Kayla Smith is completing an internship in a second grade classroom to fulfill requirements for an education course. She met with her on-site supervisor to identify areas where teachers need help with technology, including interactive math lessons and games on the Smartboard. Kayla explored different blog platforms to find the best fit for her classroom and created her first blog, though she is still deciding which site to use. She gathered reading test scores from students, which have not been high so far. Through creating a blog and interactive lessons, Kayla hopes to increase student comprehension and engagement.

1. Kayla Smith
ED ET 650, Fall 2012
Reflection One
September 17, 2012
Background Information:
My internship will take place in an educational setting, specifically a second grade
classroom. I will also address the faculty and staff at the school/district where I work by
developing a website on the features of a Smartboard. Currently, I am employed at
Ravenel Elementary School through the School District of Oconee County and I will be
completing my internship within these entities. The products that I will use to complete
this internship include: a website, Smartboard, tutorials, Journeys Reading Series, and a
blog. Ultimately, I hope to increase my students’ comprehension while reading the
specified stories each week and also enhance interaction and communication skills
within the class. In addition, I plan to create a website on the features of a Smartboard
and present information on how to develop interactive lessons to increase student
involvement.
Recent Accomplishments:
Since the approval of my contract, I have completed several tasks toward my internship
assignment. First of all, I reviewed and discussed the contract with my on-site
supervisor, Suzannah Eleazer, who is an expert in Education with a Master’s in Reading
and an additional thirty hours in Technology. Collectively, we considered specific areas
of need – related to technology – for teachers within our school. We determined that the
following ideas would be the most helpful and useful for teachers: Everyday Math
interactive lessons to accompany certain units, Everyday Math games on the
Smartboard to involve students with the content, and also an area for teachers to gain
knowledge about the basic features and tools in order to create more effective lessons in
the classroom. Immediately, I realized that the identified needs of my target audience
(teachers within the school) were closely related to my interests – these were topics in
technology that I aspire to become well-skilled and knowledgeable about in order to
help educators reach their students of varying abilities. FYI: Everyday Math is the
Mathematics Curriculum employed by the State of South Carolina to teach content
standards in grades Kindergarten through Sixth. Secondly, I explored many different
blog sites (e.g. Wordpress, Tumblr, Weebly, Blogger, Blogetery, LiveJournal, etc.) to
obtain ideas and determine the one that best suits my students’ needs within the
classroom. I also created my first blog on blogger, but I am still undecided as to if this is
the website I will use with my students. I compared many of the features and
researched each possibility; however, I will formulate a decision over the next few days.
Lastly, I gathered reading selection test scores from the students in my class. Each week,

2. we read a story in class and focus on a specific skill that accompanies the content. Since
school has started, the scores on these tests have not been that great – to say the least!!
Ultimately, I HOPE that this blog will increase student comprehension (and their
grades) while allowing the class to be involved, interact, and learn from each other.
Value of Activities:
With a delayed start to the internship, I feel as though I have accomplished many of the
tasks that I planned to complete in the first two weeks. This experience is extremely
important to me and I am interested in improving technology within my school. By the
end of this internship, I will be able to show you several artifacts for use by educators
and students. My blog will be available for viewing soon…