My name is Kristen Ehrhardt and I'm going to be a senior at Canisius in fall 2007-spring 2008. My major is Psychology, with a minor in School Psychology, and I'm looking to pursue school psychology in grad school.

My school psychology practicum will begin on May 22nd and I will be spending 5 days a week from about 8am to 3pm with Carolyn Sanchez, the social worker for Lackawanna Middle School.

Tues. May 22, 2007: 8am-3pm
Today was my first day at Lackawanna Middle School and I wasn't quite sure what to expect. When I arrived, I met with Carolyn Sanchez, the social worker for Lackawanna Middle School, and she provided me with some general information about the school district. I was informed that there is a high failure rate for students and a quite diverse population, with a particularly large population of Arab-American students. I was also told that although Miss Sanchez is the middle school social worker, she often has high school students visit to speak with her as well. Following this initial meeting, I was introduced to several people, including the principal, and signed in on a sign-in sheet. After learning the ropes, we then returned to Miss Sanchez's office and four students, all of whom were high school students, visited for about a half-hour to talk. I found it interesting that the students were so open in front of Miss Sanchez and spoke about what was going on in their personal lives (i.e. fights with friends, birth control, prom, etc.). One particular aspect of the meeting which stuck out to me was when one of the girls was talking about her family problems, especially with her younger sister who has major behaviorial problems and was supposedly diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder and Seasonal Affective Disorder. The girl also talked about her mother's health and emotional problems, which I found to be unfortunate since it became apparent that the girl and her sister's problems stem from their mother's problems. After this, Miss Sanchez informed me of some problems that occured on the senior class trip in Disney where several students were misbehaving and were missing during times when they should not have been. Senior privileges were taken away (like prom, a senior boat ride, and other activities) and then given back when lawsuits were threatened by parents. Miss Sanchez told me that she was not happy that the privileges were given back to certain seniors when the students were warned many times that their privileges could be taken away. She told me that she was attending a meeting after school with parents and other teachers to discuss the incidents that occured on the senior trip. Two senior students from Lackawanna High School then came into the office and spoke with Miss Sanchez about problems regarding their forbidden relationship with each other. The girl, who was Caucasian, was dating the African American boy and her parents were completely against her dating a person from the African American race. I was appauled at hearing how the parents threatened the young boy (who will be going to UB in the fall on a scholarship) and negatively stereotyped the whole Black race. The girl had been lying to her parents about the relationship for a year and just recently revealed that she was dating the boy. Miss Sanchez was very encouraging to the couple and commended the girl for standing up for her beliefs and for no longer lying to her parents. Following this meeting, Miss Sanchez and I went to the classrooms of two junior high students who were fighting to get them and bring them to the office for a meeting. One boy had the other boy beat up by another (the boy had a black eye and numerous cuts and bruises) and the boy who was beat up was set on getting revenge on the other boy who had instigated the fighting. The two boys were former best friends and Miss Sanchez sought to convince the one boy not to get revenge but the boy was incredibly unreasonable and set on seeking revenge. No matter what Miss Sanchez said, the boy would give vague answers and refused to back down even though he knew that charges could be pressed on him. He kept stating that he basically didn't care what happened to him as a result and I found this quite sad to witness. Miss Sanchez and I then went to lunch and when we arrived back, we had a few other random visitors from the high school who spoke briefly about what was going on in their lives. The final meeting that Miss Sanchez had for the school day was with a 16 year old girl who was in the eighth grade and who is in danger of failing the eighth grade once again. Due to poor attendence, poor test scores, and failing to complete her homework, the girl may not graduate and may have to repeat the eighth grade for a third time. The girl is encouraged to meet with Miss Sanchez a couple of times a day for help with her homework but she fails to do so. The girl kept underestimating her abilities and making excuses for her failures. Miss Sanchez was encouraging and sought to motivate the young girl, even though the girl didn't seem to want to cooperate. My first day was very interesting and I couldn't help but admire Miss Sanchez's efforts to help these children. I'm look forward to working with her, she seems so nice and makes me feel comfortable in this new environment.


Wed. May 23, 2007: 8am-3pm
My day today was pretty productive at Lackawanna Middle. It started off with Miss Sanchez telling me about what happened at the meeting she had the previous afternoon with the parents and teachers involving the senior class trip to Disney. She was disappointed that the parents were given the option to choose the consequences for their children, rather than having the senior privileges taken away by the school. In other words, the kids got away with their bad behavior and Miss Sanchez expressed her disappointment with a girl who hadn't apologized for her disrespect on the trip. After speaking about this, the girl actually came into her office and apologized to Miss Sanchez (obviously because her mother had probably spoken to her). Other high school girls entered the room to talk about general things for a little while and then left for class. Miss Sanchez and I then went to go get two seventh grade students to discuss their progress reports. We walked to the main office and Miss Sanchez read their reports, asking them questions as to why they weren't doing well. The boys were quite defiant and clearly needed some extra assistance. We all spoke about the importance of working hard to get to the next grade and what needs to be done in order for the boys to achieve their goals. Later, Miss Sanchez allowed me to look at some students' IEPs and BIPs in order to give me a better understanding of what details go into developing ways to help the child; looking at these were quite disturbing and sad. Miss Sanchez and I then attended a 504 meeting, along with the school nurse and several teachers. During this meeting, it was concluded that the boy in discussion was to receive special accomodations for his disability and his parents are to be asked to consent to their child being evaluated to see what his needs are. The parents must also attend a meeting to discuss what exactly will occur with their child. The day concluded with a boy coming in talk to Miss Sanchez (through her request) regarding his family situation and his failing grades. The boy spoke about his marijuanna use (although he denied it at first) and then talked about his hate for his mother who is addicted to pills. The boy lives with his father and basically expressed that he didn't care whether she was alive or dead. He eluded to the fact that he was abused as a child and that he would be happy to physically fight his mother. Two female students (one who was pregnant) came into Miss Sanchez's office and became involved in the conversation. The pregnant girl preached against the boy's marijuanna use, talking about her experiences with the drug, while the other girl spoke about how smoking marijuanna was not a bad thing. It was shocking to hear these students (who were ages 15 and 16) speaking so openly about their drug use in front of Miss Sanchez. However, it's good to know that the students do have an outlet to express themselves in Miss Sanchez's office.


