College Teaching Internship Journal

Elementary French I
Walsh University
Canton, Ohio
This journal will not only house my thoughts through the college teaching process, but
also share feelings and opinions that take form and change as I experience meeting new people,
teaching in a new environment, and teaching a subject in which I specialize.
Expectations
Though I will be participating in the Walsh community through a college teaching
internship, I expect to invest 100% of my energy to ensuring a positive and enriching period for
not only my students, but also myself and the university. With the intention to be as autonomous
as possible in my instruction, such an opportunity had arisen at Walsh University with the
Elementary French I course (FREN 101). As the instructor on record and curriculum designer
for my course, I will work with my faculty mentor, Dr. Ron Scott, who will serve as my contact
to learn more about what it means to be part of the Walsh community as an adjunct faculty
member; I will also be in contact with Jill Bair, the director for the School for Professional
Studies, ad Dr. Lewis Porter, the other French instructor on campus.
With my supportive network and the opportunity at hand, I have developed and aspire to
accomplish the following goals:
Develop a curriculum that continuously challenges students to learn the French language
and culture
Formulate effective teaching and learning material to optimize information retention
Provide opportunities for students to participate in class through interactive exercises
Communicate effectively with all parties with whom I connect for the internship
Follow policies and procedures of the Walsh University School for Professional Studies
program and within my syllabus
Make myself available to students who need additional assistance that surpass my office
hours
Learn how to balance grading and lesson panning outside of class time
To best prepare my students to have a positive experience in my course, I have also developed
the following goals and expectations of my students (as outlined on the online classroom portal):
Come to class. Without you, the team will be missing out on your ideas and experiences
that could make a difference.
Follow the syllabus. The syllabus maps out the intent and work of the course. Refer to it
to discover which assignments and assessments are due when.
Come with the intent to understand. Everything that we cover in this course will not only
be useful in your academic journey, but also tools that you may take for the rest of your
life.
No busy work. Everything you do has a purpose based on the want to discover a new
language and life of Francophone cultures.
I will not let you fail. If your work is not up to par, we will talk it out and see what we can
do to make it good. I also expect full effort. The only reason you would not be successful
is if you are not doing the work or are not making improvements.

 If I put forth effort to teach, put forth effort to learn. Learning and teaching are on a twoway street. Open communication and brainstorming will help you to succeed.
Ask questions. I will see you every Tuesday from 6:00pm-10:00pm. If you have any
questions, I will be available then, as well as through many online mediums. Do not
hesitate to contact me with questions or concerns.
Even though I have high expectations for myself and my students, I intend to make it a positive
experience with all whom I connect. I foresee a successful semester for myself, my students, and
the program.
The Course
For the next eight (8) weeks, I will be teaching an Elementary French I course to seven
(7) students, all whom I have been forewarned are majoring in Business and are working fulltime. The class meets every Tuesday evening at the Walsh-Canton campus in the Physical
Education building from 6:00pm-10:00pm for eight (8) weeks.
For more course information, refer to the syllabus located on my online profile.
College Teaching
Before
My initial thought about the College Teaching Internship was that it was a fantastic
opportunity for graduate students to glean faculty experience and take the chance to be an
instructor rather than just a student. With this mindset, I pursuit for an internship began in
October 2015, reaching out to several departments on and off campus. I initially had wanted to
teach practically anything, but I narrowed down my field(s) of interest to French and
communications. After several interviews and rejections to become a kind of teaching assistant
to instructors at Kent State University, University of Akron, University of New Orleans,
University of Mount Union, and Cleveland State University, I was nearly ready to cease my
search, until I was reminded about Walsh University in Canton, Ohio, which is not too long of a
commute; I suppose I never gave the university any consideration because I figured I would not
be interested in teaching a private, liber arts institution, but I was wrong.
My adventure with Walsh University did not start at on the first day of the spring 2016
semester, but rather in November when I approached Dr. Ronald Scott, Division Chair and
Associate Professor of the Division of Language & Letters (a version of a Modern Languages &
Classical Studies department at Kent State University). When I approached Dr. Scott about a
French teaching internship, he was ecstatic and insisted to surpass an intern position and assume
an adjunct faculty role. Happily, I accepted and told him that I was interested in teaching in the
spring semester. He told me that he would have to look for funding to work with him in his own
department, but he extended my candidacy to the School for Professional Studies (SPS) at Walsh
University, which offers accelerated degree programs for adults who confined by family and/or
work who aspire to earn a bachelors in nursing and/or businessoffering online courses and
courses that meet once a week for 4 hours. For the business track, students are mandated to take
French or Spanish; for several years, French has not been offered since there is only one French
professor among the whole Walsh University system (located at the Canton campus) and he
already teaches four (4) French courses and one (1) Latin course a semester, thus having no time
to assume a sixth class.

