Teaching Internship

Reflection Journal
Review of Personal Goals & Expectations
08/31-09/02
This semester I am looking forward to the unique graduate experience I have been given
through Kent State. In my undergraduate career I wrestled with the idea of becoming a teacher.
Education, the process of questioning and of learning new things, as well as the collection and
scaffolding nature of building knowledge, has always been a passion of mine. I debated early on
in my undergraduate career if I should pursue teaching in Social Studies but halted in my
decision to do so based on:
1) The job market.
2) My interpretation of the restrictive nature of High School level curriculum design.
I came upon the class Womens Health Issues, through a mutual connection highly
suggesting I work and learn from Dr. Diane Kerr. I spent the past few months of summer
working at the Womens Resource Center of Portland State University in Portland, OR and felt
my ideas and interests aligned with the course description, materials, and concentration of the
professor. Ultimately I thought, why not take the opportunity to learn about new content and
broaden my experience while the occasion presented itself to do so? I am excited to both learn
with and from my students. I fully expect both respect from students and challenge in the
classroom. I plan to bring in larger picture questions relative to personal experience of students
and in this regard I expect students to engage with me and bring in their perspectives on the ideas
and questions I present.
My goals for interning with the Womens Health Issues course are relatively noncomplex. Unlike other students pursuing the Teaching Certificate I do not have a vested interest
of teaching at the collegiate level consistently. Instead, I inspire to apply the skills I learn from
this internship into my work as a HIED practitioner and to be given the open door so to speak,
to pursue teaching interests on the side of my full-time work responsibilities.
Goals for the Semester:
Working to create and understand a different type of relationship (teacher & student) with
students.
Confidence in facilitation, presentation and interactions with students in the classroom
context.
Work to provide course content in a different light. Inspiring questions and thinking
throughout lesson plans, class presentations and in class activities.
Health Care/ Affordable Care Act
09/07-09/09
This week has mostly been an adjustment week. I have been learning the lay of the land,
getting a feel of the students, the class, and of Dr. Kerr. We had one last meeting this week to
confirm which classes I would be responsible for during the semester and to discuss possibilities
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for a syllabus change in October. We are looking to change the Spirituality class discussion to
an updated conversation topic. Dr. Kerr shared that this class is typically less interesting to
students than she would like and we want to bring in a more hot topic / student interest piece
as an addition to the course. One interesting conversation from this week was Dr. Kerrs mention
of how she understands her ability build positive relationships with her students. She has been
told she gives off a relatable persona and this impacts how she interacts and connects with
those in her class. She is overall a very intelligent woman, I am excited to get to know her better.
The classes I am slated to teach for the semester are:
Emotional Wellbeing- I have a very close personal tie to the subject matter and relevant
personal experience. I would like to explore this with the students.
Body Image- Similar to Emotional Wellbeing, I have a vested personal interest in this
topic. I would especially like to talk about current cultural impacts on womens
experiences with students.
Rape & Sexual Assault- I will be searching for a guest presenter for this class.
HIV & AIDs- I will be covering class on my own, as Dr. Kerr will be away at a
conference. This is an introduction class to her class where she will be sharing the story
of her research & educational efforts during the AIDs epidemic in the 80s.
Global Health Issues- I am personally curious to learn more and spend time researching
this topic
Birth Control- Personal interest, and I would like to bring in the current Planned
Parenthood debate as I think students need to be aware of what this is about and how it
relates to their community.
Politics of Womens Health & Substance Abuse
09/14-09/16
This week Dr. Kerr was looking for something to use in the class as a conversation
starter. Earlier in the week I had shared a video with her via email that I came across online from
John Oliver. Although it was satire in some ways, it did have helpful points within it and it got to
some of the root issues up for debate in the politics of health. The link is below.
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Sex Education
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0jQz6jqQS0
I am glad that I have sometime at the beginning of the course to learn about Dr. Kerrs
teaching style. She introduced me to the class as her Teaching Assistant, which to me kind of
defines the relationship as me assisting her in the ways she facilitates her class. Some of what I
have observed so far is:
Dr. Kerr largely chooses to use a lecture driven style
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She often uses personal style and examples of friends lives and experiences in her
presentations to personalize the material the students are learning about.