Thurs. May 24, 2007: 8am-3pm
My day at Lackawanna Middle was quite interesting as usual. Our day started off with some senior girls coming in to talk about what's going on in their lives. Miss Sanchez had an appointment to meet with a young girl who was in danger of failing the seventh grade and informed me that the girl was unwilling to complete any of her work or exert any sort of effort; Miss Sanchez had been meeting with the girl since the beginning of the year and her lack of motivation has only gotten worse. Even though Miss Sanchez had worked for so long to motivate the girl and create goals for her, the girl simply displayed a careless, lazy attitude. It was truly unfortunate to watch this girl since she didn't seem to care at all and her answers were simply "I don't know" to basically every question. It's hard to witness a promising young life go to waste and there's not much one can do to help if the child does not wish to be helped. The principal then had two junior high girls (who were close friends) sent to Miss Sanchez's office to resolve a conflict. Watching the interactions between Miss Sanchez and the girls reminded me a lot of myself and my junior high friends when we were that age. The one girl's other friends had been shouting nasty things to the other girl and she had become angry with her friend for associating with people who are not nice to her (it was basically typical girl fight). I thought it was touching to learn that the one girl truly valued the other girl's friendship and had been there for her during family problems, and Miss Sanchez easily resolved the conflict by demonstrating that the girls need to be more tolerant and patient, as well as aware of how they should act in order to respect the other's feelings. Following this meeting, the principal had again sent down two junior high students who were fighting in the hallway. One of the boys had actually met with Miss Sanchez and I yesturday and was again displaying troublesome behavior. Both boys had claimed that friends were telling them that each had been talking behind the other's back and the boys were threatening to have the other beat up. Miss Sanchez asked the boys how they could resolve the conflict and both boys agreed that they needed to stop talking about the other and not to be so quick to believe exactly what their friends tell them. At the end of the day, an eighth grade boy in danger of failing had a brief meeting with Miss Sanchez. I found it quite surprising and sad to hear that no one in his family had graduated from high school - Miss Sanchez tried to encourage him to be the first in his family to graduate. Today also, Miss Sanchez informed me that I may be able to visit the school psychologist for Lackawanna one of these days, something that I'm pretty glad about.


Fri. May 25, 2007: 8am-3pm
Today started off with the typical visits from the senior girls (which I enjoy - they're very entertaining). Miss Sanchez talked with me about how she received an email discussing how problems like those that arose on the senior class trip to Disney could be avoided in the future. She was asked to help develop some ideas since she had chaperoned the trip. We visited another teacher's room (he had also chaperoned the trip) and they came up with some effective solutions to prevent such unfairness in the future (like ensuring timeliness of punishment, consistency of punishment, making sure that the rules and consequences are clearly stated on slips given to students and parents). Miss Sanchez then had an appointment with a seventh grade boy who is failing several subjects but is excellent at drawing; he showed me some of his work and I let him know how impressed I was. He is often late to school or doesn't come to school at all and he also claimed that he didn't know if his mother had received his progress report, although he most likely had received it in the mail. He seemed very well-behaved but lacked some drive and motivation with his schoolwork. The next meeting we had was with a seventh grade girl who is also failing several of her subjects. She was incredibly shy and didn't speak much but according to Miss Sanchez, she is very chatty around her own friends. Following this, another seventh grade girl was sent in by the nurse because a teacher had noticed that the girl had cut her wrist and carved the word "DIE" into her leg with a box cutter. Her reasoning was that she was sad and missed her ex-boyfriend. She was also having problems with her alcoholic father calling from Florida to harass her and her mother. The girl's mother was called and spoke with her daughter, who feared that her mother would yell at her. It was pretty clear that the girl was crying out for attention and it was sad to see such a young girl use such a self-destructive way to deal with her problems. The young girl is known for being somewhat manipulative, however, and putting on quite the act for others. It is even apparent that she displays symptoms for the future development of more serious mental health problems, such as schizophrenia. For lunch, Miss Sanchez and I ate lunch with two junior high girls, both of whom Miss Sanchez is a mentor to. The girls are a part of a program which deals with students who have mainly behaviorial problems rather than academic problems, and Miss Sanchez will occassionally eat with them to check up and monitor their improvement (or lack of). They carry a sheet with them, indicating their behavior and fulfillment of certain tasks, which is eventually marked as "satisfactory" or "unsatisfactory" by their teachers. If they consistently do well for a certain period of time, the girls are rewarded (for example, with an ice cream party). At the end of the day, Miss Sanchez and I went to check on the PBIS students who were granted the privilege of viewing a movie in the auditorium. The PBIS program rewards problem students for appropriate behaviors (like not being written up over the course of a certain time span, such as 5 weeks). Miss Sanchez told me how there is some controversy surrounding such a program since some see it as bribery, but with such a high number of students with behavioral problems, it is necessary to use some sort of strategy to improve the situation. And that pretty much concluded my day :)


