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Jean PesceEDET 650, Fall 2013Internship Reflection 1 SMS Orientation GuideSeptember 8, 2013

With a thirty percent turn-over of staff within the past three years it became

increasingly apparent to me that the general orientation and a district-assigned mentorfor new employees was not enough for teachers new to Schofield Middle School (SMS).Most new hires are professional in getting under-way immediately but that can bedifficult as a stranger in a sprawling school building. I experienced the situation first-hand and thought to myself, Theres got to be a better way to start out here. Oneexample is that I did not know there are Computer Labs, a professional library, and alaminating machine available to all. In addition to knowledge of the physical resources, itwould be helpful to have an organized list of all current documents and forms especiallywhen these are added, deleted or tweaked periodically depending on currentregulations.

Now that I have completed the groundwork for my internship project, one of the

nagging questions I had was finally resolved in my mind. Originally, my project wascalled the Schofield Middle School New Staff Orientation Program. This was toocumbersome and not very inspirational. I contemplated alternatively calling it anOrientation/Kit; /Pack; /Toolbox; /Folder; /Guiding Site; Guiding Light; and (finally) justsimply Orientation Guide. This last title gives me the double meaning for which I had inmind. As this will be used by my middle school staff, and possibly the community atlarge, I would like to use our Rams mascot as an animated guiding figure to embody theinformation (guide) somehow. Middle school, as the transition from elementary to highschool, tends to carry that sense of adolescent fun-loving pursuit of academicachievement which the guiding Ram could portray. Also, I feel animations may helpprevent two detracting effects: first, to keep the program from becoming dated with theimage of a person; secondly, to remove any racial and/or gender prejudice (eventhough a ram is technically male). This is a subject I will research for supportingevidence.

There was a bit of confusion in securing a mentor for my project. Looking overmy proposal I have noticed the misconception I had regarding those in my job who areresponsible for technology. I am referring to Terri Booth, Lead Web Administrator forthe district who I believed to be the person I had studied under in the past and intendedfor my mentor. In actuality, that person is Terry Hallman, Lead Curriculum TechnologySpecialist (for Aiken County Public School District) as specified on my contract. Thattook a bit of diplomacy to rectify.

Creating my survey, as part of my Analysis process, was definitely time-consuming even though I had a fairly good idea of what I wanted to include in it. I beganwith my outlined ideas in order of priority in my mind. I transposed this first for two sizesof paper (to allow more space for writing if legal paper is available) and for the onlineversion available at:http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CZFVNVR I was almost takenaback when the option of printing the online version was offered with the notification thata print version required a fee which I did not want to pay. So I was glad that I hadcopied my print version to the online and had not planned the reverse.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CZFVNVRhttp://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CZFVNVRhttp://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CZFVNVRhttp://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CZFVNVR


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The next step of my Analysis process turned out to be more involved than I hadanticipated. After constructing my survey in three forms (electronic, hard copy, andonline) I planned to distribute it and have the results back by the end of the first twoweek period. My principals surprising response that permission to distribute needed togo through the district set me back one week. By the time I took that action, received

the response to return it to the principal (as the decision rested there), took that actionand waited for the final OK it was five days later. Luckily, according to my task schedule,I will still have another week after the new survey deadline to compile my list ofinformational items to include in my Guide. One positive note from the experience - Inow have documentation for another item to add to my Guide Permissions, on who toconsult under different circumstances before proceeding with plans.

Knowing that we have better photography equipment than mine on campus, Iborrowed that (Kodak Dx7590 Zoom Digital Camera) for my school tour images as astep in my Development of the tour to be created for the Guide. Although we were toldin the Internship in Educational Technology course syllabus, that prior to starting theinternship, you must obtain the signature(s) of your on-site supervisor(s) and your

instructor on this negotiated contract I began taking the images I wanted eventhough I was waiting for the returned copy from my mentor. As I already had permissionto conduct my project on SMS from my principal, I felt that was a good use of the time,building occupancy, weather, and equipment available even if other changes weresuggested by my mentor. The next day I tried to get a shot of the front entrance with aflag flying (as I thought it had been taken down for the evening) but apparently thisprocedure has not been set up for this year yet although I dont know how legal that is todo. The Media Specialist for the Media Center was available to provide access to thatarea at this time, also, since that was not possible the previous day. I made a note toself after quickly down-loading the pictures so I could find them later that the location is:

C:\Users\Pesce\Dropbox\USCA\EDET 650 Internship\Development\2013-09-10

September SMS people and placesThis brings me to another thought when working on a project between work and home

the value of cloud storage. I have been using this for lesson plans and other work for

school because we cannot use personal computers online at work. About 3 years ago

before I knew ofDropbox I would email my plans to school and then open and save

them on my work computer. Using the service for this project is invaluable as we are not

allowed to bring school equipment (cameras) off campus and I can work on it from any

online connection.

Another earlier-than-planned addition to my Development phase came about with

an unexpected request from administration to remove old files from the school Shared

drive. As I viewed and/or removed my unnecessary files from that location I cameacross other items that will be useful for my project. I found the most recent (among

others) SMS Faculty Handbook and a PowerPoint commemorating the history of the

school. This was a bit eerie as the woman pictured at the end who was instrumental in

organizing the event had within the last week passed away. This is in keeping with the

folklore that the spirit of the original founder still persists on the campus. I probably will


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not include that in the Guide, though, even if it would be interesting to add those

anecdotes.

internship reflection 1

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