Amy K. Pondering Her Future

Practicum has been very beneficial to me, especially for my senior year. I have been undecided of what I want to study in college and still am. Fortunately, Practicum has helped me in various ways to have a better interest of what to study for in college. I have visited multiple placements but one that really interested me for a career is special education. I worked with Ms. Knorr at all of my placements and she has been a great and helpful mentor to me. I had the chance to work with her students and see what her job is actually like. I enjoyed being able to work with the kids and actually experience part of her job for myself. I liked helping and leading the children with their work, it felt great to know I was making a difference. I want a career where I have the chance to work with and help people and special education is a good chance for me to be able to do so. Not only did I enjoy my placements with my mentor, I think deciding to interview her about her job has also helped me to lean towards special education. She told me about the rewarding and satisfying feeling she gets from doing her job-two feelings I would love to feel in my future career. Working and talking with Ms. Knorr has motivated me to keep special education something to consider in college and hopefully as a life time career. Also, I am a person who is patient, caring loving, and hard working. I believe that one day, I will be able to apply those personality traits not only into a career of special education, but any career. Although I am running out of time and will need to decide soon, the Practicum program has helped me to see careers that I do not like and careers that I should consider to look into for the future.

Sarah G. at Notre Dame's Special Education Program

This week in practicum, I had two field days and I went to Notre Dame both times. At first, special education was actually just a career I wanted to learn more about. I thought this because I was not sure if I was cut out to be a good special education teacher. It turned out that I absolutely loved it, everything about it actually. I went over and taught the boys math. It was so much fun. The boys were so great and welcoming I did not feel uncomfortable at all. The first day was when I really realized how much I actually did love it. It just such a rewarding job because you feel so good about yourself. You just feel so happy and proud that you made a difference in someone’s life. They were all so polite and they were the reason I loved it so much actually. They were great kids. I would love to have this as my career because it made me feel so good inside. The only thing I did not like was I wish I could have spent more time with them. It was such an amazing experience working the kids I wish I could have stayed longer.

After both of the visits, I realized this could be something that I might want my future career to be. I never thought of myself as someone that could be a teacher, but I realized how amazing of a job it actually was. This is definitely one of my top career choices now after my experiences at ND. I just have to make my final decision between a special education teacher and a nurse. I am so lucky and happy I got to work with that program because it opened my eyes to a million more opportunities and career choices.

GiAnna L.'s Experience at St. Eugene

This week we had the privilege of being in the field both days of class. I had a good experience at St. Eugene and learned that I need to be more confident in myself and the knowledge that I have in order to help the kids in the class room. I realized that I do know what I am talking about and I do have the skills it takes to be a teacher, I just need to apply them every day in order for the kids to be confident in me and in themselves. One thing that I truly enjoyed about this week was getting to teach the kids counting coins. It was a good experience because some kids understood it, so I got the pleasure of watching some grow, as well as getting the opportunity to work with those who struggled.

I loved being in the field this week and being around the kids. There was nothing that I could think of, in my week, that I did not enjoy. It was a very satisfying experience. I got to once again, work with the second grade teacher, Mrs. Glynn. She not only allows me to get involved but she also takes the time to sit and talk with me about my plans for the future and college. Once again this week I practiced being patient and had to think of different ways to help those who struggled. I learned that sometimes not ever concept works for all students and you are forced to think of ways on the spot.

This experience helped me to grow as a person because it made me realize that I have to be confident in myself in order for the kids to be confident in what I am teaching them. I have to make they trust me and I have to trust myself that I know enough to help them. Rereading my essay made me very pleased about the week I had but sad to see that Practicum is coming to an end and soon I will have to face this in the real world!

Magdalena R.'s Experience with the ABA

This week's Practicum experience was truly an amazing experience! I worked in the Marketing field with the American Bar Association. I learned many things specifically about what the ABA team does as well as what the job of Marketing/Management consists of.

I arrived at the Hilton in downtown Chicago to attend the ABA Tech Show. The show was set up for lawyers from all over the country. I worked with Mrs. Tami Behland who works as the Manager of Travel Services in the ABA company. Before her new position, she worked only with the Marketing part of the business. This week, I really enjoyed being able to see a job I'm interested in, in action. I was even able to help out with a few things around the ABA table.

As I thought more about what career would fit me for the future, I found it even more challenging. I found many of my personal skills useful in the job of Marketing or Managing. You need to be very organized to have everything running smoothly, you have to be able to talk to people with confidence and with persuasion, and you have to add your own creativity to grab peoples' attention. Although it is not the easiest major to find a job far, Mrs. Behland told me that it's important to start at the bottom and to go up from there. I really felt comfortable at the event and as if I could one day do a similar job. I know this is an amazing experience for someone of my age, and I am so thankful for it.

After this week, I have yet again realized that narrowing down my major or career choice will be very tough.