Mon. May 28, 2007 - NO SCHOOL


Tues. May 29, 2007: 8am-3pm
Tuesdays are usually pretty calm at Lackawanna Middle. In the morning, Miss Sanchez and I visited a teacher and student working on a slideshow for the senior class, containing senior portraits and baby pictures set to music. We then returned to the office where Miss Sanchez worked on her section of the newsletter discussing the PBIS program and its newly proposed rewards and activities, as well as the results of the program's implementation. She let me view a sheet which compared the number of instances of many different problem behaviors from the 2005-2006 school year to the current 2006-2007 school year. For example, since the 2005-2006 school year, there had been a decrease in the number of instances of such things as tardiness and reports of problem behavior. With the other problem behaviors, the numbers seemed to either remain the same from the previous year or slighty increased. For lunch, Miss Sanchez and I ate with the seventh and eighth graders from the Leaders in Training club, where they discussed attending the "Citizens of the Month" dinner. After we returned to the office, Miss Sanchez continued to work on the newsletter and we were informed by the high school social worker that a high school freshman was arrested for assault after repeatedly punching another female in the eye (she did some damage to the girl's eye). I was familiar with the freshman girl, who is 16 years old and has a one year old child who is not currently in her custody. Miss Sanchez told me about the unfortunate circumstances of the girl's life and it was devastating. Like Miss Sanchez said, however, "you cannot help those who do not want to be helped", and this is so true. The girl doesn't seem to want to be helped. Miss Sanchez then talked about how a large number of her students show a lack of interest in pulling themselves out of the "cycle of poverty" and simply desire to be drug dealers rather than high school and college graduates. At the end of the day, Miss Sanchez had a meeting with two junior high boys (one of which didn't show up). The boy who showed up had some behavioral problems (he's mainly just disruptive) and wasn't doing very well in his subjects. He had traveled to Yemen for several months with his family and had attended school there. We talked about how strict the schools in Yemen are and how his behavior would not have been tolerated. He seemed like a nice boy who just needed a little bit of guidance and Miss Sanchez sought to encourage him to work hard on his schoolwork. Tomorrow I'm going to attend a meeting with Miss Sanchez at Beaver Hollow.


Wed. May 30, 2007: 8am-3pm
Today I attended a workshop with Miss Sanchez and the Home and Careers teacher at Lackawanna, Mrs. Cassano, which took place at Beaver Hollow. When we arrived, we were instructed to put on name tags and sit at circular tables. Two women from Erie 1 BOCES, Sue and Kate, and another presenter, Jon Erwin, lectured at the workshop. School counselors, social workers, and teachers who take part in the Challenge/ H.E.L.P program from South Park High School, Alden High School, Maryvale High School, Casey Middle School, and elsewhere, were in attedance at the meeting. The workshop began with an icebreaker where we all introduced ourselves and told the last movie we had seen. After this, Jon Erwin began a slideshow presentation on "Inspiring Youth Involvement". He stressed the importance of relationships in managing and in motivating students. He then talked about two general types of motivation: External motivation and internal motivation. To illustrate external motivation, we did an activity with a stranger. I had to clench my fist and the woman I was with had to try to externally motivate me to unclench my fist. She tried to pry my fingers and then told me she would get me a drink of juice. None of these strategies worked however. With others who took part in the activity, the only thing that worked was when one woman gave the other woman $120 to unclench her fist. This activity illustrated that external motivators don't necessarily work; they prevent learning from taking place, rewards seem to actually kill off interest in the very thing one is bribing another to do, and they tend to destroy relationships. Jon Erwin also talked about the motivation continuum. He described student thoughts/behaviors in categories: The Withdrawn or Antagonistic and the Sullen (which illustrate amotivation), the Compliant and the Dutiful (which illustrate external motivation), and the Enthused and the Inspired (which illustrate intrinsic motivation). As an activity, we all had to use examples in our own life which fall under each of the categories of the motivation continuum. In helping people move along the continuum, positive trusting relationships are essential. The slideshow also stressed the benefits of intrinsic motivation, by showing that intrinsically motivated indivduals are persistant, have better relationships in social groups, give a more effective performance, and have greater health and well-being. Erwin also talked about the Five Basic Human Needs (as proposed by Glassier), which states that all behavior is purposeful. The purpose of behavior is to fulfill one or more of the 5 basic needs or genetic instructions with which all human beings are born: Survival, Love and Belonging, Power, Freedom, and Fun. As an activity, we all filled out a "Needs Circle" on a sheet, where we each described the 5 basic needs as they pertain to our lives. We then had to get in a circle and socialize with strangers in the group and talk about what we wrote in our "Needs Circle". After this activity, we again got into a circle and had to throw a ball to other people in the whole group whose names we had learned. During lunch, individuals from different school districts were put in groups to fill out a sheet which talked about the successes and/or failures of the Challenge/H.E.L.P program in their schools. The day concluded with Sue and Kate from Erie 1 BOCES talking with those who had implemented the H.E.L.P program in their schools. The H.E.L.P program sends students who seek to be peer educators to a camp during the summer to learn about how to educate their peers about healthy behaviors (i.e. germs, AIDS education, etc.). Many of the women in the group complained that some students who take part in the camp fail to attend meetings and follow through with being a peer educator during the school year. The women sought to find ways to better improve the program (like through improving sex education for example) and they had even talked about allowing for HIV/AIDS testing for students in the schools. I found this workshop to be a highly beneficial learning experience :) Unfortunately, I was supposed to attend another meeting at Erie 1 BOCES tomorrow with Miss Sanchez, but she had asked and was told that I could not attend with her.


