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By
HEATHER EUBANK
Paoli
High School
Communication. An essential skill to any positive
working environment. I have always been proud of the fact
that I was and am a great communicator. If you would have
asked me at the beginning of the summer what I needed the
least help in, that would have been it.
Since completing my summer internship I feel that not only
has my view of my own communication skills changed--but
I now understand that others do not share my philosophy
that it is this essential skill. I feel that I have taken
away from my internship a sense of accomplishment. I know
that I did the best job that I was capable of and that I
really did learn a lot of skills (from my good friend and
co-worker Camille Goebel) that I will be able to directly
implement into my classroom. If it wasn't for her I don't
think that I would be as ready for starting the school year
this fall teaching a few extra subjects I never had before.
Camille is an amazing person and I know that I am lucky
to have worked with her.
Being placed into the business world for only a sliver of
time taught me a few valuable lessons that I really can't
believe I was so naive to not know before. First, other
people will not always work to the level you expect them
to--and they really don't have to. I go into a lot of situations
with really high expectations of how I want them to participate
in a particular task, when in reality I may be the only
person who cares about a project. I think that with my students
I need to realize that doing a task that is "life-or-death"
to me, really might not matter to them. I will need to show
each of my students just how important a task is so that
it is done correctly to begin with.
Second,
life will continue to go on around you but you mustn't let
it completely distract you. There have been days that my
students have walked in completely distraught over a boyfriend,
a girlfriend, a dead pet and I
never quite know how to respond. I learned during my internship
that lending a sympathetic ear is always a good rule of
thumb but that upset person must also know their part. Personal
things are just that-personal. No matter what is going on
in your life, there is always a deadline. If you aren't
capable of taking care of your deadlines, make sure that
there is someone who will take care of them for you.
Finally I learned that being a good communicator is not
an intrinsic gift that everyone has. I have always thought
that people who work with words are the best with them.
Nothing could be further from the truth. I think that I
go into situations with my journalism students thinking
that because they can express themselves well on paper--they
should automatically be able to verbally communicate with
me their needs and problems. I think that identifying that
misconception now will help me in the future will help me
to avoid awkward situations where I have been misunderstood
or my students have not communicated their needs.
I feel that this internship was exactly what I needed. I
had a wonderful time working with Camille and I hope to
continue my internship work in summers to come so that I
remind my self of how hard it is to be thrown into a difficult
situation and still turn out good work.
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