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MaKaylie Mason

Child 498R

Brother Rane

12/12/2020

Internship Final Report

The purpose of my paper is to share my internship experience. My chosen major is child

development so for my internship I chose to teach preschool in order to prepare myself for a

future career in teaching young children. I was accepted to intern at a private school located in

Rexburg, Idaho called Little Learners Preschool. My internship began in August and ended in

December, and I interned for a total of 220 hours. I feel my experiences and knowledge I gained

throughout my internship will help me greatly as I complete my degree studying child

development and prepare myself for a future career working with children, parents, and their

families.

Before beginning my internship, I set some goals that I wanted to work on throughout my

time teaching. My goals were things I felt I wanted and needed to improve on in order to be more

successful in my child development major and also in future careers. My first goal was

throughout my internship, as challenges arise, I want to develop and grow my problem-solving

skills. I feel I accomplished this goal well. I was better at looking for solutions by processing

information in new ways in order to evoke useful solutions to challenges being faced. I used my

background knowledge in child development to aid me in finding the best solution to challenges.

I also used my team as a support and resource and work with them to brainstorm solutions as

problems arose.
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My second goal I had set stated I will not hesitate to take the initiative and trust in my

abilities and skills as a child educator. In order to achieve this goal, I did not back down from

difficult projects. I stepped up to the challenges when they arose, therefore allowing myself to

grow and develop new skills and capabilities. I used my child development education and

knowledge to place helpful input and ideas when needed and didn’t shy away from voicing my

opinion and contributing to conversation. I feel as though I succeeded most in this goal

throughout my internship.

My third goal was to gain valuable hands-on experience relating to working with

children, while preparing children for future academic success and development. I did this by

aiding positive development in children by providing activities and lessons that are age

appropriate, individually appropriate, and culturally appropriate. I provided lesson plans that

allowed for hands on learning and experiences. I worked hard to develop lesson plans based on

the interests shown by the children and other topics that were beneficial to the children as I

helped them prepare for future academic success.

My last goal was to build trust and positive relationships with my coworkers, students,

and parents. I met this goal by offering positive relationships and taking the time to talk to them

every day and get to know them each individually. I worked side by side with them and feel that

I was a positive source to them by always being willing to help them when needed. I especially

worked hard to make the classroom and workplace a safe, positive, and nurturing environment

by being respectful and supportive and never judging or saying unkind things about coworkers,

students, or parents.

As I evaluate my job competence skills, I feel I succeeded at reaching these standards

throughout my internship. In the past I normally would be someone who would step down from
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being the person who problem solves and makes decisions, but because one of my goals was to

not hesitate and take initiative while trusting in my abilities, I feel like I really pushed myself to

step up. I got to be the lead teacher a lot in my internship and was often in charge of two of the

classes, to me this showed that my supervisor trusted my skills in teaching and planning which

gave me more confidence in my abilities. When one of the other teachers was teaching, I never

just sat around, I always found something I could do, whether that was helping a child who

needed special attention so the lead teacher could do her lesson, or preparing for the next activity

that was going to take place or cleaning up the classroom in order to keep it organized.

As I look back on my professionalism throughout my internship, I feel I did very well. I

was on time, dressed in appropriate attire, and came ready to teach with a positive attitude. I took

confidentiality very seriously and respected the privacy of both my students and my coworkers

by never giving out information to those other then appropriate personnel and never talking

negatively or gossiping to others. Adaptability is something I have struggled with in the past but

have been working on improving throughout the year. I love having a plan and being very

organized, but as I have learned throughout my time teaching preschool, sometimes things just

don’t go as planned and you have to be flexible and willing to improvise at times.

My interpersonal relations skills grew throughout my internship as I learned the

importance of communication in the field of teaching. There is a lot of planning that goes into

teaching and I learned the more communication and planning with coworkers the better. This

ensures that everyone is on the same page and makes a big difference when it comes to teaching

and having things run smoothly. I made it a goal of mine to build positive relationships with my

coworkers and I am glad to say friendships were definitely made during my internship

experience. I am glad to have coworkers that are also now close friends, it was nice knowing that
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I could rely on them and feel they felt the same towards me. I made an extra effort to always be

looking for ways I could help them and always strived to be of service to them in any way I

possibly could. I wanted my coworkers to know I was there for them and supported them always.

I entered my internship with a strong desire and motive to learn and grow, I was there to

improve both my skills and knowledge in child development, and I feel I did just that.

Enthusiasm is extremely important when teaching young preschool aged children, they are so

excited to learn and it was my job to help them do that in a fun and creative way. I strived to

provide fun and exciting experiences for my students. I wanted my excitement to teach a lesson

to radiate to my students and make them eager and excited to learn. I am so happy my

supervisor let me take charge so often, it really helped me to get an idea of what it will be like to

run my own preschool someday, which is my goal after graduating. My supervisor was such a

great example to me and was always willing to teach me and then let me practice what I was

taught. I am thankful for the opportunity I had to intern at such a great facility with people who

really pushed me to grow and develop so many new skills.

I am so glad I was able to participate in an internship experience this semester, although

COVID-19 made some things challenging, I can honestly say I still had the best experience

teaching that I could have imagined. I am so excited to be able to continue working as a

preschool teacher even after my internship. I have developed a love for the children I teach, and I

have built such amazing friendships throughout my internship experience, I am excited to get to

continue working with both my students and coworkers for the rest of the school year. My

internship has allowed me hands on experience that taught me so much. It taught me patience, it

taught me to take initiative and be a problem solver. My ability to communicate with coworkers,

students and their families has grown and overall, I just feel so much more confident in my
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teaching. I loved being able to take everything I have learned in my many classes throughout the

years and use the knowledge and skills to successfully complete my internship and be a better

teacher because of it.

In the scriptures Christ often teaches that we should be as a little child, and after working

with some of the most innocent and pure children this semester I can see why Christ cherishes

children so much. Young children have such a unique spirit about them and as a teacher you

can’t help but quickly develop a love for each child you teach. My students were such a great

example to me of what it means to be Christlike, seeing their smiling faces as they walked

through the door each day made me feel like the luckiest teacher in the world. I could not be

more thankful for my internship experience and all that it taught me. I will take this experience

with me as I set out to future careers and always remember all the many things I learned from

this experience.