She has a large pool of knowledge to pull from within many of topical areas. Of course
this makes sense, but it is slightly intimidating for me as I feel a need to live up to this
example in a way. I dont think I would experience that same feeling if I were to facilitate
a class on my own or had more personal experience to pull in for complimentary
knowledge for the classes I am slated to teach.

While I am a little out of my comfort zone in this class, I am glad to be making some impact
already and that I have established a presence in the classroom at this point. I am working on
nailing down all of the students names, but it really isnt that easy to be honest. I will note that
there are a few students that do not seem to stay engage or lose attention, have extreme sleepy
eyes and a particular pair that is distracting a bit because of their phone usage in class. I
mentioned the two girls to Dr. Kerr so we can watch and see if action needs to be taken other
than the teacher stare I have gave them today as a slight warning sign.
Guest Speaker on Substance Abuse & Complementary Medicine
09/21-09/23
This week we had our first class guest presenter specializing in addictive behaviors. I
have actually worked with Amanda prior to this particular class lecture as well, this past spring
she presented a program for my Learning Community. The presentation was phenomenal. She
used a variety of techniques/tools in her lesson (EX: polling students for correct answers with
many questions for the audience, played the video of a relevant popular song that she helped the
students digest and make sense of in terms of information she was presenting, and she used a
traditional lecture.) Amandas slides contained more pictures than information which I
appreciated, and she kept a great speed through the presentation keeping the majority of students
attention throughout the class time. The students really enjoyed her presentation and I did as
well, the materials/ class topics she presented definitely resonated with me personally.
I was not in class for the Complementary Medicine lecture as I had a commitment for my
Graduate Assistantship that morning on campus. Dr. Kerr was gracious excusing me for that
morning and she collected the attendance sheet for the day for me. I did review the information I
missed for the class that day and it was pretty dense material.
Our Bodies in Motion & Our Bodies in Motion Guest Speaker
09/28-09/30

To date in the semester so far I have noted that we rarely use materials from the book
in the classroom conversation/lectures provided.
Another note: We have one student, Corrine, who is very engaged in the class
lectures. She is one of the first students (often the only one) to raise her hand or share
a personal anecdote to Dr. Kerrs questions. Both Dr. Kerr and I appreciate her
contributions, but on more than one occasion I have noted other students responding
by giggling, rolling their eyes or scoffing. Its unfortunate, but I am not that far
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removed from being in their positions, I know it can get a bit tedious at times to have
someone overshare in class. Dr. Kerr has modeled how to handle this situation for
me, I will be cognizant when I teach next week.
As a complimentary lesson to Dr. Kerrs lecture on Monday we had a guest speaker
present on the topic Wednesday. (Another Doctoral student). At one point during the presentation
Dr. Kerr began to critique her lesson in an attempt to bring the material down to the students
level more. The lecture was a bit too complex using a lot of medical jargon, and examples that
far reach the students in class current knowledge base. It was interesting to see happen after
watching Dr. Kerrs interaction with Amanda last week in comparison to our guest presenter
Megan this week. At this point in time I am still searching for a guest lecture presenter for the
10/12 class. I am getting a little nervous as I want to be sure the presenter and I have time to
arrange an appropriate lesson plan together.
Emotional Wellbeing & Violence and Abuse
10/05-10/07
This week was my first week teaching the class. I have felt anxious and nervous
preparing for this point in my teaching internship, as is to be expected (very common thoughts
circled my mind, ie; will they understand what I am teaching or trying to say, will they engage
with me, will I follow the lesson plan I laid out for myself?) My largest goals for the lesson plan
focused around:
1)
Being able to expose students to the idea that mental health issues are not
uncommon on college campuses and in everyday society.
2)
That taking care of oneself is highly important and must be done through
conscious actions motivated by oneself.
3)
That the idea of happiness is a social construction and should be viewed as such.
It is not an end game as seems to be a common idea and is developed in different ways
and in different peoples lives through values each person holds.