Fri. June 1, 2007: 8am-3pm
Today, Miss Sanchez and I started off our morning by handing out the prom favors to the seniors in the auditorium (senior prom is tonight). When we returned to the office, the principal brought in two junior high students to be counseled. The girl had thrown orange juice on the boy after he had insulted her hairstyle and the two exchanged heated words. I had to sit in between the students since both were agitated with one another. The boy was very unresponsive to Miss Sanchez's questions, while the girl was more voluntary in answering questions. The boy had said that he was simply joking with the girl and Miss Sanchez spoke about being respectful of others since we do not know how others will respond to our words. She also emphasized the importance of communication and how the two friends need to communicate with each other to know how the other is feeling. The next meeting was another boy who regularly meets with Miss Sanchez on Fridays and is failing his subjects. During these meeting, Miss Sanchez talked about goals with the boy and encouraged his talents at artwork. After this, the principal once again brought in a group of three girls who were friends and in a big fight. The one girl wrote two notes, which were given to Miss Sanchez, and then I read what each said. The girl threatened to beat up the other girl and was calling the two other girls cruel names. The girl who had written the notes was crying and didn't respond to Miss Sanchez's questions (probably because she knew she was wrong); the only reasoning she gave for what she had done was that she was told that the other two girls were talking about her. Miss Sanchez told the girl who had written the notes that she should've told a teacher or the principal instead of dealing with the problem in her own way and to not be so quick to believe that what others tell her is the truth. For lunch, Miss Sanchez and I ate with one of her mentees who has been behaving quite well and was going to be rewarded with an ice cream sundae, but her other mentee was in ASP (detention). After lunch, we had an appointment with two girls who aren't doing well in their subjects in order to check up on them and see how they're currently doing. They were talking about the eighth grade picnic and the one girl talked about how poorly she was doing in Spanish. The same girl didn't listen very much, ate cookies when told not to, and proceeded to fall asleep in the chair. Miss Sanchez described her attitude as consistently "grumpy". At the end of the day, a ninth grade student's sister came in to talk with Miss Sanchez about information regarding putting her brother in Job Corps to give him some much needed structure. The woman and her brother are from Puerto Rico and are the only two people in their family living here. I admired her concern for her brother and her comittment to returning to school to pursue social work (we talked for a little bit about the field). The woman described her brother as a clepto-maniac, who constantly steals from her while she is at work. She can't find anyone who speaks Spanish to counsel her teenage brother since he knows very little English. Miss Sanchez provided the woman with information for Job Corps and was pleased to learn that the boy was interested in pursuing some sort of goal (the woman had said he was interested in construction). Our day then ended with hall duty.


Mon. June 4, 2007: 8am-3:45pm
Mondays are also pretty light for Miss Sanchez at Lackawanna Middle. Miss Sanchez chaperoned senior prom on Friday and informed me that things went smoothly. The high school girls came in to the office and shared pictures and talked about prom throughout the day. Miss Sanchez worked on the PBIS newsletter for a little bit and then put together some flashcards for a presentation that the "Leaders in Training" students are going to do on Wednesday. After lunch, we had an appointment to meet with three of Miss Sanchez's low-functioning students and play a board game with them. The board game was designed to build social skills and social awareness. One girl was diagnosed as mildly retarded, while the other girls are simply doing extremely poor in school. During the game, Miss Sanchez and I used plastic red chips to be given out each time the girls accurately performed the required task named on a card they picked; the girl with the most chips was the winner. The cards were classified as "act", "draw", and "talk" and the girls could pick from whichever category they desired. An example of one task on a card was: What are three ways that we help the environment while at school? The one girl clearly did not know what the question was asking and answered the question incorrectly. It was clear that these girls were not where they should be at developmentally for their age. Before the girls left, Miss Sanchez asked about their goals and one girl said that she wanted to attend Canisius College, while the other girl said she didn't want to go to college. This girl even hinted that she wanted to drop out of the seventh grade since her mother had done so. Our next meeting was with a boy who we had met with last week and Miss Sanchez asked about how he was doing with his Anger Management and an upcoming court date (for assault on a police officer off of school property). When the boy had left, she told me that this boy has problems adopting other people's perspectives and becomes so angry that he "blacks out". She is pleased, however, that he has shown great improvement since previous years, where he had been expelled from school for violent fights (this is the reason that he is 16 years old and in the eighth grade). She hopes that he will continue to show improvement. After school, I stayed after to help Miss Sanchez and the "Leaders in Training" students prepare for their presentation in a classroom on bullying for Violence Prevention Week. The kids went through some slides for a slideshow on bullying, which I had learned a lot about while taking the School Psychology course at Canisius. They have worksheets with questions to ask students about their own behaviors that may be considered bullying, as well as a game of jeopardy with bullying trivia to be played by the students who attend the presentation. This little rehearsal concluded my day.


