As a requirement for all senior Longwood University undergraduates, students are expected to acquire an internship that lapse between a ten to fifteen week period. Over the past four months I have worked with the Andy Taylor Center for Early Childhood Development to gain the experience I will need as an elementary school teacher in the future. As a sociology major I was brought to the attention that our education system needs improvement, and someday I would like to contribute to the changes that are desperately needed. This reflection will consist of an analysis of the skills I developed during my time at the Andy Taylor Center and how I correlated the knowledge I adopted during my three years at Longwood University to my internship.

The position I held at the ATC was Assistant Substitute Teacher. I was responsible for meeting all the needs of 8 infants, by providing scheduled feedings, hourly diaper changes, and creating activities that engaged the children’s development. Having the opportunity to guide fun activities allowed me to expand upon my creativity skills. As a way to facilitate the hand motor skills of the students, I had them paint various objects from shamrock decorations to abstract flower pieces. Once their paintings were dry their parents were able to take them home and would often mention how beautiful of a job they did. This sort of interaction promotes the parental involvement that is crucial for a child’s academic career. While enrolled in a sociology Child’s Perspective course I completed research in regards to parental involvement and how creating a fun yet enriching activity would foster parents’ interaction in their child’s education. Having that opportunity helped me implement a program that not only the children were able to enjoy but also their parents.

An additional skill that I was able to develop during my internship was identifying racism found within the workplace. As a Black woman, racism is a concept that I unfortunately will not be able to escape from due to how generational the hate is. This fact is one of the many reasons as to why I want to pursue a career in primary education. To reverse any hate that is taught would best be done at early stages in life where children are constantly learning ideologies and mirroring observed behavior. After completing a Race and Racisms course I quickly began to realize how racism plays an influential role in everyone’s lives. To provide insight as to how race shouldn’t effect our interactions and opinions one another, I plan to teach my future students that our differences make us unique but no better than anyone. I also plan to address any instances of conflict that I may find among my students with detailed lessons as to what racism is and how to be an ally to halt the spread of it. One might consider that children are too young to understand what racism is however, children can be compared to sponges, they soak up all the information they can to learn how to navigate society.

The final skill that I adopted from my teaching role was maintaining patience in stressful situations. There were many times where the babies would all cry at the same time which increased the stress within the classroom. There were also times where I felt my co-workers weren’t being as helpful as I would have liked them to be. To combat these challenges I managed to take deep breathes and remind myself that I’m in control of the situation. If there were instances that I needed help I would ask my co-worker to tend to any of the needs our students were communicating by crying. I learned in a Family Stress and Crisis class that implementing resources such as social support, and religion aid in decreasing the effects of stress. I can say that after referring to both methods I was able to calm down and refocus myself on the tasks at hand. I believe that using these tactics would be very beneficial in my career as a teacher.

In conclusion, being able to have my internship at the Andy Taylor Center for Early Childhood Development has enabled me to gain many skills that I will be able to utilize in my future career in primary education. I was also able to apply a grand amount of knowledge that I required from my sociology courses to the work in my position. Upon graduating college I plan to further my academics by attending graduate school to earn my masters in education. I’m very excited for the things that await for me later in life and thanks to my experience at Longwood University, I’m confident in knowing that I will be successful in that I will do.