KELLY DUNHAM

JULY 2014
400 HOUR INTERNSHIP
CUMULATIVE HOURS 94.5
ELCC STANDARD

MAJOR ACTIVITIES

STANDARD 1

Worked with students/parents on absences and tardies

Hosted faculty meeting with English Teachers
Worked with administration @ Belfast building schedules for
Teacher/Classroom Aides
Read SLO/APPR info. specific to Belfast
Started creating testing accommodation schedule
Hosted faculty meeting with Science Teachers
Help group student meeting
Held teacher interviews
Audited English Class
Created individual special education accommodations lists
for teachers for testing day
Ongoing changes to testing accommodation schedule based
on late registrations and re-grouping
Assigned rooms and teachers to testing schedule
Met with teacher opening day of summer school
Set up Office and Classrooms
Called home for attendance issues
Started attendance tracking system
Reviewed IEPs for medical alerts
Circulated and met new students
Addressed smoking in bathrooms
Arranged make-up times for instruction
Planned monthly faculty meeting
Discipline of student smoking
Assisted Belfast administration in arranging teacher
interviews
Attended full staff mtg. at Elm Street for all summer BOCES
Employees
Hosted practice fire drill

STANDARD 2

STANDARD 3

STANDARD 4
STANDARD 5

Took attendance
Registered new students
Organized and distributed IEPs/504s
Monitored hallways during transition times

Greeted students daily and dismissal

STANDARD 6

Screened interview candidates & reviewed hiring policies

STANDARD 7

Worked on electronic portfolio

REFLECTIONS/COMMENTS:
7/3/14
Three hour time frame to gather all summer school teachers and work out every
last detail. So many small and big factors go into initial set-up of a program despite
all of the preplanning. I was able to take concerns and address them while Principal
worked directly with staff. Since we are using another schools site, it is interesting
to see how organized the Administration is at the site in preparing for the summer
program. The site Principal made a visit to introduce himself and make sure we had
a name/face as well as any of our needs met. Definitely what every Administrator
should do in order to make sure things are running smoothly. Face-to-face contacts
with all stakeholders today was vital, it opened up a lot of problem solving and
clarification.
7/7-7/11
Opening day of summer school was filled with lose ends and making sure students
were accounted for. I took attendance for both sessions and called families to see
why students were absent. Communication home is a key! One parent did not
realize that her child was signed up to attend, another parent was confused and had
been misinformed. With a three day absence policy, communication of absences
can make a huge difference. I was able to work with a family/teacher to
accommodate their vacation and provide make-ups. I am making it a point to meet
and greet students when they arrive, during transitions and during breakfast/lunch.
BOCES Supervisor placed an emphasis on creating a culture of getting to know the
students and promoting relationships and achievement. I fully agree with this
concept and am trying to make a connection with each student. Our first faculty
meeting was key as well, good relationships with staff is making for great
communication. Staff feels comfortable stopping in and letting us know what they
need. Our reaching out to staff during any possible times is important to me. In
reviewing IEPs and 504s, we discovered that a student requires a Nurse due to
seizures. An important lesson that Administrators need to be very detailed oriented
and go through paperwork with great attention. Our fire drill was successful, we
planned in great detail prior to the drill. Good communication between

Administrators is essential, we were able to trouble shoot gliches and talk about
improvements for the next drill.
7/14-7/18
Assisted Administration in conducting vacant teacher position screenings and
interviews. I took the time to go through all candidates folders prior to the
interviews. A team approach to screenings/interviews is so important as a means to
open up discussion on strengths, weaknesses and concerns. It is very interesting to
see the significant differences in candidates in various stages of experiences and
education. Presentation and preparation are huge factors that came into play. For
some of the interviews the teachers were given a block of time to give a mock
lesson to four students. One candidate wore work boots and did not have any
lesson materials written down for the committee to see. I believe he was very
knowledgeable but did not take the time to adequately prepare for the part. At the
end of a long afternoon, administrators did not hesitate to decide to open the
position up to a wider search area. If an appropriate candidate is not found, there is
a possibility of hiring a one year long term substitute and starting the search
process over again in a year. Selecting the right candidate is vital and
districts/administrators should not settle if they are not comfortable with the
selection. This was a good learning experience in understanding what
administration and teachers are looking for across the board in hiring. A lot of
useful tips for myself as I eventually go through the interviewing process again.
7/21-7/31
Working on building a testing accommodation schedule for Regents/RCTs has
proven very time consuming. Through the entire process, I have understood a
breakdown in the system and made a recommendation to my Supervisor for
improvements in the process. Districts are not consistently identifying students that
have IEPs and 504s and are not sending these to summer school. We have nine
more days of classes and are still finding students that have disabilities but no
indication that they have accommodations. The recommendation to my supervisor
was for BOCES to update their software for districts to have a mandatory field in
which they must identify a student who has an IEP or 504.
Attending faculty meetings has proven useful. It helps to establish the culture of
the program by promoting open communication, attention to detail and being
proactive on issues. Summer school is very well organized and has many useful
systems in place such as routine faculty meetings. Documentation of the processes
and systems is handed down each year along with appropriate forms and
documents to be used. I have learned in my own job that creating checklists, with
time frames, greatly helps year to year. This helps with consistency, ensuring that
duties are not forgotten, review of procedures for improvement and accuracy. A use
tool for any leader.