Internship already?

This week in class, our program director spoke with us about internship year. While it seems like a long way off, next fall will be here before we know it. We discussed the application process and how internship acceptance varies from an informal handshake to a formalized two-part interview in front of various administrators. We also discussed requirements and our anxieties about everything. I plan on applying to at least three sites and have already started the process.

One thing that is important to keep up with this year, is tracking student demographic data on a web-based system. We will use this information for internship and later for job applications to demonstrate the population of students that we have experience working with. For instance, it might be helpful to know exactly how much experience I have working with diverse populations of students by age, grade, disability, etc. I try and track this information as soon as I get back from practicum so I don’t forget how old that kid was that I tested three weeks ago… 

This week, the school district that I work in had an in-service day on Monday, so I went into practicum Monday and Friday. Always expected the unexpected. I attempted to re-evaluate a senior on Monday, but she was absent. So I started writing up her background information for the report and then I found out that the student was transferred to another school psychologist’s caseload. And today, there was a fire drill and an unexpected schedule change. So while my supervisor tested a student in the morning, I caught up on some schoolwork, hung out at the high school autistic support classroom (I learned a nifty dragon card game!), and observed the speech therapist during a session. Before the fire drill, I was able to meet with a teacher and guidance counselor about my consultation case study, which I really think is starting to come together. So after all this schedule changing, it’s important for me to realize that my planned day might not go as expected and I might not be able to check things off my list in an orderly fashion. I’m going to have to learn to be okay with that. I also dropped off my application for internship next year, so I can check that off my list!