Blog 11: Lesson 1 Reflection

Here is one of my props from Lesson 1.
Fun Fact: I finished painting this at 3:17 am on the day of my presentation.

1. What are you most proud of in your lesson, and why?
• I am most proud of my props and my hook activity. I put a lot of effort into making the brain used in my presentation and selecting certain questions for my hook activity, Even though these were the best aspects of my presentation I know I can improve upon them even more.
2. What assessment would you give yourself on your lesson? Explain why you earned that grade using evidence from the component contract.
• For my first lesson I would give my-self a P because I excelled in some areas than others. I feel as if I deserved an AE in the Effective Communication are because my audience was really interested in the props and the hook activity, I was also good at making eye contact with my audience and having enough volume. I need to work on my professionalism because I cursed, to me that isn't a big deal, but to others it can really effect your credibility. I deserved an AP in some areas or Justification of Foundation, like research. I had my printed source and I referenced it, but I never showed them and i think that's why some of my peers thought I didn't really research. In all honesty this lesson was a mess, I'm not going to make any excuses but I wish I had prepared more.
3. If you could go back, what would you change about your lesson? How can you use that knowledge to give a better Lesson 2?
• There are so many different things I would change about my Lesson 1. The organization of my presentation would be completely different because now I know what I need to improve upon for next time. I would also change my hook activity because it was a little time consuming for 2 minutes, for my next lesson I will just try to perform my own hook activity in order to test the time of it. My professionalism was a little off because I cussed twice which is terrible and embarrassing, next time I am definitely going to have to discipline myself to be more selective with my words. The lessons I have learned from today's presentation are going to help me create a better Lesson 2 because now I know what not to do.

Blog 10: Interview 2 Reflection

 Here is the link to my second interview: Interview #2

And if you don't feel like listening you can read my transcription. :)

1. Please explain how you're spending your mentorship time (Is it at a workplace or somewhere else? Are you shadowing? Are you able to do tasks that are meaningfully related to the topic? If so, what? Are there other people who are experts in the location? Etc...)

-I have been mentoring at Nogales high school with a history teacher named Miss Hidalgo. When I am at my mentorship I usually grade papers, converse with my mentor, look over lesson plans with her, and observe her teaching methods. Everything that I have done at my mentorship is related to my topic so it's beneficial to my research and I enjoy doing the tasks assigned. There are other teachers at the school I could possibly mentor with but my current mentor was the most willing to take on the responsibility of an extra high school student.

2. How did you find your mentor? How did you convince this person to help you?

- I found my mentor by sending emails to the different schools in my area. The email consisted of information about iPoly's senior project and my topic. I stated that I needed someone to help me gain a better understanding for teaching and to commit to helping me for about 60 hours in total. I didn't really have to persuade anyone into helping me I just asked and they either email me back or they didn't and that's how I found my mentor. 

3. How would you rate your comfort level with your mentor at this point in your relationship? How does this relate to the time you've spent so far at mentorship/with this person?

-At this point am I mentorship I've had the ability to form a relationship with the person I'm working with. On a scale of 1-10 I would rate my relationship with my mentor at a 7, pretty chill but also serious. I've gotten comfortable with my mentor to the point where I can ask questions without feeling awkward or scared to do so. My mentor has told me about her past and what it was like for her in high school and I've also told her about some impactful experiences that I've had, so it's giving me the opportunity to form a bond. Every Tuesday and Thursday I go to mentorship   for two hours unless something comes up. This has given me the ability to create a relationship because of the large amount of time that I've spent with my mentor.

4. What went well in this interview? Why do you think so? What do you still need to improve? How do you know? How will you go about it?

-The best part of my interview was he answers that I was receiving from questions that I was asking. I thought this was the best aspect of my interview because I had prepped my mentor with the questions that I was going to ask her so that way she could prepare herself for the type of answers she would provide me with. However I still need to improve on my awkwardness, I didn't really know when my mentor was done talking so I felt like I was cutting her off at some points in the interview. During my interview I felt a little weird when I would start to ask a follow-up question but then she still had more to say about the previous question and that's what made me feel a little awkward. This conflict is more of a social problem, so I'm just going to have to learn when it is my turn to speak. 

