me that I am very patient because several times while I was working with students I had to wait for them to get on task, stop talking, stop being disrespectful , or  listen to me. Being Patient is what prevented me from becoming easily upset with the kids , and instead I would wait for them to do what they were suppose to be doing. One challenge that I faced during my WLE was starting the Girls Group. It was hard to get the group together in the beginning because a lot of people who said that they wanted to do it didn't show up, and a lot of students were confused about when and where the group would meet on Tuesdays. It was also hard for me to keep up with all of the girls after our first meeting in order to tell them when and where our next meeting would be. From my experience working at Bret Harte, I learned that it is important to have someone that you can talk to. A lot of students often need someone that can sit down with them and listen to their problems and give them advice about what they should do. One life lesson that I learned is that the more you express yourself and practice positive behaviors, the better of a person you will become. Holding things in and letting your anger build up only contributes to poor behavior , inside and outside of school. My Creativity was put to use during this experience because I had to come up with a creative project plan, which is the Girls Group, and a creative name for my group. The Name Of My Group Is G.I.G Which Stands for Gifts In Girls.  One of the main purposes of this group was to bring out the gifts in girls and to help them overcome the negative obstacles that they face. My WLE affected me because it made me realize that when I get older, I may actually really enjoy working with kids. It is something that I truly love to do and I am inspired to continue to work with kids in the future. My WLE affected the students who I worked with because it allowed them to have a counselor and someone that they could talk to about anything with. I believe that working with kids or teaching is very important because students need guidance . They need help in order to grow and become better people. They can't do it by themselves and need someone who will support them and help them be successful. If someone were to ask me why what I did at my WLE was important I would say that it was important because it is something that the students and I can benefit from in the long run. I can benefit from this in the future because it taught me different things about myself , such as the fact that I have the ability to work really well with younger kids. The students can benefit from my experience because they can continue to use the advice that I gave them and the skills that I taught them throughout the rest of their lives. The things that I have learned from my WLE Will affect my choices in the future because I have learned that it is important to set an example. There is always someone watching and there is always someone who is waiting for you to make a move so you always want to make sure that it is the best move. In the future, my choices will be more positive than negative because I want to set a good example for people and I want to be able to tell people my story and how my good actions helped me reach success. 

Blog # 8 - Professionalism

Several weeks ago I began the process of looking for my WLE. It wasn’t too stressful for me because I already had an idea in mind of where I wanted to work. Eventually, I chose Bret Harte Middle School as my WLE. It didn’t take a lot of work for me to find my WLE because I used to attend this school when I was in middle school. Also, the principle had requested that I do my volunteer work at the school during one of my visits to Bret Harte during my Sophomore year. In order to get hired, I had to decide which teacher I was going to work with and check in with that teacher to make sure that I had permission to work with them. I decided which teacher I wanted to work with based off of the relationships that I had with the teachers in the past when I attended Bret Harte. I'm more familiar with some of them because they were my actual teachers while others were just teachers that I had met throughout my time at the school. I also based my decision off of which subjects I am interested in the most. The teacher who I chose to work with teaches History, which is one of my favorite subjects. I also called this teacher ahead of time and told him about what I was looking for and how it was required for my school. I spoke with my mentor on the phone in early September for about half an hour telling him about everything that I planned to do for my WLE. In the end, my mentor told me that I was hired. He was excited to work with me and was looking forward to having me inside of his classroom to work with him and his students. The most effective way to look for a job is to first figure out what you are most interested in. Once this is done, you should then research or look for places that fit your interest.  If there are no places available, choose something else that you are interested in and repeat the process. You shouldn’t look for random places or explore places that you aren’t interested in at all. If you are not already familiar with your workplace before you attempt to work there, the best way to get hired is to call them ahead of time. Calling jobs ahead of time gives them time to think about whether they want to hire you or not. Plus, it puts you ahead because all of the people who want to work at the same place as you may get in contact with the workplace after you have already made your call. You can benefit from this because it means that you could get hired and others don’t because your internship was planned ahead of time and was not last minute. As a result of my WLE, I think being a professional adult in the work world means staying on task at all times while you are at work, and working hard and doing your best at your job. It also means showing up to work on time or at the time that you have scheduled. Plus, it means making sure that you do everything that you are required to do at your job everyday. Being a responsible adult In the work world means taking responsibility for your actions when you make mistakes or do something wrong while you are working. For example, not making excuses for yourself when you know that you have done something wrong, such as showing up to work to late. If you know that you are going to be late, or miss an important event it would be best to let your boss or the people who you work with know ahead of time. You have to be responsible for your actions and try your best to resolve every conflict or challenge that you face. 

