Reflection on the Internship Experience #11

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As we come to the end of the COMD 4900 Internship course, I’ve sat down and thought about what new information and knowledge I’ve obtained and skills I improved on. What I learned is how to stay calm in a fast working environment. It was something that I had to get used to since I only had five minutes to grab everything I needed for the day; I had to grab the materials, my laptop, my walkie, the attendance, and a cleaning bag [it consisted of paper towels, Lysol spray, Lysol wipes, hand sanitizer, and soap]. I also had to take out the snacks for the students within the five-minute mark. I learned that communicating with each of my colleagues and having a set plan with them makes it easier to set ourselves for success a day at a time along with successfully getting through the day without setbacks from forgetting something. I’ve improved my communication skills along with being more vocal when it comes to working with others. Since I was partnered with a colleague, communication has been extremely important to make sure we were both on the same page and both understood what projects would be occurring each day.

I’m very proud that I have been able to also ask for help whenever I had trouble, confused, or needed clarification. I’ve also been able to ask others for professional advice without making the feedback personal. I’ve been able to use my feedback to improve my skills as well as improve my performance. I enjoyed the experience of my internship and feel as if it has set me up for a more successful future.

Salt Painting #10

Credit: Ebony Derrick (me)

This week I’m teaching the kids an experimental DIY activity that they can also do from home. I’m teaching them how to do salt paintings. My students on Monday were extremely excited to work on the project after showing them how to do them and some examples. At first, the students didn’t know what designs to make so I helped them create designs that also represented who they were or what they liked. After they had ideas of what to do, they created 5 designs each and were excited to show their parents what they created. The featured image is a design that one of my students created on Monday, I was very pleased to see that the students were inspired to do more designs since there was some science involved in the activity. Each student created between three to five designs. I still have other classes that will also be working on this project and I’m excited to see what they create. 

Completing My Internship #9

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I have accumulated over 120 hours so far and obtained both the signed time sheet and the signed evaluation forms. I was also asked to continue working with the company in the summer at their summer camp to teach about 130 students coding and web design. I enjoy teaching middle school students art, design, and DIY. It helps me to understand what the young group demographic like. I’m now able to obtain projects are for young teens and be confident when designing for them.

I had the week off since the students are also on Spring break. I had a “one on one” meeting with my supervisor where we discussed upcoming trainings that I need to take in the summer before working with the company during the summer. I applied for one of the few trainings that have available dates. I have also been working on art experiments where I can incorporate science experiments into art to make the projects more hands-on for the students.

Experiments in Art #8

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I’m still partnered with a coworker to execute art, DIY, and design projects with about 70 students. My partner and I have decided to add experiments to their design projects. This will give the students a chance to test out things or ideas they think would work with the projects. We are also planning on giving them random items and materials to create something new using them. For example, we could give the students a pinecone so they to create something new out of it, like a porcupine. This will test their quick thinking skills along with their creative skills. Doing projects like these would give the students the opportunity to create their own projects with one or two of the materials being the same while the rest of their materials are different. 

Ethics|Ethical Reasoning: Part 2

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I have previously used photos and clip art that were someone else’s work. I gave credit by placing a link to where I got them from or placing the author or creator’s name when using them as part of my projects. When it was time to present my projects, I would say where I got the work from and the artist if I found their name. I started to create everything that I needed for my projects. I would use Adobe Illustrator to create clip art if I needed it. I would take my photographs and edit them in Adobe Lightroom Classic and Photoshop before using them in my designs.

The case reminds artists and designers to attach the proper copyright if they use someone else’s work. Now that we’re mostly creating art on electronics to create mostly digital designs and art, we need to remember to give proper credit where it’s due. Though there are copyright laws that allow us to use pictures, photographs, and other works that belong to someone else, we have to credit them the same way that they’re credited in books.

