Project Proposal

Natasha Robson

Leading Internship for New Knowledge

Project Proposal

The Children’s House Internship

In my junior year at Animas High School I will be doing an internship in my community where I can gain new perspectives and knowledge about the career that I am pursuing later in my life. I will be doing an internship at a Montessori school called The Children’s House. The Children’s House is a Kindergarten school that teaches in hands on learning way. Montessori was founded by a woman named Maria Montessori who first started a new method of learning in 1907. Maria’s method of teaching consists  mostly of Respect. Having respect for the child’s mind and letting the child learn at their own pace. Montessori has a method of teaching by mostly advising the children that go there. The kids get a lesson that they will learn one day, and for the rest of the day. To this day there are many Montessori schools in the United States that teach children how to work independently and learn at their own pace.  

At The Children’s House my internship will be with Jamie Gustine. She is the English and Cultural teacher. Having my mentor being an English teacher will help me learn the skills that it takes to teach English to young kids and working at Montessori will help me to learn about the different teaching styles that teachers use in their classrooms. Jamie has agreed to let me help teach lessons in her classroom and to take the role of an assistant teacher. This means that I will be able to go to staff meetings and to assist the kids in the classroom if needed. Jamie is a sweet teacher but at the same time she knows how to keep a stable classroom and she understands the kids that she works with. This will help me to gain the experience that I will need when I pursue my dream of being a teacher also. It will also give me an idea about how to control a classroom and make it a fun and safe learning experience for the kids I teach. 

At the Children’s House the children are taught to learn in a way that is right for them. When they go into a classroom they are given a mini lesson by the teacher. The lesson is the ground point of what they will be learning that day. After the lesson they get out work that they will do for the day. Every classroom has different trays that contain different materials that the kids can work on. The children work on mats either by themselves or with a partner is they need to. The goal of the classroom is for the kids to work independently. The Children’s House provides their kids with freshly cooked food to ensure that the kids that go there have healthy meals. The children are taught to have respect for their classmates and to solve their problems in a positive way. The day consists of the kids going to different classrooms, kind of like in high school. Every teacher at my internship site has a positive attitude and they are excited to be able to teach the kids that go there. I am very excited to be able to be part of that atmosphere.

I always knew that I wanted to do a teaching internship. And I also knew that I wanted to teach kindergarten. Originally I had a different plan on which classroom and school that I might work at, but my original plan fell through leaving me with only a few options. My Link Internship teacher Rachael helped me come up with different ideas of what schools that I could work at. Since she has a close relationship with The Children’s House she gave them a call and asked if they would be interested in having an intern work there for three weeks. They said that they would be glad to have an intern, so I set up an interview with The Children’s House. When I went there for my interview, I felt like I already belonged in the atmosphere. Everyone greeted me and treated me like I was already a part of the school. The Director introduced me to my mentor Jamie and I got the privilege of being able to stay in the classroom and observe for an hour or so. After I talked a little more with the Director, I got the internship and the director seemed really excited to have me be a part of the school for three weeks.

At the present moment I am still getting an idea of what project I want to do for my internship, but I am pretty positive that I will be coming up with a lesson to teach on my own to the children. I don’t know what kind of lesson that I will be doing, but I know that it will be a lesson that has to do with English. Or I might do a lesson about world studies. I want to make my lesson fun and interesting for the kids. I want them to learn something that they will remember for a long time and will be interested in maybe learning more about the topic of my lesson. I will be teaching my lesson on the third week of my internship. The second week will be composed of me coming up with a lesson with my mentor Jamie.

The purpose of my project is to teach the kids something that they will find interesting and new. I will be able to make my lesson into the form of what a regular Montessori lesson looks like, and I will be able to come up with the work that the kids can do to better understand the lesson that I teach them. My lesson will support the learning and teaching method that Montessori schools hold and it will also teach me about what it really takes to teach students in a new way.

As far as leadership and teaching goes I have a lot of experience in that. I have taught non-violent communication at my church rallies for many years, so I know how to teach people about how to act in positive way and how to think positively. I have always been excited to be able to teach people about how non-violent communication has helped me through the hard times that I have been though. And I am always happy when I can teach someone something that they will take into their hearts and find useful in their times of need. In my group of friends I am the person that they can come to for advice on what to do when something is wrong in their life. From the many things that I have experienced and taught other people about, I have come to have a great passion for teaching. I always get a sense of joy when I know I have taught someone well. I also love little kids. I feel the need to hug them and to protect them. I want to be the person who can impact a child’s life in a good way.