I was very focused on pulling out the social influences/construction of the issues we
discussed to allow the students to see the topic(s) in a larger context than strictly explaining
statistics or showing slides with information focused on illnesses. I drilled down into metal
health issues commonly seen on college campuses to make the material more relatable and
personally engaging. It was important to me to share my experience at the start of the class as
someone (of influence to the students) who struggled with mental health and that has been able
to push past it through the help of family, friends and largely focusing on self-care as a primary
concern. I did this, although I was very nervous to as my first act as teacher, and the students
(and Dr. Kerr) reacted positively to it. I was able to break a barrier of separation early on and
exposed multiple layers of myself without degrading my influence in the classroom as a teacher.
During my lesson presentation Dr. Kerr remained a passive observer throughout (allowing me
full control of the students) and provided me with an evaluation of my teaching that we will
review together at the start of next week.
I did follow up the lesson by emailing the students a quick thank you note for
welcoming me as their teacher for the first time in the semester and to share a follow up piece I
came across. I thought it was extremely relevant being that it was in response to an important
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current event (Umpqua Community College shooting) and explored how media coverage/ the
common misuse of mental illness in media and politics in our society can easily perpetuate
stereotypical thinking.
The video can be seen here:
Why the Umpqua Community College Shooting is Not the Time to Talk about Mental Illness.
http://mic.com/articles/126277/john-oliver-just-nailed-why-the-oregon-shooting-isn-t-the-time-to-talk-about-mentalhealth?utm_source=policymicFB&utm_medium=main&utm_campaign=social

Rape & Sexual Assault Guest Speaker(s) & Body Image/Midterm Review
10/12-10/14
This week I am responsible for the facilitation of the class lessons entirely. It is exciting
to have this opportunity!
Monday
Today we had our guest lecturers from Town Hall II come into class, Renee and Karly. I
coordinated the lesson with them after a brief in person meeting with Karly at the beginning of
last week and via email with Renee throughout the remainder of the week. The class remained
engaged throughout the entire lesson and I thought our presenters did a fantastic job of
presenting factual and intriguing information for the students. There was one point in the lecture
where Marvin, one of the two men in the class (and a Kent Mens Basketball player), asked a
proactive question about the presenters suggestion of always supporting and believing a women
who has claimed to be raped. This lead to an interesting reaction from the other students and the
presenters themselves, who instead of addressing the question head on seemed to avoid it. I later
shared this experience with my own peers during Multicultural class, as I found it interesting that
the challenge was washed over instead of fully being brought to the table and discussed by Dr.
Kerr or the presenters who specialize in this work. (I should note I did not feel I had adequate
knowledge to provide perspective on the topic/to challenge his comment) It seemed to be a
missed learning opportunity for all in the class as questions like this are commonly seen in public
opinion/debate of this topic.
Wednesday
For my lesson on Wednesday Dr. Kerr was not present, she had to miss class due to
illness. When I first received her email stating she wouldnt be in, I was admittedly rather
nervous. By the time class came, I found that I was actually more confident and enjoyed my time
with the students more so without Dr. Kerr present. That is not to say I dont like her there, but I
felt freer almost in her absence. I felt I had room to open up a bit and to be more off script with
the students. I enjoyed teaching my second lesson, I had fun with the material I had prepared and
during our review session. It was a very interactive class, and I know the students appreciated the
Midterm exam review Dr. Kerr and I had put together the week prior.
Midterm Exam #1 & Eating Well
10/19- 10/21
I received my first teaching evaluation from Dr. Kerr, which was slightly unexpected but
nice to have for reflection and understanding of how my teaching is seen by others. In it she
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detailed what my lesson structure looked like, how I handled myself with the students and
suggestions for improvement. She also included some reflective questions for me to consider:
1. Do you know what type of learners and learning styles we have in this room? How can
we tell?
2. What do you feel the student expectations and attitudes are coming into this class?
3. How can our course content create personal meaning in our students lives?
4. How can we develop a more global perspective in our teaching?
5. How do you describe your teaching style and why do you think you developed this style?
We met in her office hours after class Wednesday to talk about the questions, which was a
nice change of pace, as typically we are focused on discussing strictly class related things and
logistic responsibilities when we meet.
