Getting to know Athia

Athia: I’m from Indonesia, a second year LDXT student (2022). I did my undergraduate double degrees in economics and international business. I had worked in advertising for 7 years before doing my graduate degree. 

Sherry: What drew you to the LDXT program?

Athia: When I was doing my job, I had a lot of chances to teach in workshops and seminars. “So I guess teaching and learning has always been a big part of me.” Also during the pandemic, I was working at home searching for my master’s degree which I have always had a plan to do. Then, I found out about NYU ECT accidentally and it was so interesting that I was still thinking about it after a week. 

About Athia's Internship 

Athia: I had my internship at Mesh Ed as a summer associate in 2021 from June to August. The first half of my internship was to learn classroom teaching and the curriculum through Zoom from 10am to 5pm. Also, since there were both graduate and undergraduate students doing the internship, we needed to train them as well. As for the second half of my work, I had taught in the middle school for five weeks. I was teaching 8th grade students in an average of 7-8 students in a classroom. 

Sherry: Why did you do your internship?

Athia: At first, I was interested in adult learning and hoped to learn more formal teaching. But I just came across a chance from Mesh Ed to teach in a middle school. At that time, I was thinking, “Why not give it a try and see how it goes?” and then I just decided to apply for it. Another reason was that I knew there would be a safety net to lean on since there were other two ECT students also working there. And I happened to know the one who was the founder of Mesh Ed from the class. Knowing somebody would be there to help alleviated my pressure a lot.   

Sherry: Did you face any challenges during your internship? 

Athia: I would say classroom management was the hardest. We all know learners were not empty vessels, they came in with different backgrounds and beliefs. Also, they were in the puberty stage, meaning they were dealing with many other things in their lives. So I felt a lot of the time I was striving to manage the classroom rather than just teaching. 

Sherry: What did you learn the most from your internship? 

Athia: When the teacher carried out the curriculum, they needed to do a lot of impromptu thinking to adjust to the situations. Also, teachers should always be intentional in asking questions and responding to students.  

On Finding Her Internship 

Athia: I took the class from a professor who came to be the founder of Mesh Ed, which was the place I did my internship. She invited me to be a summer associate in her program to teach in a middle high school.  

Sherry: Did you face any challenges while finding an internship? 

Athia: Finding the position that resonated with my interests was the hardest. And another difficulty was to explain my career change in a succinct way since I was switching my career from business to teaching. But the workshop about a mock-up interview held by the ECT program was very helpful.   

Athia's Advice

Sherry: What advice do you have for students to get the most out of their internship?

Athia: Let go of the expectation that everything should be perfect. The goal is not to make everything right but to learn something. And don’t be afraid to ask questions. It’s not the end of the world to ask stupid questions. There’s even no stupid questions. Just to ask something you want to know!

Sherry: What advice do you have for students who also want to be a middle class teacher/somebody who works in curriculum development?

Athia: First of all, I believe we need to know ourselves before getting to know our students. Knowing your own voice or beliefs so that you may be able to help others. One of the people in the Mesh Ed told me that “the teacher is not to get students to do something but to nurture an independent thinker.” We should set the mindset that it’s fine if the students don’t finish the task. It’s okay if they are learning and thinking. Just focus on what we want the students to gain in the classes.  

Sherry: What knowledge or skills from our program do you find are the most valuable in your internship?

Athia: I keep going back to review what I had learned from Cognitive Science and Learning Science, feeling grateful that they are our two fundamental courses. For the former class, there are many principles allowing me to try out different ways to teach such as adding more visuals to my presentation. And for the latter, the course encourages me to see learnings from different perspectives.