Monday, December 29, 2014

Candy Christmas Tree

At my mentorship the students were to create a recipe of how to make a frosted ice-cream cone tree. When they finally got all of the steps right they were able to come to me in groups and I would help give them the supplies they needed and assist them with any questions they had.
This is what they kind of looked liked when they were done.

Sunday, November 30, 2014

"Grunt Work"

 
I thought I would share with you what my mentor calls "Grunt Work". It is the organization in a classroom that a teacher must do to keep the classroom on task. Which include from weekly assessments for each student to organizing the classroom closets which I have done both. The week before thanksgiving my mentor mentioned that she has been wanting to put all of her classroom textbooks in one closet so I decided to just do that the picture below shows how it looked after I finish.
 

Saturday, November 8, 2014

EQ

Content
1.   Review this.  Confirm by stating "I reviewed the rule of three for writing an EQ."

I reviewed the rule of three for writing an EQ.
2.  Review the following EQs and
        -Tell us if each meets the rule of three.                     
        -Tell why they do or don't.
 a.  What is the most important factor in healthy weight loss?
  • No, it does not meet the rule of three because it could be more specific, for example, gender, age and other factors that could be included.                                                   
 b.  What is most important to securing a conviction in a criminal investigation?
  • No, it does not meet the rule of three because it is a vague question, for example, they could expand on time period or even starting a different way because the way they start by saying "most important" makes it only open for one possible answer.

 c.  What is most important in creating a hairstyle that best satisfies a customer?
  • Yes, it does meet the rule of three criteria because it is specific by saying "that best satisfies a customer" it allows them to have multiple answers.

 d.  How can an anesthesiologist best treat chronic pain?
  • Yes, it does indeed meet the rule of three criteria because starts with "How can a …" rather than "What is the…" this wording allows the person to have an endless amount of possible answers.
3. Based on your review of the rule of 3 and your experience with assessing four EQs, please write another draft EQ for your senior project.  The senior team will be meeting with students shortly for EQ revision and approval; you are expected to bring your research notebook to that meeting with your EQ draft written inside in pencil.
  •  My working Essential Question is How does a teacher set a learning environment where the majority time is spent on teaching and learning rather than disciplining?

 

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Lesson 1 Reflection

1. Positive Statement

What are you most proud of in your Lesson 1 Presentation and why?
After completing my Lesson 1 Presentation the thing I am most proud of is that after practicing multiple times I didn't seem to not "jumbo" over my words if that makes any sense. 

2. Questions to Consider
       a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your Lesson 1 Presentation (self-assessment)?
        
              P

       b.     Explain why you deserve that grade using evidence from the Lesson 1 component contract.
I strongly believe that I should get a P because of what the contract requires me to do I followed it; I said my examples, referenced my mentorship and other points I had to make, but I didn't go above and beyond.

3. What worked for you in your Lesson 1?
What worked for me is that I practiced before I had to present, but it wasn't because I didn't know what to say but because I had so many things I wanted to say that if I didn't practice my Lesson 1 presentation would have been a disaster.


4.  (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your Lesson 1?
If I was able to fix something it would be not to second guess myself because I had a paper as a reference on what I have to say, but I knew what I had to say but as a nervous habit I kept looking at the paper when I knew I didn't need to.

Friday, October 31, 2014

A Day of Complications!


The highlight of this month is fixing this wall it took me literally six times to finally get it right because it was either crooked or not, everyone’s paper fit long story short, it’s not even the best wall I have fixed which is very disappointing. My highlight activity is actually the one I did yesterday with half of the class; my mentor took half and I took the other half. It was a time activity that was meant for Friday, but after having an extremely long, tiring math test she decided the students needed a break therefore, we did the time activity. The activity was about showing the students how fast time goes, for example, they had to say all of their teachers, they have had so far as I timed them. This activity had its own set of complications due too the fact that the students were all antsy and wanted to play, but I improvised and we even got to play a game of Pac-Man and a few relay races that was timed, the kids loved it so it went really well.


When I finished putting up the background.
When I was finally able to fix the individual papers.
The final product.

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Blog 8 - Research and Working EQ


1.      What is your working EQ?

How does a teacher set a learning environment where the majority time is spent on teaching and learning rather than disciplining?

2.      What is a possible answer to your working EQ? Please write the answer in thesis format. 

Answer 1: Teachers should create a classroom structure where it benefits both the teacher and students.

Answer 2: As the new school year begins teachers should have their expectations for the classroom and each student planned out.

Answer 3: Teachers should be open and welcoming to parents in order to create a line of communication to involve them in their child’s education.

