Learning to teach, the most mundane breakthrough

I have no idea why it took me so long to figure it out, but the answer to my obstacle when it came to figuring out how to teach the use of the scheduling program was ridiculously simple. I walked in to the internship not knowing how to use the program in the least, but I just had to jump in and figure it out. Rather than have the scheduler watch me work the program, we ended up getting the most recent month's schedule, and sitting down in front of the computer. She was the one who was working the computer, and in the beginning, I had to tell her where to click, what to type, and show her where things were showing up as we went along. It felt like even though she was beginning to understand the program and computer it would take far too much time, and we wouldn't finish on time. We kept working, though, and by the end of the day it seemed like she had picked it up really well. I left in considerably higher spirits than I'd been in quite awhile.

The next time I showed up, it was like we started over again. I couldn't figure it out, why didn't she remember everything she had so adeptly been using the last time I was in? My nervousness was misplaced, however. That day was even more productive than the one before; I hardly had to coach at all. Boring? Yes. Incredibly rewarding? Most definitely. I finally felt successful in my work (concerns about the compatibility between the current system and computer program aside). I was trying to figure out a way to avoid having to relearn the program again the next time I came in, and decided to come in more frequently so the information was fresher on both of our minds. It worked, and the most recent time I went in, I felt more superfluous than ever. While it was a little frustrating just sitting there feeling useless, when I could be working on other projects with that time, the fact that I am becoming useless is a good sign. I'm still really worried about how running reports and printing schedules is going to go, and if I'll be able to get that finished before the semester ends, but I'll just have to keep at it until we get to that point.

And now, we're all caught up on my internship. More later this week,

Kelsi