Blog 9 - Advisory Prep 3

• State whether or not you currently have a mentor, and what the status of your interview is with that person. 
• I have a mentor and I have completed my interview.
• At this point, your research is properly guiding your studies towards more specific areas within your topic. Name the area or two you find most promising and explain your reasons. 
• The areas that have given me most interest in research for my topic are, the different methods of teaching that are the most effective, as well as the various types of learning.
• What kind of sources do you think will help you in the next month to gain more research depth? Where will you go to get them?
• The kind of sources that will give me the most depth are the ones that have been written by doctors who have experience with the way the brain works. To get these sources I will go to the library, or online to forums that discuss the best possible methods of teaching.
• Write down a possible EQ. Please don't worry about wording other than ensuring that it provides the option for multiple correct answers. At this point, the senior team is more interested in understanding your thought process. 
• What is the most effective method of teaching high school students?

Blog 8: Independent Component 1 Proposal

1. Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.

          For my senior project I plan to research and create two lesson plans, and a quiz for 10th grade World History. I plan to research the common core standards for World History and create a lesson plan that follows the standards. Not only will I research the standards but also the topic of the lessons which will be about the Industrial Revolution to ensure that I am educated well enough to answer questions about the topic. I have spoken to my mentor about this and she feels comfortable with me teaching her class for three periods of fifty-sis minutes. The lesson plans will be able to appeal to all students with different levels and learning abilities through auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learning styles. The lesson plans will follow a combination of lesson plans, including the Madeline Hunter Lesson Plan and my own style of teaching. Because some students are more advanced than others the lesson plans will have challenging aspects but still be easy enough for students who are slower to complete the learning objective. Once the lesson plans have taken place there will be a short quiz that will be the closing to the lessons.In total there will be

2. Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.

          In order to meet the expectation of 30 hours I will document my Individual Component by logging my progress and how long I have worked on completing my component. There is a lot of research to be done before I actually have to create a lesson plan. I have to research the 10th grade standards and make sure that I follow the ones that apply to the topic that I will be teaching which will be tedious because I have to actually apply them to the lesson. I estimate that this will take me about five hours to research and select. After I have researched the standards I must also research the most effective ways of teaching and how to accommodate students with disabilities because of the No Child Left Behind Act. This is going to take a while to do because the all of the different obstacles I will have to face when making changes to my lesson plans to better assist the different students. Once I know all of the standards and the different ways to teaching effectively I will create my lesson plan, worksheets/ activities, and quiz. I feel like this component to my project will take the most\ time because I will have to change and revise to reassure the effectiveness of my planing. After everything has been completed then I will teach the two lessons to an actual class of 35 and then give a quiz.

3. Explain how what you will be doing to help you explore your topic more in depth.

         This will help me further my knowledge of my topic because I will have an actual experience where I can draw information from on what is the most effective way of teaching which will also help me answer my essential question. The experience I will gain from teaching a lesson plan will put the research I have recently done into effect by aiding me in creating my lesson plan. My depth of knowledge will increase from lesson planning because I will be learning about the most effective ways of teaching.

Blog 7 - Second Interview Preparation

Lol, so I couldn't find a picture of my mentor but when I did a Google search for her this picture came up. This is what she almost looks like. (:

1. Who is your mentor and where do they work?

• My mentor's name is Monica Hidalgo who is a high school teacher at Nogales High School. she teachers 10tha and 12th grade hsitiry and previously taught English. She has reciveid her education from UC Irvine, UC San Diego, and Cal State Long Beach.Ms. Hidalgo's life-long goals are to constantly develop her Teaching and knowledge of history.

2. What five questions will you ask them about their back ground?

• How long and where have you been teaching?
• What inspired you to become an educator?
• What were the different experiences that shaped your teaching style?
• In the past, have you ever thought that teaching high school was not the right path for you? When did you have that thought, and what made you stick to teaching?
• What have you found to be the most challenging aspect of teaching in terms of classroom management? 