3.      What is the most important source you have used that has helped you come up with an answer to your working EQ?

The most important source that has helped me create my essential question is my mentor. I had no idea where to start, but after talking and brainstorming with my mentor she helped me come up with my essential question and different possible answers to it.

4.      Who is your mentor, or where are you doing mentorship, and how does what you are doing relate to your working EQ?

My mentor is Lourdes Garay I am doing my mentorship at San Jose School. By doing my mentorship there I was able to create my essential question and possible answers. Also by experiencing firsthand how my mentor organizes and structures her classroom has helped me gain knowledge of what I could do in my future classroom and allows me to fully answer my essential question. It has also helped me find a way to include my essential question to my first component by allowing me to create my own set of rules and structure for my future class.

 

Saturday, October 4, 2014

Blog 7: Independent Component 1 Approval

1. For the next 30 hours of work, this is what I plan to do:
For my Independent Component I plan to work with other teachers were I am doing my mentorship hours because my working essential question is How does a teacher set a learning environment where the majority time is spent on teaching and learning rather than on discipline? I want to know the difference between the teachers and grade levels on how they structure discipline.

2.  Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.
 In order for me to meet my 30 hours I will be creating my own set of classroom rules, expectations and consequences for my future classroom.

3.  And explain how what you will be doing will help you explore your topic in more depth.
I strongly believe this will help me  explore my topic more in depth because discipline in a classroom is very important, but could get in the way of teaching and end up disciplining the class rather than teaching. As a student and  as a mentee I have seen first hand how this disrupts the class setting and if not handle right could lead to many more disruptions.

 
 

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Working Together

On Friday I was able to work with a few students who needed extra help in reading. We worked on how to change run-on sentences and what kind of sentences are questions, statements, exclamation. To my surprise these students were very excited to particapte in reading the instructions and answering the questions.



This is me and a the students I was helping.

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Blog 6 - Second Interview Preparation


1.Who is your mentor and where do they work?
My mentor is Lourdes Garay a third grade teacher that works at San Jose School in Pomona.

2. What five questions will you ask them about their background?
The questions I will be asking my mentor are:

Where did you attend college, and for how long?
What did you major in? Did you have a minor?
What are some courses you have taken that you have found helpful in your career?
How did you start your path into the field of education?
For how long have you been in the field of education?
What led you to choose this career?
Before becoming a teacher did you have another position in education?
What has been your biggest challenge working in education?
Did you ever picture yourself being where you are today or did you see yourself doing something different?

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Blog 5 - Mentorship Reflection


1.      Mentorship question: Describe your experience in how you found your mentorship?  If you haven't found one yet, describe your experience so far in the search of a mentor.
I found my mentor freshman year it all started with community service hours I didn’t know where I was going to complete them. Then when I went to my previous school to pick up my sister I shared my predicament with the office secretary she told me “I should volunteer there” I was surprised, but I couldn’t think of a reason why I shouldn’t, therefore, I said yes. I want to become a teacher so I thought this would be a good learning experience which it has been. After three years of happily doing my community service hours, and learned more information about the senior project I could not think of a better person then the mentor I already have and decided to ask Mrs. Garay a third grade teacher that I am working with if she wanted to be a part of mentoring me which she said “yes”.

2.      Research question: What has been your most important article you have read so far and why?
The most important article that I have read so far is Building a Better Teacher by Elizabeth Green, I have benefited the most from this article because I learned many things that I never really understood, for example, how teachers choose students to answer a particular question, it is intended to stimulate the students mind and try to solve the problem. I still don’t like when I am called upon in class, however I understand why. Also it talks a lot about how to get a class involved or listen to you by giving one piece of instruction first and then another for example, take out your homework and wait till everyone takes out their homework then give them the last piece of the instruction for example, the last piece would be to switch with someone else.

Sunday, August 31, 2014

Test Day!

Usually Fridays are test days therefore this Friday I graded a lot of different tests for example, Spelling, Vocabulary and Reading Tests. I was able to see how the students were doing academically which I saw was really good because most of the students received a 100% or they only missed two problems on the tests.
This is a picture of the Reading Test Amazing Grace

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Blog 4: Interview Preparation


1.  Who do you plan to interview?  Why?
-I plan to interview Mrs. Anderson a teacher that works at the same school where I am doing my mentorship. I chose to interview her because she has taught different grade levels and I wanted to know if that has changed her perspective on things.
2.  You have to ask 5 questions.  What additional questions do you plan to ask?  Ask open-ended questions.  What are open-ended questions? Click here! If that doesn't help, try this one.  Click here!
-Some of the additional questions I want to ask are:
1.    Why did you chose to become a teacher?  
 
