I am feeling really excited about placement. One of the aspects of this class overall that I am most excited for is the pedagogy side of things and gaining tools to support EMLLs and other developing language learners so I am excited about seeing my partner educator in the classroom and seeing what tools they have found to work over their experience. As I have mentioned, I have done some language education work, but have not had robust pedagogical training and so am looking forward to seeing what tools are used in the public school setting.
One aspect I am feeling a bit trepidatious about is what exactly my role in the class will be. I understand that I will have a partner educator and that the placement is supposed to serve as a praxis component for the class, but I am unclear on to what extent I should be supporting the teacher in working with EMLL students (either through following their lead/instructions or through taking my own initiative and bringing in my own tools), to what extent I should be sitting apart and observing, or something else entirely. I did not submit an age group preference, which I stand by, but the fact that at this point I could be in such a wide range of context is also a big unknown that is making it difficult to imagine what the internship placement will look like. Overall, I think I will learn a lot, but also that it will be a completely new experience and way of engaging and learning, which means there are lots of uncertainties and lots of opportunities for newness and learning.