Montag, 26. September 2011

First impressions

For my "Methods" class, which is one of the few courses I've taken in the past 15 months that is actually required by the state, I have to have a "field experience" that people at the university seem to be calling an "internship." I need to log a total of 60 hours in a classroom with a mentor teacher, observing, maybe doing some tutoring, and then teaching a one-week unit under the supervision of both my mentor teacher and my Methods professor.

The Office of Field Services placed me in an urban high school that is apparently a "school within a school," i.e., it used to be huge and have its own building and in the meantime it occupies space along with several other schools, each of which presumably has its own administration and policies.

My professor and the placement office both emphasized that I should get in touch with my mentor teacher RIGHT AWAY, and one of my class assignments was to write a draft letter. But I didn't receive a phone number or an e-mail address for my mentor teacher - just the school's phone number. I got the e-mail from the placement office on Friday afternoon and called right away; no answer. I called five more times today, Monday. Finally someone answered who didn't seem to have a clue about how to get in touch with my mentor teacher. After several minutes of back-and-forthing with her supervisor (who apparently didn't want to speak to me directly), she finally gave me an e-mail address and I shot off the mail to my mentor teacher.

It bounced back. Not a very good impression.