Tues. June 5, 2007: 8am-3pm
Today, Miss Sanchez worked on a bunch of different things for the end of the school year. She printed out some pictures from the senior class trip and senior prom to replace last year's pictures on a bulletin board in the school hallway. Students helped cut out construction paper frames to decorate the bulletin, which is worked on each year. For lunch, Miss Sanchez and I ate with the Leaders in Training students and the presentation for tomorrow was briefly discussed. Miss Sanchez brought the projector into the office and worked on the presentation on a laptop to be saved on disk. Miss Sanchez then spoke on the phone with the counselor for one of the female students who we had seen yesturday. When she got off the phone, she told me that the counselor agreed with much of what she had said, especially with the fact that the girl's mother is uncooperative and there is a tremendous language barrier (the mother is from Puerto Rico). The student's lack of support and motivation from her parental figure, along with the mother's failure to bring her daughter to appointments with her counselor to receive her medication (for ADHD), are major factors affecting this young girl's ability to do well in school. It is very certain that this girl is going to fail the seventh grade, and when told this, the girl doesn't seem to care all that much. Our only appointment for the day was with the 16 year old girl in eighth grade and the boy who had went to Yemen for several months. The students complained that the Social Studies assessment that they had taken today was difficult. With both students, Miss Sanchez talked about their strong subjects and weak subjects and encouraged better studying habits. Since part 2 of the Social Studies assessment is tomorrow, she recommended that they review some of their notes since they hadn't prepared for part 1. After this meeting, Miss Sanchez and I did our hall duty for dismissal.


Wed. June 6, 2007: 8am-3pm
I did a variety of different things today for my practicum. We had our usual appointments for Wednesdays with five of the students from the junior high; some of whom are continuing to do poorly, while others are pulling up their grades. During third period, Miss Sanchez and I went to watch the Leaders in Training students do their presentation on bullying for the seventh grade English class, and I was able to get in some classroom observation. The Leaders in Training did an excellent job with their presentation and a lot of valuable information was presented in the slideshow. The students in the English class had to fill out little quizzes and answer various questions on sheets to determine if they are a bully or whether they have been bullied themselves. After the presentation, a game of jeopardy was played using trivia from the slideshow and the students received prizes for correct answers. It was unfortunate to witness how disruptive and disrespectful some of the students were during the presentation and it was difficult for the teacher to quiet down students. It seemed like many of the students had a difficult time paying attention and many of the questions during jeopardy needed to be repeated several times. Overall, however, it seemed like the bullying presentation was educational for many of the students and thus, was pretty successful. After this, Miss Sanchez and I went to another 504 referral meeting. I observed as several teachers, Miss Sanchez, and the school nurse met together to review a psychological report and work on an accomodation plan for a 15-year-old student in the seventh grade. The boy has been having trouble achieving academic progress and his teacher is concerned that he may have a learning disability. On the psychological report, which was developed by a school psychologist in 2005, we learned that the boy had failed the 2nd and 3rd grade, performs in the low average to average range in terms of academics, but is respectful and well-behaved, despite his tendency to socialize too much at times. The report stated that the boy was to have a CSE evaluation and the procedures used in the report included, results from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, standardized tests, speech evaluations, counseling, etc. The results from the WISC indicated that the boy scored low average on verbal comprehension and processing speed and scored average on perceptual organization and working memory. The report then stated some possible suggestions for accomodations for slow learners. It was recommended in the report that the boy not be classified as having a learning disability but that he just receive some accomodations to improve his academic achievement in the classroom. After reviewing this psychological report, the team of teachers, the nurse, and Miss Sanchez worked on the accomodation plan for the section 504/ADA. In the plan, they all decided upon what accomodations would be appropriate for the student, which included such ideas as clarifying directions in concrete terms, developing outlines of class material, allowing for extended time in completion of tests and other assignments, and possible counseling to enhance the boy's self-esteem and motivation. Miss Sanchez is attending part 2 of her BOCES workshop tomorrow and once again, I will not be able to attend. On Friday, I will be going to Truman Elementary School in Lackawanna where Miss Sanchez will be principal for the day, so I will be able to see the administrative side of things.


Fri. June 8, 2007: 8am-3:30pm
The first part of my day was spent at Lackawanna Middle, while the other half was spent at Truman Elementary. In the morning, I helped put up prom and senior trip pictures on the bulletin board in the school hallway. Miss Sanchez and I then had some appointments with several students that we see on a weekly basis. The one boy who we see regularly (the one with the artistic talents) was one student who we met with today. We talked about upcoming exams and his study habits. He tended to blame his failure to study on his brother and said that he doesn't plan on studying for his exams this year. He is barely passing his subjects and shows a lack of motivation, always making excuses for his behavior. I asked him if it makes him nervous to not study and then take a test and he told me, "no". We attempted to get the boy to recognize that in order for him to become a graphic artist, he must put more of his efforts in his other school subjects. Miss Sanchez and I had a meeting with two other boys from the junior high and they too said that they don't study and do not feel stressed when taking a test in which they do not know any of the answers. After these meetings, Miss Sanchez and I headed to Truman Elementary in Lackawanna where she took over the principal's duties for the remainder of the day (the principal, who is actually good friends with my mom, had to attend a BOCES meeting). When we arrived, Miss Sanchez was given some tasks involving dealing with misbehaving students. She was told to walk around the school to check on things, to serve as a lunch monitor, and to make sure that the students safely get on their buses at the end of the day. First, we went to go speak with a 5-year-old girl who had been spitting and hitting other children on the bus. The little girl was honest about her poor behavior and Miss Sanchez asked her the appropriate ways that a young lady (or any child) should act. She understood that what she did was wrong and Miss Sanchez warned her about the future undesirable consequences for bad behavior. An 8-year-old boy was in the office with us as well and had to eat lunch and do schoolwork in the office. I helped him with his work and spoke with him a bit. He had received a suspension for punching children twice during the day. Several other students were called in the office for problem behavior and Miss Sanchez called their parents. We then had lunch duty with the kindergartners where we helped students by getting them napkins, straws, opening their drinks and foods, and taking them to the bathroom. After lunch, I continued to help the boy do his schoolwork in the office and later, we walked around the halls to "check up" on the classrooms. At the end of the day, Miss Sanchez and I got the children on the buses in an orderly fashion and made sure everyone was acting appropriately. I really enjoyed working with the young children today, it was a lot of fun. I got a small glimspe into what a principal does during the day.