Click on the link to go to my mentors page on her school website. Ms. Hidalgo

Blog 6 - Advisory Prep

1. What has worked well for you concerning your senior project this year? What has made it a positive experience for you?
• My senior project has been going pretty well because I haven't really had to struggle to finish any assignments on time. I have enjoyed completing my work within a reasonable amount of time before the due date. Holding myself accountable for my actions has worked for me because I hold myself responsible for the outcome of my actions. Not only has accountability helped me but time management has aided me, but hard work and determination have definitely played a role in my pleasant experience. I have been working really hard this year to be the best student I can be and I know that my efforts will pay off in the future. But even though I have been doing well, everything is quite easy for me which makes me unsure if I am doing everything correctly.  Either that or I am doing everything wrong. 
2. What are you finding difficult concerning senior project? How can you adapt to make that portion work better for you? How might the senior team help?

• The most difficult thing I have had to experience this year was balancing my priorities in terms of my social and academic life. I have had trouble in the past with choosing between what was most important but that seems more of a personal problem rather than one that can be fixed with the help of my senior teachers. I can only learn how to prioritize my senior project by doing in myself instead of having my parents or an overshadowing adult tell me what I should be doing. The only way I can fix this problem is by constantly evaluating my situations and the possible outcomes of my actions. I feel as if this senior project was designed to help the iPoly seniors grow up develop into adults that will have the ability to realize what they want in life. Overall I just need to learn to grow up, that's my biggest problem. 

Blog 5: Interview 1 Reflection

Here is a picture of my little sister who is barely starting pre school. My younger siblings had the advantage of having me as an older sister because I was able to teach them and help them develop into young ladies

Interview #1 Link

1. What is the most important thing I've learned from this interview?
• The most important thing I have learned from my interview was that education starts at the very beginning of a child's life though multiple ways of instruction. Although they may learn from the very beginning it does not mean that each child will learn from the same style of teaching or progress at the same rate as others. Some children may excel, and the other children may struggle a little more than usual, which is what makes learning such a strenuous task. Teaching is not a form of work where you can teach a lesson one the, each individual child learns through various ways so it is impossible to teach the same every time. 

1. Did I get additional resources and contacts? What is the most useful? Why?
• After the interview I asked my interviewee for some additional contacts of people that would be willing to give me an interview in different grade levels. The most useful contacts that I had gotten were members of the Rowland Unified School District, these were the most important to me because they have more experience and experience with multiple grade levels as well as an extensive educational background.
2. What makes my interviewee qualified to help me?
1. My interviewee was qualified to help me with my senior topic, High School Education, because the foundation of knowledge begins in pre school. Good education begins when the children are not in school but rather when they receive an education from pre-primary education, not primary education. Julie Stevens was a pre school teacher who has graduated from college and has experience in the field of child behavior science, this gives her substantial credibility in aid of my senior topic. 

Blog 4 - House Advisory Prep 1

My senior topic is on high school education. For my project I have been focusing on the developmental process students experience as they learn, I have also been studying outside factors that may have an effect on the outcome of the students grades. In this area of study for my senior topic I hope to understand how the adolescent brain functions and operates while trying to absorb information. Not only is the motion of learning interesting to me but I would also like to become more aware of how patience plays a role in teaching. Because I have short tolerance for disruptions and people I don’t like, my goal is to learn how to be more patient with those who need more manners. In my short amount of mentorship I have observed that some students do not put much effort into their work which makes me sad because I feel like education is the best path to a successful future. School is so important to me and I want to show others how great learning can be if you are motivated and excited enough to put energy and effort into your own education. Through my senior topic I am also focusing on myself, I aspire to be more in touch with the way I feel about my future and the decisions that I am going to make. I hope to accomplish a better understanding of want I want for my future.I hope to succeed in all aspects of my senior topic in terms or receiving an AE on my presentation or the components of my senior project because I really don't want to become a loser. By the end of my senior year I would like to say that I accomplished all of my goals I had set at the end beginning of the year with the most amount of determination.