Rachel S. in Occupational Therapy

This week in practicum I got to experience something new. I went to the hospital and observed occupational therapy. At first, I was with Mary and she was working with a young girl. She was born with the top half of her thumb facing down. It is hard for her to move it and she goes to therapy once a week so try and work the knots out in her finger. First she was getting her thumbs massaged and then she started to put a gel on her thumb and used a machine to warm her thumbs. After that she use silly puddy to help the strength in her fingers. Another patient came in and she broke her elbow in the winter time so she had surgery on it. She goes to therapy for a larger amount of time than other people do because she needs to regain strength in her arm. I watched her work out on many different machines in the fitness center. One of the occupational therapists was telling me all of the different patients they could treat and how long they might have to work with the patient for.

I went to occupational therapy again on Thursday. This time I was with a woman who was a pediatrician occupational therapist which was more interesting to me than my first placement. A boy came in and he was diagnosed with autism. I felt like I could relate more with this form of occupational therapy because I am interested in special education. I also knew more about his disability. She explained many to me many of the reasons why they have to see occupational therapist and they are not always easy to work with when you first start with them. Their wrists function differently than others do so they do not like to write.

These placements were very different than my past ones. It opened me up to seeing other things that I was not aware of before. I know how lucky I am to have this inside view of so many different careers.

Jackie Z. at the Dentist

This week in Practicum I went to the dentist both days. Both times I worked with the hygienist, Joanne. The first time I was there, there wasn’t really anything going on. There was a family that was supposed to be there but they were running late. So as we were waiting Joanne was going over things people usually don’t do and lie to them about. As we were waiting she mentioned that people usually don’t floss and she asked me if I did and I told her I can’t really floss because I have my retainer. She then gave me a threader and taught me how to floss under the retainer. The family finally showed up, and I sat in on the appointment with a 16 year old girl named Allison. The whole time Joanne was talking about everything she goes through. Joanne also taught me how to use the threader again, while seeing it on a patient made more sense than doing it myself. Afterwards we had to take x-rays and Joanne took me into the black room and taught me how to get the x-rays. We had to take them out of the bite tabs, put them in the holders and then put them in a machine to have them processed. But we ran out of time, and I had to leave before the dentist could come in.

The second time I went I worked with Joanne again. This time I was there for two hours. I came in on the end of a patient and I came just in time to see what the dentist does. The patient explained that he was flossing and he had ripped a filling out while pulling the floss out of his teeth. So I was able to see the dentist put in a temporary filling on the patient. Afterwards Joanne showed me how they have to clean everything and that they have to keep their gloves on just in case the patient lies about some disease they have. We also had to set up for the next patient but this set up was different than the rest. The patient had implants and that is when they have fake teeth with titanium screws in their gums. Because of what the fake teeth are made of we had to take out a different set of tools to use. After the patient got there we had to take x-rays and develop them. While we were waiting Joanne taught me how they have to clean their tools in-between patients. Joanne also showed me how you floss implants and bridgework differently than regular teeth.

Working with Annie and Joanne has taught me so much and I know more now than I ever thought I would at this age. While working at this dentist office I have grown a liking towards dentistry and this is something I am really looking into. This has made me grow as a person because I am no longer confused with what I want to do.

Sara D. at the Chamber of Commerce in Edison Park

This week in Practicum I went to the Edison Park Chamber of Commerce. This was the first time at this placement. While at this placement we first talked about the other placements I have been to, and about what college I want to attend. Than we began to talk about what Alison, my mentor does. I told her that I knew they were in charge of Edison Park Fest, but they she told me about the other events she plans and how they plan Edison Park Fest. After talking for a while she had me help her with some work. I had to type the names and information of the family events that are going to be at Edison Park Fest in a Excel document. When I was done with that I had to type up another paper with names and information of people for an Ad Bag. Then before I left she asked me to take a letter to the mail box, so I went on a little walk around the block to the mailbox.

During this placement I learned that I am a lot better at Excel than I thought I was. I also learned that event planning is a lot of paper work and contacting of people. While I was doing the typing Alison was on the phone talking with different customers. The thing I enjoyed the most about this placement was that I kind of got a sneak peek at the events and different activities that will be at Edison Park Fest this year. This placement was very fun because I liked how I was able to be a part of the work and get it done for her. I worked with Alison and she is the event planner of the Edison Park Chamber of Commerce. During this placement I learned that you need to have a lot of patience and be able to communicate with people very well. For me my traits fit this because I am a patient person and even though I do not enjoy communicating with people I am still a good communicator when necessary.

This placement helped me to grow as a student because I believe that it is something that I might enjoy when I am older. I found it fun and exciting being able to get the first hands on, on things and large events. After rereading my reflection I feel very good about myself and I feel like this placement really fit me. I enjoyed it a lot.