Final Secondary Internship Reflection

My first thought walking in to the internship: Is high school going to be the setting for me? My thoughts walking out of my internship today: High school is certainly a grade level I would love to teach.  I never knew that I would be able to make connections with older students.  The past three years (and really my whole life) I have worked with younger children.  I never had much interaction teaching, tutoring, or interacting with students older than ten.  Hesitant would certainly be the word I would use to describe how I felt going into this internship.  Confident would be the word I would use coming out of the internship.  This placement certainly verified my desire to teach in a resource setting.  I was not with my students in this placement for very long due to snow days, but I was able to make a connection with them that made me comfortable teaching and allowed me to make personal connections to what we were reading in English.  

After this internship, I have learned that there is always room for learning.  I have discovered and been taught so much new information, especially about transition, and feel confident that I will successfully be able to implement a transition plan for students.  I also feel confident to be able to facilitate learning for all of my students no matter what the age.  In the elementary setting, you see your students every day.  In a secondary setting, there could be students on your caseload that you don't even have in class.  This internship has prepared me to be organized in any educational setting and track student progress more frequently as well as document more frequently.  I am extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to teach in a secondary setting.  I learned so much from my students and look forward to possible job opportunities in the secondary setting in the future.