Mon. June 11, 2007: 8am-3pm
With the end of the year drawing near, I started off the day watching Miss Sanchez fill out progress reports on the students' IEPs from IEPdirect.com. The IEPs stated goals for the students and Miss Sanchez had to rate the degree to which each goal has been achieved over the course of the 2006-2007 school year. Goals included such things as the student's ability to take responsibility for their actions without blaming others and the student's awareness of self. After this, we had some unscheduled meetings with two female students from the junior high. One girl was brought in for abruptly leaving French class because the teacher refused to shut a window when she asked. The girl repeatedly told us how she didn't care about the school and couldn't wait to move out of town with her mother. We tried to encourage her to behave during these last couple weeks of school but she didn't seem to care and continuously requested to call her mother; she wanted her mother to get her out of the detention she knew she'd be getting. Another female student then came in (one who Miss Sanchez and I have spoken to many times) and talked about how her former friend continues to write threatening notes. She proceeded to tell us about how this former friend does things to spite her. Miss Sanchez commended her for coming to an adult to deal with the situation but also told her to not feed into her former friend's negative actions toward her, otherwise she'd be getting the reaction that she wants from her. Throughout all of the meetings this week, Miss Sanchez has been pushing students to attend review classes since teachers basically give out all of the questions on the exams in class. I thought this was pretty surprising and even more surprising that student's still manage to fail exams because they're either absent during review week or simply do not pay any attention in review classes. Miss Sanchez worked on a letter for the next student that was to come into the office who is due in court next week for assault on a police officer. The letter, which is to be presented in court, stated information about the emotional problems that the boy is experiencing, as well as other relevent information in regards to counseling that he receives. She also compiled a file folder of paperwork, like the boy's school schedule and BIP, to be presented in court. After this meeting, a preventive case worker came in from Baker Victory to speak with Miss Sanchez about one of the low-functioning students whom she sees on a weekly basis. The girl comes from a dysfunctional home where the mother speaks very little English and there is no encouragement for her to do well in school. The girl has very poor hygiene, behaves very immaturely, and is failing all of her subjects. The preventive case worker took notes on what Miss Sanchez told her about the girl and Miss Sanchez gave her the girl's grades. The preventive case worker is planning on once again going to the girl's home and although she hopes to not put the girl and her sister in alternative placement, she will present this information to the court, where the mother is due to attend (the mother has already dealt with a number of legal matters as well) to see if the girls will need to be placed in a different setting. At the end of the day, Miss Sanchez cleaned out her office and we did hall duty.


Tues. June 12, 2007: 8am-3pm
Today, mine and Miss Sanchez's day started off with a meeting for the Tobacco-Free program. She and another teacher are apart of the committee and met together to come up with some new ideas to ensure that the Lackawanna School District remains tobacco free. They took notes and marked areas on a map of the school district where new signs were to be posted throughout school property. They suggested putting the new rules against tobacco-use on school property in the student handbook and in letters to be sent to parents and students in the beginning of the 2007-2008 (and every subsequent) school year. Afterward, Miss Sanchez and I stopped at the maintenance building to see if the workers would post the "No smoking" signs throughout the school grounds and they agreed. It is hopeful that the students (and even some teachers) will begin to adhere to the no smoking rules since violation of them will be punishable by a large fine and the new signs specifically state the amount that an individual will be fined for smoking on school grounds; smoking remains a large problem at Lackawanna. Following this, I did a classroom observation of a special ed. student of Miss Sanchez's in his science class (which is blended with special ed. and non-special ed. students). I filled out a classroom observation report, which included such information as how the boy interacts with peers, interacts with his teacher, his independent work skills, his participation, time on a task, his activity level, and his behavior as compared to his peers. The boy was very talkative, repeatedly asked to call his mother and use the bathroom, forgot his school textbook at home, walked around the room several times, talked over the teacher's directions, asked many questions, made noises, and bickered with other students. Miss Sanchez and I then came back to the office to meet with the boy who is currently in legal trouble for assaulting the police officer to speak with him about how is currently handling the situation. His teachers complain that the incident is affecting his ability to focus in school and he has claimed to other teachers that he cannot sleep because of his upcoming court date (although he denied this to us). Miss Sanchez spoke him with about the importance of attending review week and also asked him questions about current familial situation (he said that he's not getting along with anyone in his family). Our last appointment for the day was with the 16-year-old female in the eighth grade who still refuses to do her schoolwork. Even though she knows that she must pass her exams, she claims that she will not have time to study this weekend due to prior engagements. Of course, we suggested ways in which she can study and do other activities over the weekend, but our suggestions will most likely go unheeded. Miss Sanchez informed me that she will most likely pass the eighth grade simply because she is too old to remain in junior high (she'll be socially promoted). That was my Tuesday :)


