The majority if my prac cohort is unhappy with what is expected of them. By they are not making any effort to make the changes they want to see. I listen to them complain every day about how we were never told from the beginning about what would be expected of us.
The grant that was given to our team was reduced and therefore had to be changed quite a bit by the time we got there. Because of the restructuring, there was a large chunk of time at the beginning of semester that we didn’t know what we were supposed to do with the kids and how it would apply to our social work schedule.
I feel like I have been able to make the most of my time spent at the school. Right away I was able to identify a child who was being an issue in the classroom and have been working one on one with him in class in order to get the practice that I think I need. I have heard some of my cohorts explain that there are no problem kids in their class, or they don’t get enough time with the kids, or the teacher doesn’t let them participate fully in the class.
To me, all of those seem like obstacles that can be worked around. We get one-on-one time with our supervisors and have time each week to talk about these problems we run into. Granted, I’m not a part of their supervisor meetings, but when they are done, they complain that the supervisor only talked with them for 15 or 30 mins when they are allotted an hour. To me, this says that they are not bringing up their concerns or ideas on their own and not offering solutions to their problems.
To hear these same concerns every day makes me even more determined to make my voice heard. We had our problems with prac early on, but I feel that we have to move past this and do what we can to make this experience the best we can.
Meet Chholy 