This week I had the chance to grade the short answers of the Midterm #1 exam. This was
a great chance for me to get my feet wet with grading, something I expressed wanting
experience in with Dr. Kerr at the onset of my internship. Surprisingly even little short answer
questions can be complex to grade. You must find a way to be objective when considering the
wording or phrasing one student uses to answer a questions compared to another. I think this was
a great first experience with grading. When I have had the chance to do this before I tend to
overthink the process. This experience did not have the same effect and I know I regained some
confidence from the process.
Breast Cancer & LGBTQ/ Trans* Identities
10/26- 10/28
This week was our edited week from the initial course syllabus schedule. Earlier in
October (during my Body Image lesson) I had polled the students to see what interests they had
about womens health that we did not currently have covered as a class topic on the syllabus.
While there were plenty of different responses to the question, there were at least 3 specifically
requesting we discuss LGBTQ Health and a few noting interest in learning about Trans* health
issues. Dr. Kerr took the lead on the idea for this class as she specializes in LGBTQ health
topics.
I have to say, this was by far one of my favorite lessons she has done so far in the
semester. Her material was engaging, full of videos and personal testimony clips and she
incorporated one of our own students into teaching the lesson. Dr. Kerr knew she wanted to use
the recent Flashes of Pride poster for this lecture and so she asked one of our students,
Kayana/Nick, if they would be OK with this choice and if they would be willing to discuss the
identity listed on the poster (Demiboy/Asexual). Kayana obliged and taught about a 15 minute
lesson to the class, it was really something special. The students were all very invested in the
conversation and personal details Kayana shared with us. Kayana was open and allowed fellow
students to ask questions throughout. I think this was a prime example of using students
experiences to enrich the learning environment. That is something I strive to do in my own
teaching. I am thankful for the insight of Dr. Kerr to arrange that part of the lecture for the class
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and to Kayana for being so willing to share part of their journey and experiences with the
students.
HIV/ AIDS & Womens Global Health Issues
11/02-11/04
This week I had the responsibility of covering the class while Dr. Kerr was out of town
for a conference, meaning I had complete control over the classroom again. Being responsible
for both lectures was another good challenge, but this time I did have more guidance from Dr.
Kerr in the materials she wanted presented.
AIDs
The main focus of this class was to open up the conversation about HIV/AIDs and to
expose the students to some background information about what living during the epidemic was
like (especially for stigmatized populations). Dr. Kerr will be talking about her research and
work form the time of the epidemic in the 80s next week in class, and so this class was really the
scaffolding for that lesson. I chose to open the class with a touching scene from the movie
RENT, as I assumed many of the students had seen the movie or at least were familiar in some
way (most had) and the plot line had a great deal to do with AIDs. After the PBS documentary
finished I closed the class with a small bit of conversation and a news briefing report about
Martin Shkreli and the recent change in the price of medicines that help treat AIDs patients. I
thought this brought the far away feeling of the epidemic into a more recent event, as AIDs is
still a concern in our country even if it doesnt not hold the same scare factor it once did.
Global Health
For this lecture Dr. Kerr provided a filmed Oprah show that hosted a panel of women
from around the world discussing their experiences with Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and
acid throwing. For this lecture I thought it was important to include a small beginning
conversation about privilege, and especially the privilege to live in a country where it is the norm
that women are able and encouraged to pursue education (I closed covering the Let Girls Learn
initiative of Michelle Obama). Throughout the video I had them respond to a few different
reflection questions (to keep them focused and to *hopefully* guide their thinking about the
topics to a deeper level). The students turned those in for attendance points that day in class.
After reviewing them (I was pretty impressed with their responses) Dr. Kerr and I decided to
incorporate those responses into bonus points for those students as well.
I noted and told Dr. Kerr that our attendance had really dropped since the first exam and
that we might want to consider exploring options to reinvigorate the students drive to come to
class (even if it is cold and yucky outside).

