January 21,2010
Today was my first day at Grover Cleveland International Prep High School. I was very apprehensive about going because of the location and all of the tales that I have heard about it. To my surprise it wasn’t as bad as I had imagined, I actually enjoyed my first day thoroughly. I met Kevin Duffy whom was very welcoming. He showed Alexis and myself around the school and introduced us to all of the staff members. They were all also welcoming and excited about our arrival. Dr.Duffy showed us how to read into the students’ history and summarize what was important information. He explained what was helpful in diagnosing students and what disorders are common in the school. Disorders such as reading, math, ADHD, ADD are just a few. He continued to inform us which tests are given to test certain areas of strengths and weaknesses. Some of these tests include, the WAIS IV and Woodcock Johnson. Overall, today was an exciting day and I’m eager for the days to come.
January 26, 2010
Today I shadowed Peter, the school Counselor. He was very welcoming and funny which made me feel welcomed. He was eager to have me tag along and was knowledgeable about his job. He introduced me to the “prep schedule” which is basically a schedule that kids who are having disorders such as conduct disorder follow to help them improve their attendance,grades and attitude. The students have to bring it to each class and have their teachers fill out whether they were respectful and prepared. After a couple weeks their home room teacher looks over their sheets and the results have are good they are rewarded with a prize. I was able to talk to a young boy named Shawn whom was kicked out of his test for tapping his foot. He didn’t seem to care and was easily distracted. I asked him a few questions in which he was not afraid to give me a response. Although he responded I’m not sure how truthful his answers were. I waited around with him until Peter could speak to him, he seemed very defiant. Later that day Shawn was kicked out of the school because he was not suppose to even be attending school at that time because of a prior suspension.
January 29,2010
Today was a very slow day. Kids we off for regents so there was not much for us to do. I was able to look over RTI books and over the students’ records that I would possible be shadowing on February 2nd. All of the students seem to be defiant kids with aggression and anger problems. All have had a hard life and living conditions seem to be very tough to live in. I began to prepare a behavior plan for the students. Once I observe them I am going to change the plan to fit their personal needs and desires. I decided that the students need someone by their side constantly to keep them on track. Also if they improve their behavior then they will receive a reward such as a lunch with us and a couple of their friends. Basically, I am looking forward to Tuesday so I can see the actual behaviors instead of reading them on a piece of paper.
February 2, 2010
Today I walked into Grover being very optimistic, excited as to how things were going to turn out. I walk up to the third floor to figure out which student I would shadow along with the other interns. As we all stood upstairs waiting, Dr. Duffy realized that all three students that we assigned to us had already been sent to the principals’ office before 1st period had ended. I could tell already that is was going to be a long and eventful day. David the student I got assigned to has ODD and ADHD. He is prone for skipping classes and being very defiant. So, my course of action was to just observe him to see him in group settings and his attitude toward authority. This little boy did not waste anytime showing me his defiant side. Second class, English, he was very calm and collective. He completed his work and participated in the class discussion. During the time in which they go to their next period class he was very quick to try to leave me, but he did go straight to his class. Science, (his 3rd class) was a very rowdy class in general. In the beginning he was very quiet and kept to himself. The other kids were very disrespectful to the teacher. Soon David joined in; he began to talk back and was throwing his pen across the room. The teacher asked him nicely to stop but he kept repeating the action. I didn’t want to intervene because, as I said, I was just observing. After a long 3rd period it was finally time to switch to 4th. David was on the run. As soon as he walked out the door he started sprinting from me. I chased him for a good 10 minutes, then decided I was not going to waste my time. I went to the Principals office to have them help me start looking for him. He finally shows up to the office saying, “ I don’t need anybody following me I’m not a baby”. He received suspension for a day. I realized city students are very different in their needs than students that live in the suburbs. The majority of the people is a result from the home life. I am looking forward to seeing how David reacts Thursday when he sees me and hopefully I will be to talk to him and make him realize why I am “following” him.
February 4,2010
When I got to the school we had to pull David out of class because his mother didn’t come into the school with him after his suspension. David was very upset and didn’t understand why he was getting pulled out of class when he was doing his work and his mother would be there around lunchtime. We kept telling him that unfortunately those are the rules that we all have to abide by. David was put downstairs in a room where he was suppose to finish his English exam while someone came to get him. He did not listen and was opening doors and doing the opposite of everything anybody told him. Finally Dr. Duffy became fed up and let him call his mother. His mother wasn’t coming to get him so she gave permission to Dr. Duffy that he could walk to his uncles’ house down the street from. After David left I went upstairs with the school counselor Peter and helped him figure out a conflict between three boys. I also helped him sort out schedules. Not too long after the school day was ending.
