Most schools use internships for students in the 11th and 12th grades. Your role is to collaborate with the student and his or her teacher to structure the internship by setting outcomes and identifying activities to achieve them. Once the internship begins, you instruct, supervise, and support the student. When it is complete, you evaluate his or her performance.
Internships require substantial planning, time, and commitment.
The first step is to work with the student and teacher to identify the outcomes for the experience and how to achieve them. The three of you should agree on goals, activities, and ways the student can demonstrate learning when the internship is completed. Help write a learning agreement. Once it has been decided what the student will be doing for the internship, the information should be captured in a learning agreement, signed by you, the student, and the teacher. In addition to a statement of outcomes and activities, the agreement should include the roles and responsibilities of partners so that participants have a common understanding of what is expected of them and others.