- This is where I attended grade school.
- Lots of technological advances have developed since then with the biggest addition being chromebooks.
- Working here as a substitute was my first official role in the department of education.
Substitute Teaching
Substituting felt like I was some kind of guidance counselor almost. I would take the lesson plans that the teachers gave me and I would do my absolute best to follow them, but I would also try to remain flexible for the students because each of them has different personalities, strengths, and weaknesses that I must experiment with. Then, I would configure my teaching angle in an attempt to discover how best to coax the students into productivity in the classroom. When I worked as a substitute teacher/ teacher’s aide for a local rural school this spring, I learned a lot about what it feels like to be a teacher in the K-8th grade setting. From the authoritative testing provided by the students’ rebellious nature to the reprieve experienced in the teacher’s lounge, I soon discovered that being an elementary teacher is really hard work. In my capacity as a substitute, I was spared the strain of generating my own lesson plans and the drama of dealing with the students’ parents. My first substituting assignment was for a PE coach. I covered classes ranging from 2nd to 8th grade. The older students were actually easier to instruct than the younger ones. However, I had a moment with the 2nd graders that I will never forget. Initially, these very young students refused to listen. I told all of them, “Until everyone sits on the bottom row of the bleachers, we are not going to have fun.” Although I did not expect this to work, they began to do as I requested one by one. Some of the kids (the troublemakers) continued to goof off higher up the bleachers. After I made a remark that emphasized teamwork, the ones seated properly began to chant, “Sit down. Sit down! Sit down!!” An unforgettable moment started to unfold. Magic is the closest word that comes to describing what I felt as all of them got seated. Finally, we proceeded to have a lot of fun playing sharks and minnows.
- This is the college book I utilized to create my original health behavior theory.
- It proved helpful to integrate some inspiration from the great Sigmund Freud regarding psychoanalysis.
- This process was fascinating, creative, and explorative.
Mental Mending Theory
A self-authored project and theory aiming to guide recovery and progression through breaking bad habits and sustaining healthy ones. Inspired by coureswork for Health Science 3310 - Social and Behavioral Health Theory and Practice, my work builds off of the Theory of Reasoned Action/Planned Behavior (1980). The Mental Mending Theory encompasses influences both within and outside of ourseleves. It places behavior on a continuum of perception and positive and negative influences. My theory fulfilled a college assignment with the end goal of providing a behavioral intervention. For instance, the steps to reinforce the capability of quitting tobacco are Talk Therapy, Taper Down, Circumvent Temptation, and Intrinsic Coping. The last step incorporated my original factor to the theory; The Snowball Effect. To put it simply, it is the accumulation of a series of positive/negative events and their perpetuating influence on behavior.
- Working alongside our internship host Emily Mahler was an absolute priviledge.
- We explored communications via teleconferencing by scheduling video interviews with our local healthcare professionals.
- The main goals of the internship entailed expanding our social network through both our community and cybercommunity by constructing a professional profile on LinkedIn.
Internship in Health Science 4975
I worked with a team of undergraduates and collaborated online during the pandemic to explore different medical professions by conducting informational interviews where their career paths and work related passions were shared. One medical professional I interviewed was the Treasurer of the newly remodeled Ozarks Medical Center. Another was a prominent healthcare administrator for Burton Creek Rural Clinic. A main objective of the internship was to become familiar with the process of networking in the professional world. Also, I created my LinkedIn profile and have continued to add to it as my experiences have accumulated. Making this profile was my first step into the professional domain of cyberspace. With it, I have an ongoing, neverending, flexible professional networking tool. Another display of my cyberpersonality.