February 18,2010
Today I started at Math Science Technology Preparatory School on East Delavan. I was transferred there because Dr. Duffy thought there would be more opportunities with students and more time for one on one counseling. I met Mark Mecca and he seems really nice along with his colleague Anne and Debbie. They both seem to be very educated in their profession. I helped write up a psychological evaluation from the students IEP report. I looked up academic achievement and disabilities that they had which was tedious work that seemed to be never ending. I also observed a student in a class environment. He seemed to be able to pay attention and focus for the majority of the time he was in class and was eager to learn. I then sat down with another student. He was a student whose grades were falling dramatically because of situations at home. We came up with a success plan to hopefully get him on track. We haven’t quite finished it yet but on Tuesday I’ll be seeing him again so we can go over it. He seems to have no authority at home, which makes him skip out on doing homework and stays up late; therefore making him fall asleep in his first period class.
February 23,2010
It was my second day at MST. I helped mostly with paperwork. I finished a psychological evaluation. I had to fill in scores from a rating scale given to teachers, parent and students regarding the student that was being evaluated. The scores gave an indication of what were problem areas for the child. Example: attention problems, developmental social disorders, learning disorders etc. This helps narrow down the causes for the problem in which the student is having. Also, Mr. Mecca and I talked to a young student who is in 9th grade about his grades and how he has been drawing guns. He didn’t seem like a bad kid and knew exactly what he had to do to bring his grades back up. It seemed as though he feels really bad about his grades and wants to change them. As for the guns he says it means nothing and he was just drawing and that he will stop because he realizes that it can cause confusion with students and teachers seeing them. Other than the psychological evaluation all I did during the day was file some paper work and sort another survey.
February 25,2010
Today was quite an eventful day at MST. Heather and myself were both given a students folder and had to look through it and pick out the important stuff. At first it was tedious because everything was so overwhelming and there were a lot of IEP’s etc. Then we were able to sit in on to CSE meetings. One was very long and after an extensive amount of debate we came to a conclusion that the boy would be giving special education services and that he was Emotionally Disturbed. He was very hard to handle when he is in class because of his moods. The other student who was a female was very interested in getting help for herself. She tries hard in school and always goes in after school. Everyone decided that she had a Learning Disability in math and reading and that she would be given the extra help as well. It is very interesting seeing different special needs students. Ones who need it because of emotional difficulties, which are hindering his learning abilities and others, who have learning disabilities that really want to have good grades.
March 2, 2010
Today was a slow day a MST. Mr. Mecca and I had a list of about four kids that needed to be counseled. When we went up to pull them out of class they weren’t there. So, I was ended up doing paperwork. I had to sort surveys by each question on whether the teachers agreed or disagreed. It was very tedious work that took the entire day and I only ended up getting through about half of the 73 questions. At first I didn’t think it would take me so long but then I realized there were a lot more surveys that I anticipated. Towards the end of the day I was able to sit through a meeting in which they talked about what needed to be changed in the school. One thing that was discussed was a need for a better plan and enforcement about students in the hallways after the bell rings. They decided that in order for things to change teachers’ need to be aware that they all have duties to fulfill and those duties are to stand out in the halls when it is their turn.
March 4, 2010
Today was another slow day at MST. I didn’t do much besides write up the official bully and bullied list for the principal. I observed a student who was very immature for his age. He was on task about 55% of the time and was very defiant towards his teacher and didn’t want to do his work. After I observed him I went to go find another student that I needed to go over a success plan with but he was nowhere to be found. I am hoping to get in contact with him Tuesday because I am eager to see how he is doing and how well he is following his success plan.
March 9,2010
Things at the internship are becoming repetitive so I am becoming more aware with the usual paperwork and students. I was able to help with paper work. I also came close to finishing the teacher evaluations; there are over 70 questions on the survey with about 60 surveys to sort through. I am really enjoying the staff and students, they are all friendly and welcoming. I also was able to sit through another school meeting to talk about how to make the school better for the students. One suggestion was to provide the seniors with a lounge so that people who are behaving will have the luxury of teachers recognizing it since most of the time only the troubled students are recognized.
March 16,2010
Today during my practicum Heather and myself were able to put together a packet with results of the teacher surveys that were issued a couple weeks prior. It took a while counting the results and figuring out the percentages. We then collaborated all of the questions on to one table with all of their individual percentages. We highlight the ones that we at a 90% and above agreement, 75-89 agreement and 50-74 agreement. These were all highlighted in different colors making it easy for the representatives to see what was a problem in the school and what was not. After we finished putting together the packets we tutored some individuals that have been struggling in math for some time now and want to raise their grades. They are very easy to work with and have a lot of will to learn the information. All-in-all I had a eventful day correlating scores and helping out the students to better themselves.
