Week 2 (July 7th-July 11th. )…I’m Lovin It!!!
On Tuesday, I finally completed my first project for my internship, My Apps Framework & Research Project. I devoted so much time learning about the various apps that can be used in classroom to make sure my work met the expectations of my team members. I’m ecstatic as my research project will be used the following week for a presentation in one of our partner school districts in South Carolina.
This week, I had the pleasure of working from the comfort of my own home as my internship supervisor; Jason Green flew out to California to the headquarters of Redbird Advanced Learning, located in Silicon Valley. I may possibly get an opportunity to visit my internship headquarters!!! Jason is absolutely the best as he is doing whatever he can to ensure I have a great internship experience. I participated in many conference calls this week with my team members Mary Milton Kelley, Cassondra Thaddies, and Jason than I can be on top of my assignments.
Thanks to Jason, I had a little fieldtrip outside of the office just before the July 4th Holiday Weekend. I received a tour of Baby Stars, an early learning facility located in Aventura, FL which is a subsidiary of Redbird Advanced Learning. Jose Biton, President of Baby Stars gave me the guided tour and introduced me to Edith Peisach, Founder of the organization. One of my favorite programs in Baby Stars is called “Mommy and Me” where mothers participate with their child in activities that help develop important skills for their baby. Baby Stars is definitely a premier early childhood learning center and I highly recommend it for parents. So appreciative to Jose and Edith for taking time out their busy schedule to give me a personal tour of the facility!!! (Check out the pics on my blog!!!)
On another note, are you familiar with the term B.Y.O.D.? If not, it is the acronym for Bring Your Own Device. This new phenomenon is when students are able to bring their mobile smartphones, laptops, tablets, and chrome books into the classroom to increase their access to the internet and digital content, and to maximize their learning. I just recently heard about this term this summer at a professional development workshop a week prior to the start of my internship. Now I can dive deep into it as I am working on researching case studies that supports B.Y.O.D. My Redbird Advanced Learning team is assisting school districts implement this concept in their schools. This project is really important to me as I do work in a technology magnet middle school. Therefore, I hope to learn as much as possible about B.Y.O.D. than I can effectively implement it in my classroom this upcoming school year. In the words of McDonalds theme song, I’m lovin it sums up my internship experience so far.