After having met with Jill Bair, the director the SPS program (located at the Akron
campus), she found me to be an instant hire. At that moment, I was unsure if it was based on the
fact that they needed a French instructor and had no other candidates, or I was actually suitable
for the position after an impressive interview and sterling rsum. The hiring process was just
like any other entry adjunct faculty member (W-4, direct deposit, references, transcripts, etc.).
After all the paperwork was processed and I was in the system, I was ready to start teaching!
Prior to winter break, I had inquired about the curriculum for the course that I would be
teaching and for the textbooks so I could look over them over the break. She had informed me
that she was waiting on the curriculum from the previous French instructor to see what they had
done in the past and said that the wait should not be too long. After waiting until the beginning of
the New Year, I contacted her again so I could see the update of the curriculum since I started
teaching on January 12th. I received a response that there was no curriculum in place and I
would be using a textbook that I have never used or known in teaching French. Feverishly, I
constructed the course, syllabus, assessments, and teaching materialup to the day that I was
teaching. Additionally, I also attended a workshop to learn more about the ECN (Sakai) that they
used as their learning management system (LMS) (similar to BlackBoard Learn at Kent State and
Desire2Learn at the University of Akron), where I networked with other first-time SPS adjunct
faculty members who did not know how to use system.
Unsure that I would be able to make all the PowerPoints for the course, I contacted the
region representative of my textbook and asked if there was a possibility to obtain copies of
presentations for the chapters. She said that there are, but I would have to wait 7-10 business
days until I would get them, which by that time I will have taught three (3) out of eight (8)
classes, so I said I would look for them in the post, but I would need to make my own material.
During
Workshop One. The first night teaching, I walked in and only three (3) out of the seven
(7) students were present and I started to internally panic, but I realized that some students would
be a little late because they were coming from work in rush hour, just like me from Kent to
Walshs Canton campus, which is about a 40-45 minute drive with traffic.
I started class at 6:10pm, which is when all of my students were in the room, getting
situated to sit in a chair for several hours learning French. I knew that I was nervous, but I didnt
want them to know, so I spoke with confidence and had all the students and I give our own
introductions with our (1) name, (2) major, (3) work experience, and (4) fun fact. It seemed that
everyone brought a special piece to the class with their work experiences and fun fact, but I think
that more will unravel as the course continues into the next several weeks.
We then started going over the syllabus and covered what are the objectives,
assignments, grading scale, reading materials, and attendance policy. I stressed the importance of
attendance since we had to fit so much information into a short period of seven (7) weeks (the
eighth week is the final exam). I also stressed about the use of translators in the course and how
that is a form of plagiarism and that will not be accepted. I could tell that some of the students
were worried when I said I can tell when you use a translator; thats how good I am at this.
Before we delved into the content, I asked the students why they chose to take French.
The common response was Spanish was full. To my surprise, this did not affect me, because I
know that I can bring them to like Frenchmaybe not as much as I do, but they can have a mild
to moderate appreciation for the language. I also had them reflect about how French could be

useful in their fields, which most of them did not know exactly how it could be. I asked the
students if they have had and French interactions in the past, and only a handful said that they
did, but the speaker had just changed to speaking in English. That is where I started to bring in
the cultural aspects of the Francophone world and how French has influenced Anglo-Saxon
developments.
Once I shared some fun and important facts about French language and culture, we
started into the content. For over two (2) hours, we went over the French alphabet, numbers 0-39,
expressing time, meeting people, and grammar [indefinite and definite articles (a/an; the)]. While
teaching, plenty of questions came up as to why the French use articles, why there were formal
and informal verb conjugations, and why the French have so many silent letters when they speak.
These were the moments that I feared most, but I was able to provide comfortable and logical
answers.
I ended the class with a quiz over the material that I taught; I told them that I encourage
taking notes and bringing the textbook to class because I would allow open resource quizzes in
class and open note tests online that were to be taken at home on the ECN portal.
