As a Bilingual Elementary Education major, I am. enrolled at Illinois State University for five years. This program is five years because

Transcription

1 DC Internship Experience, Summer 2015 by Cassie Thill, Bilingual Elementary Education major As a Bilingual Elementary Education major, I am enrolled at Illinois State University for five years. This program is five years because students are strongly encouraged to study abroad to gain fluency in their second language and they are required to student teach for an entire year in a program called Professional Development Schooling (PDS). I am also a Golden Apple Scholar. Golden Apple is a four-year internship/scholarship that equips scholars with over 150 hours of classroom experience beyond the college courses along with taking classes from recognizable teachers to gain further knowledge. Due to the rigor and experience associated with Golden Apple, I wanted to make sure I would have an internship that would be challenging yet rewarding as I grow as a professional. Since my program is a five year program, I had an additional summer where no Golden Apple internship was required, and so I applied for the Washington DC internship program. Early in the fall, I was searching for an internship that would fill the void of not having an internship with Golden Apple due to taking part in a five-year Bilingual Elementary Education program at Illinois State. I came across the opportunity to go to Washington, D.C. through the College of Education. I thought this would be an amazing way to experience an urban school district other than Chicago. The unique piece about the Washington, D.C. internship through the

2 College of Education is that once one is selected, the student chooses the place where they would like to intern. This was an added benefit because it allowed me to choose an organization where I agreed with the mindset and shared their vision. Upon receiving notice that I had been awarded the scholarship to go to Washington, DC I began applying to various internships. The internship that I chose was the DC Public Schools Urban Education Leaders Internship Program (UELIP). This internship took place in the Central Office of DC Public Schools. The Central Office was comprised of multiple offices and I was placed in the Office of Specialized Instruction that focused on special education, English Language Learners, and extended school year. Eighty individuals were chosen to be interns. They came from various backgrounds including undergraduate students, graduate students, teachers, and international students. This diverse group allowed us to share multiple viewpoints on issues revolving around education whether it was curriculum or policy. UELIP interns have the opportunity to work on mission critical projects for DC Public Schools. They are on the front lines of the district office and can see the positive changes that close the achievement gap when their initiatives are implemented in urban school districts. Associates are tasked with real responsibilities and make meaningful contributions to crucial DC Public School priorities. These tasks are completed throughout the course of the eight week internship and featured in a final presentation to your team, office, and other employees within DC Public Schools. The presentation provides an explanation of what the task was and how you went about completing it. It also explains how to

3 sustain the initiative within DC Public Schools so it can be used in the upcoming school year and years to follow. Significantly, forty percent of the work completed in the DC Central Office during the summer is from the UELIP interns. This is a clear indication of the impact that UELIP delivers. My project that was to be completed over the course of the summer was to create a tracking system that aligned with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). D.C. Public Schools had recently adopted the CCSS and this was their first year of implementing PARCC, which is the assessment that is aligned to these standards. This project helped me to gain great knowledge and memorization of the standards, which is crucial because Illinois has adopted these standards as well. In the Office of Specialized Instruction, there are many adaptations that are made so the students receiving special education services can excel in school. English Language Arts (ELA) is the foundation for the students success. In situations where students are low performing in reading, reading intervention coaches are asked to assist the teacher with tips on how to increase the students reading level and to assess what other accommodations can be made. The tracking system I created can help coaches assess not only the level where the student is, but also set an accountability for the teacher to push the student to their fullest potential. It also appears on the student s Individualized Education Program (IEP) to indicate the level at which they are reading. For example, it will list whether the student is reading one grade level behind or four grade levels behind. This tracking system assesses the standard being taught and the grade at which the student is performing on that standard. This will allow coaches and the district to see CCSS aligned instruction in the

4 classroom at the appropriate grade level and it will also allow the coaches to effectively evaluate teacher s expectations for their students. The next task I completed was creating an excel spreadsheet that aligned to the DC Scope and Sequence along with the CCSS and PARCC. This spreadsheet incorporated the grade level, unit dates, unit standards, texts, and tasks. This spreadsheet included the four components of the ELA CCSS, which are readingliterature, reading-informational text, writing, speaking and listening. This was given to teachers as a pacing guide for where they should be. Special education teachers and teachers who have students in their classes that need extra accommodations will find particular benefit as it allows them to look at what the general education classes are following and mold their curriculum into this. An example of an accommodation that could be made is extending the dates in which the student would read the novel. This was also put on Smartsheet so coaches can have an electronic view and can note where the teacher is at and where they should be in terms of units. The last task I completed was creating two units of the curriculum for ninth grade on OneNote. Each day s lesson had an entrance slip, small group activity, large group activity, exit slip, and materials with multiple accommodations. This curriculum was aligned to the excel spreadsheet that I had previously created which ensured the units, texts, and tasks were all being completed. This curriculum was adapted for special education students so extra time was included when reading a novel or completing class projects. This was created so teachers will be teaching the same materials on the same day. It was also aligned to CCSS, PARCC, and the DC

5 Scope and Sequence. This will provide teachers will ELA support and it will also create consistency for coaches, teachers, and students in various schools within the district. When I was not working with my team I was attending sessions put on for all UELIPs. These sessions included Chief chats where the Chief of each office would come speak to us, explaining what their office does and provide us with knowledge of what is currently occurring within the school district. We had the pleasure of meeting Chancellor Kaya Henderson, the leader of DC Public Schools, on three different occasions, the last time being for an hour where she asked us what we have worked on. It is amazing that although it is a large district, it truly had a closeknit family feeling and everyone bent over backwards to make sure we had a great experience. We attended professional development sessions about PARCC, PowerPoint, and Excel. We also had a day long Race and Equity in Education Seminar where we discussed racial and equality issues that are faced day to day in school districts across the United States. UELIP also had a social committee that planned events to get to know other UELIP Associates such as going to a Washington Nationals baseball game. There were also community service opportunities such as visiting Veterans who reside in an assisted living community. This experience has truly helped me grow as a person and as a professional. I was challenged to stretch and grow outside my comfort zone. I interacted with families, faculty and administrators within the DC School District. I was introduced to new ideas and learned about many new topics. I met many respected and qualified individuals who share my same passion for education. These connections

6 will last a lifetime and I know I can always turn to them for advice or assurance on an idea, and I hope they will also confer with me when they are looking for feedback. Working in the Central Office has strengthened my commitment to my goal of becoming an administrator one day. I loved working behind the scenes ensuring students will have a great school year. I am very thankful for this opportunity through the College of Education at Illinois State and UELIP with DC Public Schools.