Wed. June 13, 2007: 8am-3pm
My day began with Miss Sanchez finishing up the PBIS newsletter and letting me view it to see what it consists of. It talked about students, who for not getting written-up the whole year, were rewarded the opportunity to watch a movie during review week. The reward for those who haven't been written-up for two years was an end-of-the-year ice cream social. The newsletter featured the statistics on how students have improved from the 2005-2006 to 2006-2007 school year since the implementation of the PBIS program, and it indicated that instances of most of the problem behaviors, such as disrespect, have decreased during this current school year, while instances of fighting have increased since 2005-2006. I then watched as Miss Sanchez made posters on the computer for the anti-smoking campaign for the Tobacco-Free committee. Later, we laminated the posters, which contained disturbing facts and statistics on smoking and the tobacco industry, and they will eventually be on display in the school hallway. We had some of our regular appointments today with the junior high students, where we talked about effective test-taking tips to help them in taking their exams next week and gave them ideas for effective studying (flashcards, highlighting notes, etc). For lunch, we ate with the Tobacco-Free committee and each of the members received certificates for their participation over the year. Members also looked at anti-tobacco merchandise in catalogs to possibly be ordered next year for the students. Toward the end of the day, we attended a very brief 504 referral meeting and each member of the team signed the boy's accommodation plan (this was the same boy discussed at the previous 504 meeting). At the end of the day, a man stopped by the office to present Miss Sanchez with a supenae to testify in court next week for the girl who I've been talking about often, whose mother must go to court to see if her children will need to be put in a different placement. Tomorrow Miss Sanchez will meet with the mother (the mother finally agreed to come to school after being told she must go to court), and next Tuesday I will have to go to family court with Miss Sanchez so that she can testify.


Thurs. June 14, 2007: 8am-3pm
Since the year is coming to a close, Miss Sanchez and I do not encounter as many scheduled sessions with the students and when we do have sessions, they tend to revolve around preparation for exams next week or one's standing in terms of if they will pass or fail the grade. In the morning I watched Miss Sanchez develop some ideas for the Tobacco-Free committee's no smoking kickoff for the beginning of next year's academic school year. She was basically recording how the school will go about informing students and parents about the newly (more strictly) enforced no smoking policies. The attendance worker stepped out for a little bit and I was then put in charge of signing in and giving out passes for students who arrived late to school. Miss Sanchez and I were supposed to meet with the one girl's mother who is due in court next week, but she ended up canceling, saying that she was supposed to get a ride from her social worker and the woman had canceled on her (this wasn't too surprising that she canceled). Because several of Miss Sanchez's students are failing their subjects, some are not attending counseling sessions because they need to stay in class to make up incomplete assignments in a last attempt to pull up their grades (and obviously Miss Sanchez would rather them complete their work). During the lunch period we monitored the seventh grade lunch and made sure that no food fights would erupt; there were rumors that one was going to occur. In the afternoon, a student pulled the fire alarm and we had to do a drill (fire trucks and all); Miss Sanchez tells me this tends to happen sometimes. We had two counseling sessions at the end of the day; one with the boy who is do is court for assault and a female who has family problems. The boy mainly talked about wanting to move out of state and live on his own. He didn't seem to know how he would support himself though, and we made it clear to him that he needs to pass his classes in order to make money and have his own home. It doesn't seem likely that he will be studying for his exams next week. The girl that we saw at the end of the day is a member of the Leaders in Training club and although she is well-behaved and does fine in her subjects, she has many problems with her mother and is currently living with her aunt. Her mother is on and off of drugs and the girl's two younger siblings live with the mother currently. She spoke a lot about how her mother puts her in a different mood and makes her cry. Miss Sanchez told me that the girl appears to be needy and demands a lot of attention. She is disruptive in conversation and talks a lot about insignificant personal matters that the other kids do not need to know about. Miss Sanchez said that although she has improved her behavior, she still has a tendency to be disruptive and divulges too much information. I've noticed this about the girl through knowing her for the past few weeks. Miss Sanchez always tells her to talk about her matters during the counseling sessions, when it is appropriate, and to be more polite when others are talking. At dismissal, the principal had me sit in the cafeteria and watch the fire alarm to ensure that students didn't intentionally set it off.


Fri. June 15, 2007: 8am-3pm
In the morning, I was again put on watch to do attendance and hand out late passes. As I sat in the office, Miss Sanchez talked about how at the Boces workshops, they instructed schools to develop flow charts to see which teams at their school will deal with what students and what specific problems to ensure the best way for students to be dealt with. Our first appointment of the day was with the boy that has great artistic abilities. Like I had said in my previous blog, much of our conversations now revolve on preparation for exams, and this was so with this boy. He implied that he didn't plan on studying and made up his usual excuses. This boy is on the verge of failing and if he does pass, he will be just making it. In the classroom I observed on Tuesday, the teacher has been offering many extra credit opportunities and when this boy was asked today if he had done any extra credit, he said that he didn't even realize that any had been made available. Following this session, two boys came in and we talked about exam preparation and grades, but the boys left early because they were sent back to their classes to complete work. A teacher was sent to come get Miss Sanchez because the boy that we had at our first counseling session today was crying and walked out of his classroom. We went to see what was wrong and he informed us that three females were bullying him, taking his books, kicking him, and calling him names. After finding out who the females were, they were given detention and the boy was sent back to his classes (he appeared to be feeling better after we took care of it). For lunch, Miss Sanchez and I took two eighth grade girls who are part of the PBIS program to get pizza as a reward for successfully behaving and getting work done. When we came back to school, we helped hand out ice cream sundaes, given to those who have not been written-up in two years. A couple of appointments were scheduled for the end of the day but the students didn't attend them, most likely because they were completing unfinished assignments.