Ultimately, I feel like I did alright for my first class because we were all laughing as a
class and understand that we are all in the same vote of spending every Tuesday night with each
other for eight (8) weeks, so we need to make it enjoyable.
Workshop Two. Thinking back to my first day of teaching, I entered class confidently and
happily. For me, it lightened the tension that there was already a rapport between the students
and me.
It is important to remember that in foreign language education, knowledge retention can
be difficult; that is a definite fact when it comes to consolidating and condensing information
into a seven (7) week period and then having the students take an assessment at the end. Plus, it
is a common fact that people in their teen/adult years have more difficulties in learning a foreign
language as children, unless they are passionate and invested into the language learning process.
For my seven (7) studentsranging from 31 to 65 years oldI acknowledge that it is going to
be a challenge to have the students perform well.
As of the second day of classand I think from here on outI [will] start out the
lessons with a review from the previous lesson (s), so that way they will not just learn new words
and forget the previous lessons content. Additional to this learning tactic, I decided to use a ball
that the students will throw around, choosing who will go next in the translation exercise.
Today, we learned about nationalities and household objects. The most difficult part that
students were exposed to today was gender agreements between subject/objects and adjectives
(i.e. masculine: Je suis intelligent; feminine: Je suis intelligente). For the lesson, I decided to put
pictures with the words, so that way it would potentially resonate with the students.
By the end of class, students were able to work collaboratively as a group in completing a
quiz and constructing basic phrases. Maybe there is hope for the students after all in hearing
them speak and write some French!
Workshop Three. Grading has really been taxing on me! Assigning 12 pages of work to
seven (7) students from Workshop One equals 84 pages to look at and provide feedback. I realize
that there is a lot to go over in the classes, but I am starting to think that there is a lot of work for
me to grade and for the students to do. To my horror, that was the mutual feeling when I got to
class; one of my most participatory students addressed that there was a lot of homework and that

they felt like they were being bogged down. In response, I addressed that this is an intensive
course in an intensive program, but I do acknowledge that all of us in the room were hard
working individuals working 40+ hours in a full-time job, equipped with job responsibilities and
homework to do on a weekly basis. Not giving in to the complaints of having too much
homework, I took an empathetic approach and told them that there would be changes in the
homework load. Plus, it was times perfectly for us to have this conversation because this week,
we had an extra credit opportunity that would enable them to learn some more about French
culture. Supplementary to that, I figured that they had a project to do that involved French and
business. So, I recognize that these were hard workers who needed a break. I dont see that as
giving in, but rather understanding what it means to take outside life and school life and find a
common ground.
Aside from this mature conversation about homework load, the students did another
review while throwing around the ball, as well as learned more grammatical features of the
French language and more French verbs, so that way they could learn to express themselves
more than in the first two (2) weeks of the course.
I did not feel that I had lost control of my class from our discussion, but rather opened
a floor of communication where we could speak to each other in a respectful and mature way. It
made me feel like one of the adults!
Workshop Four. This is the part of the course that I feel is the most stressful because it is
halfway through the course, almost the week to present the individual projects, and my faculty
mentor is planned to observe me soon. With all of that and the stresses of being a full-time
student, graduate assistant, intern, and part-time employee at another job, it has taken a toll on
me. That is why I have taken the time to sit down and prioritize my tasks and make it to where I
will still provide a fantastic learning experience to my students, as well as a teaching experience
for myself. That is why I started to effectively utilize a calendar system to follow a time
management schedule, so I can fulfill all my duties to all departments to whom I serve.
Class started today very well, until I noticed that there were two (2) students who did not
show up and did not let me know that they were going to be absent. Per the syllabus, I proceeded
with class as usual and at the break, I looked at my e-mail and saw no notifications from my
students. It did frustrate me at first, but then I realized that there might be a good reason; one
student is pregnant and another is a district manager for a Fortune 500 company. During the
usual 15 minute break, I received e-mails from both the students with their reasons of absence
and their inquiries about this weeks assignments and class presentation. I outlined the syllabuss
assignment portion and forwarded them the presentation so they had a reference while doing the
assigned work.
This particular week was difficult also because I have had steady behavioral issues in one
student who does not seem as invested in the course as the other students; I have not really given
them several warnings for using their cell phone during class for nonacademic purposes,
speaking out of terms with profanity, talking over others, and constant tardiness to class. After
class today, I pulled them aside and I asked how everything was going in this and other courses.