Blog # 9 - Life At My WLE

Walking into my internship today felt very different from any other day. Today is the day that I presented my WLE keynote to my advisor and my mentor. I was nervous because I didn't know if I was going to pass and I wanted everything to be perfect. I struggled getting feedback from my advisor on my keynote the previous night so I wasn't convinced that my presentation would be excellent. I arrived at the school around 9:30AM and started my day off by mentoring students who had gotten into trouble inside class. Then, I worked inside of Mr.Hinz's classroom with his students until it was lunch time. During lunch, I met with my girls group, which is when I told them that within the next week , my internship would be ending. A lot of the girls were shocked and unhappy but I reminded them that I planned to continue meeting with them even after my internship ended. After lunch, I practiced my WLE keynote presentation and worked with students in Mr.Hinz's 5th period class. Around 2:15PM my advisor arrived at the school, which was my signal to prepare to present. My presentation started around 2:30PM and lasted for about 45 minutes to an hour. During my presentation , I talked about how I have improved as an intern from my experience at Bret Harte. I have improved as an intern because I have learned what it takes in order to create a successful project. I have learned that it is important to start thinking about what your project will be at your workplace ahead of time. If you don't give yourself a lot of time then you may have a difficult time starting your project or you may not be able to finish your project on time. If I would have started the girls group a few weeks earlier, then I would have been able to have more meetings with the girls. Also, it would have been less stressful to create a plan to continue the girls group after my WLE ends. My workplace is great because of the amazing teachers and students that it has. I love my mentor and several other staff members at Bret Harte. They are all very helpful and are always willing to support me whenever I need it while I am at the school. The staff members and students make me feel very appreciated whenever I am at the school and it is always a pleasure working with them. Whenever I am at Bret Harte it reminds me of being at home because it is such a comfortable workplace and I am surrounded by so many loving and caring people. One thing that is not so great about my workplace is the amount of conflicts that students have with each other. Students are constantly in trouble or are in the counseling office because of problems with another student. I wish the students would focus more on their academics and how well they are doing in their classes rather than drama and the conflicts that they face with each other.

Blog # 10 - The End (12/13/11)

Today is the last Tuesday that I will be visiting my workplace for the remainder of the year. I am sad that my WLE ended so quickly. For the past 11 weeks, I Have enjoyed working at Bret Harte and spending time with the students who attend the school. I will definitely miss working inside of Mr.Hinz's classroom with him and his students. I honestly wish that I could have spent more time at my WLE because I had an amazing experience. This experience has taught me new things about myself. From working at Bret Heart I have learned more about what things I am really good at and what skills I need to improve. For example, I have learned that I need to be a better project planner. If I learn to plan projects ahead of time and do a better job at mapping out when, where, and how long I will do my project, then it will be more successful. I have also learned that working with and helping kids is something that I really enjoy doing. I look forward to working with them more in the future. This experience will affect what my WLE will look like next year because I plan on interning at Bret Harte next year. I would love to work with Mr.Hinz again, and I plan on continuing the Girls group that I started at the school this year next year. My WLE experience at Bret Harte next year will be different because I also plan on trying new things, such as working inside different classrooms with different teachers. I really love working as a mentor for the students at Bret Harte. The more comfortable the students are with me being around, the more they are willing to open up to me. I would love to continue to connect with students next year during my next WLE Experience.