In the Spotlight
Summer Externships, 2002
by Lauren Hoehlein, UVBEP Intern
Each year, just
as the early spring rain begins to abate, and the
sun begins to warm our faces, the UVBEP staff begin
to see the first true sign of summer trickling in
through Post Office Box 350…envelopes stuffed
to the brim with summer externship applications.
With 2002 marking its seventh year, the Summer
Externship Program is one of UVBEP's trademarks, in
which anywhere from eight to fifteen lucky pairs of
educators and employers are given the unique
opportunity of collaborating on a specific project
to the mutual benefit of all involved. The
educators are able to learn new skills and
perspectives that will in turn enhance their
classroom techniques and ideas, and the employer,
in addition to these already worthwhile incentives,
is able to see that looming yet never imperative
project that has been sitting in the back of his
mind finally reach the "finished" pile! Melanie
Devoid, 1st grade teacher at Marion Cross
Elementary School and her Externship mentor, Dr.
Larry Kaplan, CHaD. At the closing
celebration on September 26, at the Vermont
Institute of Natural Science (VINS) in Woodstock,
Vermont, several of the pairs spoke of their
experiences--what they gained, what they
learned, and what was accomplished. They also talked about
what had initially inspired them to seek out this
opportunity, and how the actual experience compared with
their expectations. Many of the educators were looking for a
little more experience in the business world, particularly
in the realm of new technology, in order to bring their
schools and their own individual curriculums more up to
date. As Tafi Brown, an elementary art instructor for the
Claremont School District, said, "Experiences in that type
of business would help me to learn as much as I can about
media services in order to fully utilize modern technology
in furthering the education of my students and in
facilitating communication (becoming a liaison) between
students, teachers, parents, and the community." And
conversely, quite a few of the employers were interested in
hearing an educator's angle on how they were approaching
certain areas of their businesses dealing with instruction
or direction, or in someway involved children.
As Lisa Purcell, the director of VINS' Environmental Learning for the Future (ELF) program, explained, they try to have an education-based approach to their tours and information sessions, but they had never worked with an actual teacher in designing their curriculums. The goal of having a summer extern was to see one of their curriculums re-approached and reviewed in order to "outline student learning goals for the year and draft assessment strategies for use by classroom teachers." And as for the extern, Richmond Middle School English teacher, Judy Pond, her only request was that her position be fun! Both were accomplished with ease. Judy was able to design a curriculum along the guidelines that VINs was looking for, all with her laptop and material perched on her knees while sitting in the sun by the river.
Dr. Larry Kaplan of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center also found a teacher's point of view both helpful and interesting. Dr. Kaplan works in the Child Development Lab, studying the developmental and learning processes of young children. Interestingly, however, he had never actually had a teacher's take on how this was approached. He had been accustomed to approaching children's education and development from a very scientific and objective angle, whereas a teacher takes a more subjective point of view. In having Melanie Devoid, a first grade teacher at the Marion Cross School in Norwich, work with him in the development lab, he was able to see how an educator's style might be interpolated with his own scientific requirements. Melanie explained that it was interesting to see how the other side of the testing and study of children works, for being a teacher, she often sees and even recommends children to be tested, but wanted to be able "to provide a better link between the medical and educational communities so that students with needs are receiving the best education possible. She now feels as though she has more reasonable expectations as to what is accomplished in the labs, and what sort of timeframe and analysis is involved. "This summer I've really learned to look beyond the behavior and see what else might be going on, to ask good questions, to listen carefully to what is being said and what is not being said, and to watch body language. These will all be good things to remember when I look at my students this fall and when I talk to parents."
As the seventh year that UVBEP has organized the Summer Externship Program, it was interesting to see how annual externships can yet again take on a new flavor, while new opportunities provided posed exciting new advantages and questions. As always, each participant profited immeasurably in terms of lessons learned and overall life experience, and we are all looking forward to the inklings of summer, 2003.