March 18,2010
Today was a very low-key day at MST. We were able to hand out our teacher survey results that we worked hard on this past Tuesday. The teachers were very impressed and were able to understand the information very easily. We then ran around looking for teachers to find out who had the second half of the students survey that we had to compile and later hand out to all of the home room teachers. We then were able to sit in on a CSC meeting. Everyone had a lot to say about the student but all of the information was very similar. We decided the student would be diagnosed with learning disabled with a unanimous agreement. We took a lunch break and celebrated a co-workers birthday with pizza, cake, family and friends. The other two interns from Grover came over to MST to visit and have lunch. After lunch Heather and I printed out all 600 or so copies of the student survey, separated them into their right home room teachers and then put them in each individuals mail box. Today was a slow yet exciting day to end the long hard week.
March 23,2010
Today was much like most of the other days that I’ve been at MST. I helped hand out some paper work to the teachers. Heather and I wrote up a summary for a student who took the achievement test and IQ test. In the summary we gave exact scores of the categories that were either high or low. We input this information in tables so that it would be easier for people glance at and know exactly where her strong and weak abilities lie. We also put in the table the students range and GE. Overall, the student was above average in much of the categories for both tests and scored lower on a few, but not below average. After we finished writing up the student’s summary we printed out copies to give to the student, her parents, records and the principal. Once we delivered all of the summaries to the necessary people we had a CSC meeting. In this meeting we talked about the teacher surveys that heather and I put together the week before. The two main concerns were the language used by students in the school and bullying. We also were worried about the student surveys that have to be graded in a couple weeks for the next meeting. How we are going to be able to pull it together by then is still up in the air.
March 25,2010
Today at MST I was able to meet with a few different students. I went over a success plan with one student who was willingly to change his ways. We also are going to provide him with outside counseling to help him with him emotional state. Also I was able to speak to a student’s mother over the telephone about his academic progress. It was my first phone call about a student. I was very nervous when I first called, but I was able to adapt to the style of speaking fairly quickly. I was able to sit in on a parent meeting. It was interesting to see the two different views: teacher and guardian. I also made up a chart for strategies that teachers should apply to CSE students. This table will be given to teachers each month. In the table it has in one column what the teacher should say to the child and the other column has if they enforced this in the past month. I believe that it will help a few students’ head towards the correct path to a better behavior and academic success.
March 29,2010
Today at MST it was pretty quiet. Work consisted of wrapping up loose ends such as meeting with some students. Both students that I met with had to go over their success plans. Both were pretty content with their plan and seemed to be improving in their academics. I also was able to do some more observations for IEP’s. One of the students I observed was very quiet and worked hard on her assignments. I didn’t understand why I was observing her until we brought her into the office where we watched her take an WISC test. She was very stubborn and had a bad attitude towards it. She was aggravated and wanted to get back to class. I’m not sure how accurate the score will be seeing as she was not giving it a 100%.
April 15,2010
I’ve become very comfortable all around at MST. The staff and students are very welcoming and it is coming down to the last couple days that I will be able to work here. Today I was able to observe another student that has been dealing with some difficulties with her academics. She seemed to be very talkative and distracted. Later I was able to sit on a WAIS IV test where she was totally opposite (shy). Once Mr. Mecca finished the test I had to fill out her behavioral intervention plans. She needs to focus on her attendance, handing in homework and asking for assistance from her special Ed teacher. At first I did not know how to complete the forms but Mr. Mecca explained it step by step, which made the process easy and more effective. Even though the sheets were very repetitive they were very simplistic and well thought out. At the end of the day we reviewed the forms and they looked like they would be a help towards her difficulties.
April 20, 2010
Unfortunately, there was not that much work to do today. I completed a couple more BIP forms in which were very time consuming. I was able to finish those and talk to a few students to follow up with some behavior plans. All seemed to be going well with the students that I met with so there was not much for me to change on their plans. I enjoyed lunch with Anne and Debbie and by the time lunch was over I had to leave for my class on campus. All n all, it was a productive but laid back morning/afternoon at MST.
April 22,2010
Today was my last day at MST for my practicum. It was a very slow day because Mark was in the process of moving all of his stuff out of his office because he is going to be helping with preschool evaluations. He is going to be out of the building for at least four days a week so there is no need for all of his stuff to be in one building. We helped him move his stuff into the trunk of his car and during that process I showed a high school student who was shadowing Mark around the school. She came with me to observe two students and I taught her what important things she should look for when observing students. After that we wrote some write ups and then went and picked up some math students that needed tutoring. Once we picked them up we helped them with their algebra which seemed to be a very difficult area for them. They had a hard time understanding simple concepts and seemed very frustrated. I felt bad because these girls want to understand it so bad but barely have basic concepts of math down, let alone complicated math problems.
This practicum helped me learn more about school psychology and counseling to the point where i know that this is what i want to do for the rest of my life. I always knew i wanted to go into psychology but deciding what field was the tough part for me. It is crazy how different psychology classes are from the real thing. This practicum has taught me a lot of hands on things that classes just aren't able to teach. I also believe that with this practicum I have learned a lot more than in a class because I am able to remember things a lot better than just reading it from a text book. I will definitely be able to put all of my knowledge that I have learned to use in the future.
