I grew up in the classroom. My aunt was a teacher and any chance she got to drag me to her school, I was there—grading tests, helping students get their work done, transferring grades, gathering data, and more. She had always said that one day I would end up being just like her and become a teacher. I currently intern remotely as a Teaching Assistant (TA) for Lauren’s 8th grade ELA class on Mondays and Tuesdays. This internship experience has made me realize that my aunt might just be right.
As an intern, I make sure that students pay attention in class, read off slides whenever Lauren or any of the other teachers ask me to, work with students in breakout rooms to help them get assignments done, and help Lauren create survey docs, or input grades into spreadsheets. I enjoy my internship because I get to work with kids to help them get work done to get to where they need to be. I like seeing kids happy about the work they turn in. It’s nice to sit in a class that I have taken already and learn something new with the students.
Being a TA has helped me to become a better student. I have branched out of my comfort zone. When I began my internship, it was hard for students to talk to me about their work. It was also hard for me to talk to them about helping them because I didn’t know if I was saying the right thing or actually helping them. I persisted and have learned to communicate more. As a TA I have been able to help teachers become better by giving them a point of view from a former student. I believe that I have given them a way to teach and understand students because I was in their students’ position just four years ago. I am not going to lie. I struggled in Lauren’s class. Because of this, I know Lauren and her ways of teaching, I can help her to help students understand the way she teaches–what works and what doesn’t work.
I never would have imagined myself doing a remote internship as a TA. Like most things though, there have been pros and cons. A pro of a remote internship is that I get to work on my own time because everything is done online. This is a lot easier for me to get the work Lauren gives me to do. It’s also a lot easier for me to manage my internship workload because I’m constantly in front of a computer, whether it be for my school work or work for Lauren.
The con to interning remotely as a TA is that I am never entirely sure that I am fully helping students because we’re all remote. It’s sometimes hard to get students to do the work because either their cameras are off or their mics aren’t working or they may not want to speak because they were still getting to know me. I’m not in a classroom personally to help them and it’s hard to get someone to do their work when you can’t see them or hear them to be able to fully communicate what they need to do.
I am glad that I had an opportunity to do an internship during my junior year–a requirement for all BCS students. I remember hearing about internships when I was in seventh grade when I noticed upperclassmen in my class helping our teachers. I kind of wondered what they were doing there because they were in high school and sitting in a middle school class. I learned more about internships during the Model Job Fair when I talked to a few juniors about what they did.
I have learned a lot from my remote internship as a TA and my weekly internship seminar classes with Taron and Imani. I have gained an understanding of workplace realities as well as the skills that I need to be successful in the pandemic job force and in life. I also will remember important advice I received from the guest speakers at our Virtual Career Day in my internship seminar class. They said you need to have patience and drive. Everything is not going to go your way when you first start out because it’s all new to you. Keep calm and push forward is a good way to get to where you need to be as a student or as a person in general.
I might become a teacher in the future like my aunt. My internship experience has given me a good start and provided a good foundation if I choose this career.
