After its disbanding during the COVID pandemic, the Early Childhood Education internship has returned to Wakefield. Students of the class work as teaching assistants at Wakefield Elementary School or Wakefield Creative Commons, the nearby pre-school. The class is led by teacher, Shavonne Lodenquai, who takes the students down to their internships every Monday, Wednesday and Friday during third period. Through this class, the students can assist the preschool and elementary teachers and gain real-world teaching experience.

Deciding to start the internship back up was an easy decision for everyone involved. The collective benefits gained through its comeback were impossible to ignore. 

“Surprisingly, [restarting the internship] was pretty smooth,” Lodenquai said. “[It was] just getting everybody on board from the daycares. They were excited to bring it back.”

The internship provides benefits all around. In this class, the students are able to apply the theories and lessons they learned in Child Development to their work in the daycares. Interning high school senior Khoi Tran takes this hands-on experience in stride. He sees the importance of connecting lessons with real-world experiences. 

“You’re actually teaching, you go into a school [and] are assigned lessons you have to teach,” Tran said. “[It feels like] in other classes, all you do is sit around and talk, but for this class, you get hands-on experience. You’re actually molding young minds.”

The experience provided by this class allows students to look into potential careers and future pathways. Sophomore Megan Hoover loves the Early Childhood Education internship. Through it, she is able to try new things and find what she wants to do. 

“I’ve always really loved children, and I do want to go into something related to health care,” Hoover said. “[This class is] an opportunity to work with children to see which way I want to go.”

The intern students work hard to take care of the children they work with. As they continue visiting, they are able to form bonds with the kids and get to know them better. Being able to work with actual children, rather than just working with theories, provides the interns with a better understanding of certain reactions and behaviors.

“Every kid has a story,” Tran said, “Even kids who are struggling, it’s not because they don’t like school, it’s because they’re going through something and they’re just reflecting what’s going on.”

Though most of the focus is on the students’ teaching and learning in the program, the elementary and preschool teachers also play an important part. They are responsible for the young students at all times, and are required to assist the interns as they learn to navigate the leading teacher’s schedule. Annette Stegner is a teacher at Wakefield Elementary School who works with one of the TA interns. Training the intern took time, but after that, her ability to effectively give all students the necessary assistance they needed was greatly increased.

“Having an intern in the classroom provides additional support and oversight,” Stegner said. “However, it requires time to train the intern, as they need to learn our routines and become familiar with the students.”

Having the high school interns come in as teaching assistants allows the core teachers to be more efficient at their jobs.

“Whenever I’m there, I know that my guiding teacher is able to get a lot more done… without [having] to worry about the kids [potentially] hurting themselves,” Hoover said.

Working as a teacher can be an incredibly tiring job. Elementary teacher Elizabeth Gilliam understands this issue and worries about the lack of interest students express in pursuing teaching as a career. She hopes that through this internship, the students find a love for the job and see all the work and care that goes into it.

“While teaching can be challenging, it is also very rewarding,” Gilliam said. “I hope our interns see what a joy teaching can be.”

The experiences gained from this class and internship are unlike any other. Those who participate get to take their learning outside of the classroom and apply it in the real world. This not only benefits their knowledge but also shapes the minds of the next generation. This class is highly recommended by all who take it. 

“I would really encourage people to take this class… It really opened my eyes and made me who I am today,” Tran said. “Now I get to teach people, and I get to say I’m a teacher, which is pretty cool.”