Curiosity is a main skill I had before entering this internship that has helped me throughout it. I believe that curiosity is what led me to this internship and the thing that has pushed me throughout it. When someone is curious about something they go out and find out more about it, and that's what I've had to do. Yes my mentors have given me many tools and opportunities to learn more about this field, but without my curiosity I wouldn't have learned as much as I did. Curiosity is something that drives people and is how people find their passions. With the right amount of curiosity and ambition, you will go far beyond just being an intern.
In addition to all the new academic things I learned and did as an intern, activities such as: writing consent and assent forms, helping out my mentors with spreadsheets, making a presentation, and conducting a research project; my internship has really opened my eyes to much more. Through my internship I have seen all the hard work that goes into the ESL/ALD classes; the countless meetings that are held, presentations that are made, programs that are made and always being revised, and so much more to make sure English learner students succeed. All this hard work is often not seen by students. Seeing my mentos in action has given me a newfound respect for education that I might of not had before. I've always been grateful for the opportunities I've had, but I've never really understood until now all the work that goes into education. Shadowing students and sitting in on classes with an outsider perspective gave me so much more insight than when I'm in my own classes. Not only did sitting in on classes give me insight into the teacher's perspective, but also the students. There's so much more behind a student who doesn't seem like they care about a class, and I got to see this. In classrooms you often see students who complete their work, group themselves together, and I'll admit I've been guilty of this. What I've noticed from helping out in a classroom is that just because students can get distracted doesn't mean that they don't care about their grades. Sometimes they just need that extra helping hand, someone that will help but also hold them accountable besides the teacher. I found that believing in these students that I helped, someone that didn't know them at all, got them to believe in themselves. Something else that I've learned throughout this whole process, is that each student is so unique it is very hard to find a system that works for all students. I have found so many findings, but there's still so much more to learn.