Ethics|Ethical Reasoning: Part 1

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My internship allows me to set up projects to teach middle school children at an afterschool program. I teach 70 students that are into art and also have art as their ‘major’ while at this middle school. The design work that I mostly work on are hands-on projects. The projects are done the old-fashioned way, without technology being involved. I’m working on getting permission to teach the students digital design using Adobe programs.

I didn’t have to sign a confidentiality or a non-disclosure agreement. Since I do work with kids, the parents had to submit a form or letter stating if they’d like their child to have their pictures taken or any information released or used while in the program. The forms submitted determine what and how much information I can use for my internship journal. So far, I’m able to speak about my experience without disclosing any information about the students while speaking about my experience with them.

Internship Updates #7

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I’m enjoying my internship and the projects with the students. I’ve been instructing them on their projects, and helping them execute them. I’m learning how to work with a younger age group, having projects planned for them that they can enjoy is harder since they have different interests. It has been tough a few times but the experience has been great so far. 

Something that I would like to do is to take pictures of the projects that the students do. The students work on the projects throughout the time they’re there for the afterschool program and they create unique and distinctive designs. Each design is completely different despite the same colors and materials they’re given. I would like to take pictures of their projects to create a collage to showcase the work that they’ve done.

I would also like to show them at the end of the program and internship how much they’ve developed and grown with each project that they’ve worked on. I believe that showing them how much they’ve improved their skills along with telling them how much they’ve done and improved will motivate them to continue to work on design, art, and DIY projects.

Painting Sunsets #6

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The students at my internship painted sunsets throughout the week. Blending colors to have a gradient effect in their paintings was hard for them to do. I taught them how to do the blending technique to create the gradient effect that the sunset has. My teammate/colleague and I wanted them to have the experience like they were in an art studio so we gave them Easels to put the canvases on, paint palettes, their brushes, and primary color paint to create secondary colors with. I played some classical music in the background while they worked on their paintings.

I first showed them what their finished project would look like. They were interested as soon as they saw some of the examples shown to them. I handed out the materials and explained to them where the darkest to lightest colors would be placed on their canvases. After demonstrating how to blend the colors, the students then attempted to create their own sunsets. Some added birds flying, some were with a beach setting, and others added trees. The kids enjoyed themselves and were pleased with their paintings. For some of the paintings, the students decided to gift them to the supervisor.

Training and Meeting #5

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Since my internship is at a middle school, the students were off for midwinter recess. During the week off, staff and I had a training to attend. The training touched on being professional with coworkers and students while at the workplace. It also went over safety tips and hazards to be aware of within the classroom.

Throughout the week off, we also had a meeting to conversate on what were some things that occurred in the classrooms that were concerning or if there were concerning behaviors. These meetings were ‘one on one’ meaning that I would only be in a room with the supervisor and speak about what has been going on.

The reason for this is that the students refer to us [the teachers in the room] as counselors. This is because before starting to work on projects with the students, they have something known as ‘homework time’ where the students work on their homework given to them by their teachers throughout the day. We help the students with their homework during this time frame. We also assist the students whenever they feel comfortable enough to ask us ‘counselors’ for help or advice. The internship comes along with more responsibilities than I expected but I’m very proud to say that I’m able to work with the students on projects along with helping and advising them.

Building and Decorating Birdhouse #4

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I started to work with a coworker to create DIY projects for the students as well as execute them with the students. We had our students team up to create birdhouses using popsicle sticks and decorate them with paint. Each group was responsible for coming up with blueprints of what they’d like their birdhouses to look like before starting the building portion of the projects.

This was a fun way of teaching the kids how to sketch out their ideas before going straight into working on the project. It also was to teach the students to work together to create projects that included what they and their partners would like to be seen or involved in their project.

At first, the students shared their concerns which included them saying that their ideas wouldn’t work together when it came to designing their birdhouses. After assisting them by giving them ideas on what could work, they were able to make a few adjustments. It was a great experience to not only work with someone new to execute this project despite our concern about the different types of projects we teach. It was fun to be able to set an example for the kids to show them how to work together and have them practice teamwork with students they barely knew.