Blog 3 - First Interview Preparation

1. Who do you plan to interview?  Why?
1. I plan to interview my mom for my first interview. At the beginning of my senior project I had completed a small portion of my mentorship with her because she has a background in child education but I later on switched my topic and mentor. Although my senior topic is on high school education she still has an educational background and knowledge on what it is like to teach. I would have interviewed my current mentor but I am saving her for my second interview.
2. What additional questions do you plan to ask?  Ask open-ended questions.  
1. Has there ever been a time where you had thought that teaching was not the right career path for you?
2. What advice would you give to students who aspire to become teachers?
3. How and when did you decide to pursue teaching?
4. What is the most rewarding part about becoming a teacher?
5. What is the biggest lesson that your students have taught you?

Blog 2 - Summer Mentorship

1. List the contact name, phone number, and organization of the person with whom you volunteered.

• Julie Stevens--Ms. Garcia
• 626-290-5817--626-893-8460
• Rorimer Elementary

2. What qualified this person as an expert in your topic choice?

• Julie Stevens is qualified to be my mentor due to her history of education and experience with children who have a difficult time learning. She has graduated from college with a degree in Behavioral Science, has worked as a preschool teacher at Santana high school where she worked with children who were born to teenage mothers. She has children who have disabilities and has had experience working with her own children as well as others. Mrs. Stevens is qualified to be my mentor because of her knowledge, understanding, and experience with children who have a difficult time learning.

3. List three questions for further exploration now that you've completed your summer hours.    

• How much education does it take to be qualified for a teaching position at a high school?
• What style of teaching is most effective on a group of students?
• How do you properly educate a high school student so that they are prepared for college or the workforce right after graduation? 

4. What is the most important thing you gained from this experience? Why?

• When I tutoring children the most important thing I have learned was patience. The children that I’ve worked with often got distracted and I was constantly having to gain their attention and refocus them on the task at hand. Because these children were not my siblings it was hard to approach them in a way that would  not cause trouble, which made me take time to reevaluate the situation and come up with a different approach. Usually I would have to raise my voice at my own sisters but I had to be patient and remain calm. Patience is important to learn because I am able to learn self control as well as avoiding impetuous decisions. Children are more susceptible to listen to  adults who respect them and approach them calmly thus, making this the most important quality to learn when working with children. 

5. What is your senior project topic going to be?  How did mentorship help you make your decision?  Please explain.

• I have decided to change my senior topic from special education towards high school education because of the students that I would be working with. It take a huge amount of patience to work with children that have disabilities, and I don’t have the tolerance to teach those types of children. Mentorship helped me decide which topic to focus on because it opened my eyes as to how much work and forbearance that I am not willing to put forth. Teaching special education is strenuous and I would much rather be able to educate students who I can interact with on a conscious level. Since My topic is changing my mentor will also change.

Blog 1 – Senior Final Lesson/Interview Reflection

1. What three lessons were most helpful for you to see, and why?
1. The three lessons that were most helpful to see during the senior presentations were the topics on, Autism, Fashion Merchandising, and Rain Forest Management. These topics were most helpful because I have interest in each field which influenced my decision on what to focus my senior project towards. Each presentation gave me an insight as to what the topic research may entail which was helpful to see because then I would be able to know if their would be an educational foundation within the topic.
2. List one thing that you learned about the senior project in interviews that will help you get off to a good start?
1. During the senior project interviews I learned that there is no way to procrastinate your years and that accountability is what makes your senior year. This information will help me get off to a good start because now I know I won't be able to slide through the year in order to get good grades. 
3. What topic(s) are you considering, and why?
1. The topic that I am considering has to do with Special Education, the reason for this is because I have a younger sibling who is diagnosed with Dyslexia and ADHD. Education has always been a struggle with my sibling and I would like to learn how to help her along with children who have problems focusing in school.
4. What EQ do you think might be interesting to consider in guiding a project like this? (Please don't worry about any sort of formula...we want this question to come from your genuine interest).
1. What is the best way to ensure that a child with mental disorders receives the proper education to succeed in life?
5. What are some ideas you have about finding summer mentorship?
1. As for a mentorship I plan on mentoring with a teacher who works with mentally disabled children or a psychiatrist who works with children that have special needs.