2.      How can a teacher increase their students test scores?

3.      What is/are the best way(s) to keep the class focused and involved?
4.    Having taught different grade levels how has that changed your view on teaching and why?
5.    What do you think is something new teachers should know and why?
6.    How do you accommodate to students that speak a different language or have a special need?
7.    Is teaching something you will like to continue to do or would you like to become a principle or do something different and why?
 

 

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Blog 3: Topic Choice and Working EQ


1.      My topic is education more specifically teaching.

2.      What is/are the best way(s) to have a student involved and focused in a lesson?

3.      A link to my WB is on the right hand side of my blog under the heading "Links".

Monday, August 18, 2014

Blog 2: Summer Mentorship Component


Literal

1. Here is the link to my Mentorship Log. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10txqEgj_VLP4FhWsBA9_1pDsH44Y0cIyv7NiZSmcfZI/edit#gid=0

2. My mentors name is Lourdes Garay; her contact information is (909) 518-8542. She mentored me at San Jose School in Pomona, Ca.   

3.  Some of the questions that I had were:

·         How long does it usually take you to create a lesson plan and what tools do you use to help you?

-          I asked this because this is where all the hard work and planning goes into therefore I wanted to know what she does to create one.

·         What do you do to make learning more exciting in order to get the students to interact with you?

-          I found this extremely important because a teacher could put hours and hours of hard work into a lesson plan, but not always get the message across.

·         What do you do after you grade the students test and more than half got a low percentage?

-          After grading some tests this question came to me because it is bound to happen that many students get a low percentage on their tests due to outside life, studying for DWA’S or simply not understanding it, what happens then?

Interpretive

4. The most important thing I gained from this experience is that children can be very unpredictable especially when trying to teach 34 different students that one student's  mind works completely different from everyone else’s. This to me was important because you can’t always teach one way or the other there needs to be an in between because not all the students learn the same some are visual learners and other could simply just hear it and understands it.

Applied

5. My senior project topic is going to be about teaching and being able to get your point across by knowing your audience and expecting unforeseen events. From learning and seeing my mentor in action I was able to see that more than always not everything went according to her lesson plan not because she is a bad teacher, but because sometimes not all the students understands the lesson or it’s a Monday and students just want to go to bed or worst of all students from another class need to stay in her class because the substitute didn’t end up coming not to mention they are younger students. After shadowing my mentor I got some insight on what a wonderful teacher goes through in order to get students interested in learning that’s why I choose this topic.

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Blog 1: 2-Hour Presentations

1.  What presentations did you see?

Social Work for Abused: Debora Martinez
Teaching Elementary: Regina Rizo

Photography Galleries: Viviana Bravo
Forensic Science: Arianna Castellanos
Teaching 1st Grade: Xena Perez
Yearbook: Stacy Peralta

Public Defender: Nisa Legaspino
Photography Studio: Angel Flores
Clinical Pharmacy: Christian Demesa
Homelessness: Bradley Yamashita
Consuleing: Kimberly Gonzalez
No Kill Rescue Shelters: Elizabeth Valle
Teaching Kindergarten: Alexis Teixeira
Marriage and Family Therapy: Jorge Mancilla
Education Non-profit Services: Adrian Gallegos
Domestic Violence: Marilyn Sambo
2. What questions do you have that haven't been answered about the senior project? This can be about the senior project in general, any components or about a presentation topic you saw or what they said. 
•Am I able to choose the day, block, and grader for my final presentation?
•What percentage of class grades does Senior Project make up?
3. What has the most important part of the senior project based on what you are seeing in the 2-hour presentations?

After seeing various amounts of presentations I have observed that the whole presentation is based on answering the essential question, but the most important part is that you have to have a good amount of background information. With having background information everything falls into place for example, the more research you have the  better your answers will be which will allow to make the time mark.
4. What topic are you considering doing and why?

The topic I want to go into is teaching 3rd grade I have always have had a passion of wanting to teach and empower students to do their very best. I have some experience working with third graders and yes at times they are rambunctious, but every time I have gone to help my mentor I leave happy especially if I have a hard day at school.  I would like to do this topic because teaching is the career field I want to persuade after high school.
5. What are you doing for your summer mentorship?

For my mentorship I am doing teaching third grade and have a third grade teacher as my mentor therefore, I could only no my mentorship during a school year which I have already finished which is very sad because I won’t be able to go back until school starts again. I love being able to be apart of something where I able to grow and learn.