STIs, HIV/AIDS and Women & Veterans Day

11/09-11/11
Dr. Kerr presented her AIDs research with the students. She did an excellent job, it was
one of her best classes of the semester to be sure. She brought in a ton of visual aids, movie
clips, moving pictures of people and families, stories to share and overall painted a very
realistic picture of this time in our countrys history for the students. On the other hand this
class was interesting because Dr. Kerr had a slight meltdown due to a phone issue in class.
She blatantly called out two of our students (I actually noted the issue in an earlier journal
about these two) who were being distracting with their phone usage in class.
Although I do believe the student deserved to have action taken, the episode caused quite
a scene The student combatted Dr. Kerr on her request to leave the classroom for the
remainder of the time and then continued to combat her at the end of class. I was pulled up to
talk with her as well. I told the student that it really was an issue that she needed to stop
immediately, as it was disrespectful and distracting to her peers in the class and to Dr. Kerr
and I. Overall the incident was really uncomfortable. I thought there might be some bigger
issues to stem from this, luckily that was not the case. I think it was probably a positive
coincidence that the next class was on Veterans Day and everyone had a little extended break
from the class to calm down and reflect. Ultimately I learned the lesson that you should
DEFINIETLY pay attention when a professor is presenting their lifes work and research I
mean it goes without saying, but I think everyone learned the same lesson that day.
FGM Guest Speaker & Birth Control
11/16-11/18
Dr. Kerr gave me the responsibility of reviewing the reflection papers some of the
students handed in after her AIDs presentation. I enjoyed this opportunity to review their written
work, but I will say I was a little shocked at some of the quality of the papers we received. Many
of the students apparently didnt re-read or grammar check their work prior to turning it in for
grading. While I was not extremely harsh (Dr. Kerr mentioned never giving below a 16/20 on the
reflection papers) I did leave many comments on their papers. Mostly I tried to encourage them
to think of how their reader was following/understanding what they had read. In the end I know
that the students are often rushing to turn in a paper (I have been there), but it was still important
to me to offer up the perspective of someone trying to follow their work because it was hard at
times for sure to read those! Another note I had about the papers is that when the professor is
passionate students definitely take note. Many of the students commented on how much they
enjoyed Dr. Kerrs investment in the AIDs lesson that day and how engaged they were from
hearing her share her research and personal story.
Today was also my final day teaching the class as well as my final observation day. I was
nervous to be observed by another professor, especially on subject matter I am not extremely
well versed in. I had some questions I struggled to answer during the class and so I did
appreciate Dr. Kerr stepping in to assist and field some of the father reaching questions I had not
read about to prepare for my lecture. Overall I think the lesson went well, I know the students
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enjoyed the pop quiz I gave them at the beginning of class to get them all participating. It has
been a tremendous experience teaching this semester and I think that in my career I will
definitely value this semester working with the students in the classroom.
Midterm Exam #2 & Pregnancy/Labor Guest Speaker
11/23-11/25
The last stretch of the semester feeling is definitely in the air. We had our Midterm #2 in
class Monday and Dr. Kerr excused me from the class on Wednesday to go home for the break.
Over the break I spent time grading the students short answers on the exam they did not do
well. While Dr. Kerr admitted to me that this exam was harder, I dont think the students spent
near the amount of time studying as they did on the first exam. That, and I think they were sorely
missing the exam review we did for them the first time around. Regardless, I can tell the students
are needing a break at this point in the semester. As are we all I think!
Book Review
What the Best College Teachers Do
11/30-12/02
I truly enjoyed reading this book as part of my internship experience. Ken Bain author of
What the Best College Teachers Do, offers readers an excellent amount of perspective and ideas
to consider. These idea work for future teachers and those planning for another semester in their
same classrooms. I found that many of the thoughts Bain shared in his work I related to, or that I
could think of a personal experience or moments I had observed those elements of teaching in
my own education career. Some of his most influential topics for consideration for me were his
ideas regarding: class assessments, the professors investment or passion for the subject matter,
consideration of planned outside learning opportunities, and respect and engagement with
students.