They said everything was going alright, but they were just really stressed. I asked if everything
was alright outside of school and if work was going well, since I knew they worked a salary job
for 40-50 hours per week. They informed me that they were having a very difficult time at work
and are actively looking elsewhere for employment since they feel they will get laid off in the
near future. I told them that I would keep and look out for job opportunities around his resident

area and if I could help in any way, I would be more than happy to assist. That was a very
important moment for me because that was the first time that I had really connected with a
student and provided some guidance and support to not only ensure that they be thoughtful in
class to their fellow students, but also talk about their personal life and discover any issues that I
could help them overcome. It was truly a rewarding moment for me.
Workshop Five. The reviewing process continued; we went over the content that we had
learned for the last four (4) weeks so we could get ready for the final exam. Aside from learning
new content and reviewing the last several weeks information, I decided to challenge the
students today by doing some dialogue and role playing exercises that would require
extemporaneous formation of phrases and communication between students. At the end of class,
I paired up two partner sets and one group of three, then had them choose a topic for their group.
I advised that they could write out what they wanted to say and that they could only use words
that they knew and could justify should I or any other class colleague ask for its meaning. In the
end, it was an opportunity for the students to get creative and have a laugh. One pair chose to
talk about being two family members at a family reunion, seeing each other for the first time
after 15 years. It was an absolutely authentic role play and dialogue, and yet not surprising
because the two students thought outside the box and asked me if they could be a mute/deaf aunt
(integrating communication like that of Steven Hawking) and a distant cousin from Peru who
had just won a Nobel Peace Prize. I said that as long as the class can understand and would not
be offended, they were more than welcome to do their skit. Unsurprised, they ended up doing
very well and had the whole classroom laughing and crying with their French conversation and
acting out.
I learned this week that I should incorporate more skit/dialogue exercises into the
curriculum because it proved to be quite beneficial to the students and was a form of
entertainment for the class. I know that after a long day of work, it is nice to have a laugh and
relax, which is exactly the environment that I support for my students.
Workshop Six. This was show time for me and my students! This week, Dr. Scott decided
to come in and observe my class and assess my teaching methods and ask some students how my
teaching was for them. I was anxious to be observed, but then reminded myself that what I have
been doing for the past five (5) weeks seems to have been effective, so I will keep the same
attitude and do my best.
Before I arrived, Dr. Scott and some students were in the room already talking, so I went
in and prepared the projector for the lesson and presentations. I talked a little bit about what I
was going to cover with Dr. Scott outside the classroom in the hallway, but I thought I would
provide an agenda to my students so they knew that we would be doing something different in
class.
We started class doing translations and throwing around the ball to students to participate.
After we did the translation exercise, it was time to present the French business presentations,
which turned out to be interesting and informational. All of the students had decided to
supplement their 5-7 minute presentation with visuals, which helped the class to understand their
topic. One student and I had planned a skit since she approached me about her topic about
French strikes and unions. The bad part was that as she started her act with being rowdy and
uncooperative, Dr. Scott had to leave, so he left with an impression that a student was being
defiant and I was not practicing effective classroom management. It all turned out alright

because the student told me that, just for my safety, she told him that she had it planned and that
I was an excellent instructor. I give her a big thank you and a sigh of relief.
After the presentations, we moved on to the chapter of the week and went over new
grammatical rules and vocabulary that would help them on the final exam.
Workshop Seven. This week was purely focused on studying for the final exam as a class
with exercises and activities. We reviewed content through a Jeopardy game and translations, all
while following a study guide that I provided them. I made the study guide a co-constructive
exercise, where students had to fill in the blanks with references from the book, previous
homework [corrections], PowerPoints available online, and handouts. The study guide was a key
component to studying for the exam because the students were able to use it on the final. I
decided to do this because I wanted the course assessment to mirror real-life situations where
you would be able to access references to solve problems and answer questions.
For the written final, student watched a movie titles Partir, which translates into the
American market as Leaving. The students were provided with questions that required full
sentence answers based on the storyline of the movie. The last question on the [take-home]
written final was to provide 6-10 sentences about what they think happened after the ending of
the film. I enforced the rule that they could only use words that they learned in class or if they
knew other words from previous French encounters, they could use them as long as they could
tell me what it means and the context of their writing. All the students seemed to like the movie
and were excited to be creative in their writing responses.
