Blog #2

1) Briefly describe your internship site. Provide background information of your agency that you work in this semester (e.g. location, services offered, population served, etc). 

I choose to intern at The Children’s Learning Center in Hackensack New Jersey. The learning center is located exactly on 27 Fair Street, Hackensack, NJ, 07601. This learning center provides services to children between ages six months until five years old. It is a private tuition based learning center, so services are not government funded.  Each class has about ten to fifteen children with a range of two to three teachers per classroom (Depends on the range of children that attend the classroom per day). The learning center surrounds Hackensack hospital and is off of exit 65, Grand Street, on route 80.

2) Discuss why you chose this site and how you think it may play a role in your future career goals.

I hope to learn much more about families in my community. I am also growing as an early adult while interning, so it will be beneficial, as well as a great experience. This course and internship will allow me to mature even more and help as much as possible. It will allow me to learn how to deal with children and families hands on. I plan to get my masters in Pediatric Occupational Therapy after I graduate, so this will be great practice of dealing with young children along with their families. Overall, I hope to gain a lot of information and experience that will benefit me with my future plans and goals in life to help families and children in need.

3) Describe the physical aspects of the agency site and the neighborhood surrounding site.

The Children’s Learning Center of Hackensack is located in more of the poorer area, where families and children are living in poverty. The learning center I would say is located in an area that benefits these children in families since it is in demand to help these families. The facility is three floors high, including the basement. There is enough room for children in the classrooms, as well as a big playground outside for children to play. Classrooms and hall ways are decorated children friendly. There is a large parking lot enough for staff and parents to park their cars when dropping and picking up children in the morning and afternoon.

4) Although you are just starting your internship describe your initial impression of the strengths and weaknesses of the agency i.e. om what areas is the agency strong and in what areas are they lacking?.

The Children’s Learning Center of Hackensack is planning on rearranging the classrooms due to government educator authorities intervening because of laws that have been broken by the director and owner of the center.  Some of the weaknesses of the center were that they had an exceeded amount of children in each classroom and not enough teachers to give the children the attention they needed. Classrooms didn’t have regular schedules or daily lesson plans organized for children; classrooms were very hectic and didn’t seem in order. They didn’t have lesson plans and an organized daily activity schedule for the children. Teachers weren’t trained to run a classroom properly. Some of the strengths of the center recently, is that the director/owner is now trying to get the learning in shape. She is now offering training for teachers so they can conduct a classroom properly and following the states regulations to ensure children get the right learning services.

5) Identify the funding source(s) for this agency (i.e. state, federal etc.)

The Children’s Learning center of Hackensack is privately owned. It is a monthly tuition based system per child. Every child is responsible of bringing their own personal classroom supplies, lunches, and snacks per day of the week. Classroom materials are provided by the director/owner.

6) Tell us if you think there is an opportunity for full-time work once you graduate. Why or why not?

There is an opportunity for a full time job for me after I graduate because I was offered a full time job there after  I graduate this May 2014!