I enjoyed Bains approach to the way he believes teachers should treat and interact with the
students in the classroom. I found myself reflecting on my own teaching and looking for ways to
better implement the thoughts he shared. He relies heavily on the simple idea that the students
you have in your classrooms are people. They are people with thoughts, ideas, opinions and
perspectives of the information you share with them. As crazy as it sounds I do believe that often
times, professors and teachers alike, forget that fact. Considering this work I believe there are
many new ideas I could infuse into my teaching style and even into my practice as a student
affairs administrator.
Bain, K. (2004). What the best college teachers do. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Heart Disease & Diabetes

12/07-12/09
I dont think that we have recovered from the needing a break feeling. I think the
dynamic in the class has changed quite a bit from the beginning of the semester. Students are
struggling to show up at this point in the semester at all, and Dr. Kerr is showing herself to be
pretty worn out at this point of the class too. I feel like we are almost pulling teeth a bit to get
to the end. We did have a guest lecture in class this week. One of our students is pursuing her
Masters degree, and as part of her final grade she must present on the book she read for her
book review assignment. While her presentation was pretty good I think she relied a bit too
much on videos to kill time and missed the chance to really dive into the material of the book
itself. I could tell Dr. Kerr was a little frustrated with her presentation. She cut Jessica off due
to time, and it was a bit awkward. I could hear some of the students mumbling comments, I
think there has been some loss of trust between Dr. Kerr and the students.
One final note from me, I do wish I had maintained a bit of a stronger mentorship
relationship with Dr. Kerr as well. I would have enjoyed some more invested reflection time
with her at the end of the semester. She has expressed that her schedule has been rather
packed, which I understand, but I feel I have missed the connection we had at the start of the
semester. We will be wrapping up the class soon, its hard to believe how quickly the
semester has gone by!
Final Retrospective Essay
This semester has been one full of new experiences and teaching moments for me.
Starting out early on in the semester I maintained loose goals focused on bringing my work
as a Teaching Assistant into the work I will be doing as a full time professional administrator.
While those personal objectives still hold their value, throughout my time working with the
students and with Dr. Kerr I saw moments where I met the goals I set out for myself and
times where I did not hit the standards I had set.
Initial Goals for the Semester:
Working to create and understand a different type of relationship (teacher & student) with
students.
Confidence in facilitation, presentation and interactions with students in the classroom
context.
Work to provide course content in a different light. Inspiring questions and thinking
throughout lesson plans, class presentations and in class activities.
It was a give and take relationship throughout the semester. The hardest goal I set out for
myself consistently was confidence in facilitation. At times I felt lost in my attempts at
preparation, as the health field is not my own. Regardless, I was able to learn a great deal and
found ways to incorporate what I did know and found intriguing into the lesson plans. Dr.
Kerr was helpful in providing me with previous lesson presentations for my use in this
process as well.

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Considering the time and effort dedicated to the lessons I created for the students, I still
find myself asking if I was focused enough on being, what Ken Bain describes as, learning
centered. Often times I found myself worried about what the instructional materials would
look like, how the lesson would flow, if the instructional technology would work properly or
if I would fill the appropriate amount of time. While those questions are important to
consider, I do not believe that they address the heart of being a learning centered teacher.
This is where I found my greatest struggle throughout the semester, asking myself am I
putting forth my best effort to create something a student can engage with and learn from in
his or her own way? Am I considering new options, or instructional techniques that might
create more investment in the lesson itself? While often times I found myself combatting the
questions of, will this be on the exam?, I knew that if even one student learned something or
took a second to consider an idea as more than just a piece of knowledge to memorize and
spew back, then I had done something right.
Truly I wish I had taken Faculty Roles prior to this semester to help in building a better
and more supportive relationship with Dr. Kerr prior to the course. Hindsight is 20/20 as they
say. I feel in future endeavors of similar type I will aim to establish more intentional
relationships early on with co-workers and students alike. I want to allow myself to be seen
more heartily. This is something I strive to do in my work life currently as well. I shine in
one-to-one relationships often, but struggle in building rapport with groups quickly and
confidently. Considering this I think providing myself time to chat with students outside of
class would be an idea to explore in my future endeavors. This semester has been a great
learning experience for me and regardless of my wish to do more, change more, or tweak
particular outcomes, I know that going forward I will have only benefitted from this
experience.

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