Throughout the week, I designed an online final exam that would bring pieces from
previous lessons in multiple choice, fill in the blank, and matching formats. I would say that
apart from grading, this was the most time consuming part of designing the assessments of the
course since it was a comprehensive exam.
Workshop Eight. The final exam! To me, I think this has to be one of the scariest days for
faculty, just so they could see their students performance in class.
We started class by the students turning in their written finals. I decided to minimize the
work of grading outside of class by grading their written final while they worked on the
course/instructor evaluations. While I was waiting in the hallway, I almost had the grading
completed until I was reading the last final that came from my low achieving student. It was
evident that he used a translator on the whole paper since there were many words, verbs and
tenses that I did not teach. Once I was called back into the classroom, I asked if I could speak
with this student real quick before the final exam started at 6:30pm. I told them that he used a
translator on his final, thinking that they would contest and say that it was all authentic, but they
said that they did in fact use a translator and could not justify their word choices. I expressed hat
I would have to fail him on the written final and stressed the importance of the online final.
While the students were working on their final exam, I entered grades from the preceding
week and waited for them to complete their final. Once they were all done, students left the room
with a packet for their French 102 course that would follow the next week for the next eight (8)
weeks. Even though I know theyre tired and anxious to complete the French coursework for
their degree program, I know that they had a wonderful experience under my instruction thus far
because I received man hugs and handshakes from the students as they left the class.

After
As I look over my journal and refer back to the my goals and the expectations that I had
established for my students, I am amazed by what I have learned and how much I have grown as
an instructor. I usually set high standards for myself to follow, as well as others with whom I
work, and I do feel that I was able to meet some expectations through my teaching experience.
Looking back at my struggles and successes in my teaching, I notice that I had to cope
with poor time management skills since I was involved in so many places as a student, worker,
and instructor. Even though I only taught my class once a week, I kept Walsh as high propriety
and making sure that my students had a valuable learning experience. Since I put my role as an
instructor first, I do feel like that it exhausted some of my energy as a student and consumed my
time studying, doing homework and socializing, but in the end it was worth it because I feel like
I was able to connect with my students and teaching what I love to adults who left class with a
smile and/or laugh made me feel satisfied and of value.
Throughout the intensive eight (8) week period, I always made sure to start class with a
good news section, where all students had to share one positive thing that happened to them
since the last class. That really seemed to be effective in not only opening up communication
among everybody in class, but to create bonds and friendships. Students had stressed that they
were in the program to just complete a degree and return back to work without worrying about
school anymore, but I wanted to make sure that they made class an opportunity to network and
relax. It turns out that the networking concept was effective because one of my students works at
a local corporation and had recruited a fellow classmate to their enterprise. That was one of the
rewarding elements of this internship: instilling a family-like, supportive environment where
others can build off each others strengths to make personal successes.
The most difficult of the whole internship process was designing the curriculum of a
class, especially in such a short amount of time with an already designated textbook with which I
was unfamiliar. It was a challenge for me without a doubt; designing the learning outcomes,
policies, assignments, assessments, PowerPointsit was exhausting and took up a large portion
of any time I sought to use for preparation in my studies at Kent State. Overall, it was a
complicated, exhausting, draining, and stressful process, but well worth the effort. I set a bar for
myself and I learned what did and did not prove to be effective in teaching foreign language at
the higher education level. Plus, it was an intensive period of time, which make me think that if I
can make a course successful in such a small amount of time, I can design a course that could be
implemented in the traditional 15 week period during the fall and/or spring semesters. This
motivated me to do such an act, which had led me to submit two curricula that have been
approved for the next academic year for me to teach.
In the M.Ed. program in higher education at Kent State, we develop our focus within
higher education, which in turn helps us lead our career hunt post-graduation. Luckily, after this
internship, I realized that in order for me to be happy and successful, I need to assume a faculty
role, particularly in teaching French. I always knew I wanted to teach, but Kents College
Teaching Certificate program and Walsh Universitys investing in me as an instructor has helped
me learn what it means to teach well, develop confidence in my specialized field, and explore
another aspect of the many faades of higher education. I know that with my experiences, my
perspective as a member of higher education academia and student affairs will only grow and
equip me to be the change agent that I aspire to be.