Mon. June 18, 2007: 8am-3pm
This week is exam week and thus, Miss Sanchez and I do not have any scheduled sessions with students. My whole week will basically consist of proctoring exams for the junior high students. For the first part of the day, Miss Sanchez and I proctored the ESL (English as a second language) students for their English exam. Miss Sanchez and another teacher read the directions and distributed tests, while I did some observation and studied for my GRE. Miss Sanchez told me that the ESL students complete their exams by writing random words in English because they simply do not understand the material. The female ESL students needed the directions translated to them by another classmate (the students speak Arabic). As I sat and observed, it was pretty apparent that the students didn't understand the material; they wrote very slowly and stared at the questions for long periods of time. Throughout the whole exam time, the students constantly needed help from the teacher and were basically asking for answers. I had to wonder how these students end up making it to the next grade level. The next exam Miss Sanchez and I proctored was for the special ed. eighth grade students. Things appeared to go smoothly, but a student was sent in late after serving his detention so we had to stay later. Since this was an English exam for special ed., students needed the stories read aloud to them to answer questions. After exams, Miss Sanchez and I were visited by a teacher concerned about the essays written by two students. The one student wrote about her troubled life and contemplating suicide, while the other student implied that his father hits him. Miss Sanchez called the girl's counselor to inform her about the suicide threats and the essays were then brought to the principal who instructed the teacher to reach the girl's parents. Tomorrow I will be attending family court with Miss Sanchez.


Tues. June 19, 2007: 8am-3:30pm
In the morning, Miss Sanchez headed to family court in downtown Buffalo. It turned out to be really disappointing because Miss Sanchez wasn't even called in before the judge to present her paperwork on the girl because the girl's mother ended up pleading guilty to educational neglect. The lawyer came up to us and told Miss Sanchez that the girl's mother will be able to keep custody of her daughters as long as she abides by a list of requirements provided to her by the courts. The requirements included frequent drug testing, parental training, house check ups, and so on. The only task Miss Sanchez had to do was explain to the mother and the preventive case worker that the girl has failed the seventh grade and even if the girl chooses to attend summer school, she will still not pass to the next grade level. She also encouraged the girl's mother to do what is necessary to keep custody of her children, otherwise her children will put in a different placement. Following court, Miss Sanchez spoke with me about some of the problems that exist in the girl's household. The mother drinks and is intoxicated in front of her children, the children know that the mother cuts herself, the older daughter has sexual relations in the house in front of her family, the girls can have parties on weekends with virtually no supervision, the girls either don't attend school and/or do absolutely none of their schoolwork - basically the mother has no control and contributes to the chaos of the home. I think it's astounding that these children weren't removed from the home sooner and will continue to remain in their mother's care. When we returned from court (we were there for hours), we weren't assigned to proctor any exams, so I stayed with Miss Sanchez while she packed away her belongings in her office until the end of the day.


Wed. June 20, 2007: 8am-3pm
Today was my final day. Once again, Miss Sanchez and I were scheduled to proctor the ESL students' math exam in the morning. After the exam, we set up a catered lunch for the middle school and high school teachers and staff who had participated in the Tobacco-Free Committee. During this meeting, some of the teachers met with us and discussed some accomplishments and proposed ideas for students and staff for next year. Miss Sanchez played a big role in the accomplishments that the committee has made, some of them include: many of the no smoking signs have already been put up on school grounds; palm cards are being made (designed by Miss Sanchez); a letter has been written to be sent to the superintendent/board to approve policies over the summer; and student handbook changes have been sent to the principal for final approval. Proposed ideas for students for a tobacco-free healthy school include: a scavenger hunt where students must find magazine articles and ads that advertise tobacco; naming movies and tv shows with smoking in them and what the movies were rated; having students recognize what changes have been made to the handbook; announcements made by the Leaders in Training and H.E.L.P students; trivia games; a newsletter article featuring student interviews on a Tobacco Free school; having Leaders in Training students present experiments in health classes on tobacco use; and wearing green to signify Tobacco Free Day. For the staff, some proposed ideas include: showing a anti-tobacco video; adding the anti-smoking rules and policies to the employee handbook; and copies of policy and posters can be provided in school lounges. The community/visitors can be notified through announcements at sports events and through printed media articles. It was good to see that the Lackawanna School District is taking a big step toward actively ensuring a healthy school environment. Following the meeting, there wasn't much to be done so I stuck around as Miss Sanchez cleaned out her office.
I truly enjoyed this whole experience and was so pleased to have worked with Miss Sanchez. I think that Lackawanna was an excellent place to do my practicum since it provided me with a variety of different experiences, with many different types of students that I may have not encountered at another school district. Miss Sanchez is so involved in her work and in many other activites concerning the students; I really admire her dedication and her ability to relate to these children who do not always have it easy at home. Unfortunately, I was unable to work with the school psychologist (she never got back to Miss Sanchez), but through working with a social worker, I definitely was able to get a feel for the school system and the types of children I will be working with as a future school psychologist.


Total Hours: 134 hours and 45 minutes.

Psy498PracticumLog