Thank you (May blog post)

Oh, high school. You were nothing like they portrayed you to be in Angsty teen films. I guess the only thing that was pretty much spot on was the fact that everybody has something to say about you. But that's more of a universal thing. It's also one of the reasons why I learned to focus on people who matter. I can't help what others say or do around me, but I can definitely control what I let affect me.

 Either way, I must admit, High School Musical did NOT prepare me for this journey. (I was going to say crap, but I'm not sure if that's appropriate). Now that I'm looking back at it, it's pretty funny. I remember crying once freshmen year because I didn't get an AE in infotainment. I remember completely losing it junior year when my chem teacher told me he was disappointed that I wasn't living up to my potential. (Apparently 79.7% is also another way of saying you're going to fail at life?). Don't even get me started on the whole, "Hi, I'm your new teacher" thing senior year. 

Through all of those weird moments, I found some pretty rad moments to overshadow them. Thankfully this quiet, but refreshingly sweet girl named Nathalie decided to be in drama first semester freshmen year. She is now my best friend. Thanks to her I met the oh so sassy, but fantastic girl named Alondra, the intelligent and bright eyed girl named Daisy, and the sneaky but loving fellow named Vince. Let me tell you, these kids are crazy, hilarious, beautiful, and freaking amazing people. So thank you ipoly, for letting me meet those wonderful souls.

I'm fifteen days away from graduation and I really don't know how the next few years will play out... But one things for sure, I'm going to give it my all. I'm going to look back at my time in college and say, "That was so worth it." So here's to a new beginning, and a heartfelt goodbye to these past four years.

I feel good knowing that I'm moving on and I won't be alone. Joseph, don't be surprised if I drive all the way to irvine just because I want a hug. If I ever feel like having a wonderful conversation on literally, anything, expect a call from me Givanti. And if I ever feel like doing something wild, outrageous, and wonderful, be expecting me at your doorsteps Becca and Lupita. And Susie, we can go to ikea and pick out furniture together like cute hipsters, future roomie.

Peace out 🌸

Blog 23: Senior Project Reflection

(1) Positive Statement

What are you most proud of in your block presentation and/or your senior project? Why?

I thought my activities were clever and interactive. My audience seemed to really enjoy them and I put a lot of thought and consideration into making them directly correlate to my answers.

(2) Questions to Consider

a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your block presentation (self-assessment)?

AE       

b.     What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project (self-assessment)?

AE       

(3) What worked for you in your senior project?
I cited a lot of sources so it was easy to make time. I rehearsed several times the night before so it was easier to make them flow smoothly throughout my 30 minutes of quality research time.

(4) (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your senior project if you could go back in time?
I think I did everything pretty well except that I totally forgot to define two terms from my EQ which I rehearsed but for some reason forgot while presenting. Nerves I guess.

(5) Finding Value

How has the senior project been helpful to you in your future endeavors?   Be specific and use examples.

I chose a topic I'm extremely passionate about. Learning and being part of this experience has helped me see special education in a different light. I value the teachers who work hard to teach those who are often neglected in society. It also helped my value my education and my health that enables me to be successful and excell in my academics. This has pushed me to change my theatre major into a double major along with business. I'm now more confident in my abilities to surpass expectations in a classroom and I will take advantage of the fact that I'm healthy and blessed.

Blog 22: Mentorship

Content:

LIA Response to blog:

    Literal

·     Log of specific hours with a total and a description of your duties updated on the right hand side of your blog (done)

·     Mr. William Harper  , San Jose Elementary School Pomona, CA

    Interpretive

    The most important thing I've gained from this experience is definitely my ability to interact with children who have special needs in a classroom. Teachers take months of training because working with these children can be tedious at  times. Because of that, i'm proud of myself for advancing so quickly and learning how to communicate and assist them in a professional manner.

   Applied

    My essential question, "What is the most significant factor in insuring the independence of a preschool special education student by the age of five?", was applied to a very specific age group. Because of this, it was easy to find answers to my eq by getting books or finding articles that had specific answers to my specific question. My observation skills at mentorship also helped me see, first hand, the behavior and teachings methods I spent so much time researching about.

Exit Interview

Content:

(1) What is your essential question, and what are your answers?  What is your best answer and why?

EQ: What is the most significant factor in insuring the independence of a preschool special education student by the age of five?

My best Answer: The most significant factor in insuring independence of a preschool special education student by the age of five is to help them create a steady lesson plan that involves both social and academic skills for them to learn at their own pace. :emphasis on Pace.

(2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?

It was really a lot of observation skills mixed with the books I read on early development for special education students.

(3) What problems did you face?  How did you resolve them?

At first i wanted to find a way to mesh my first and second answer but they still sounded like two answers instead of one cohesive answer that covered what i felt was the most significant factor. I decided to look back on my earliest notes in my Research Check notebook because those notes are from my best printed sources, one being the one listed below.

(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?

My mentor, William Harper and Early Communication Skills for children with Down Syndrome by Libby Kumin. These two are my best sources because everything important that was in this 600 page book answered every aspect of my essential question because of how detailed it was in, not only down syndrome, but early childhood development in a special education class as well. Mr. Harper helped me see the articles i read, first hand. Whether it was "How o create a lesson plan" or "Being Assertive in a Classroom", he helped me see everything in action and always answered any question I had on teaching.

April Extra Blog

Mentorship! Mentorship! and More Mentorship!

       Things at my mentorship are getting pretty busy this time of year. the students are preparing to compete in a robotics competition up at Cal Poly Pomona. They are also almost technically done with their school year, so there's a lot of fun projects going on aside from the robotics, and usual testing. I'm excited to be here twice a week now, but I definitely know a lot's in store for me. Here's to learning more about my topic and hopefully with all this volunteering in a  classroom setting, i'll find it easier to present in a classroom for an hour and half next month!

March Extra Blog

Self confidence in students at an early age:

       Working with sixth graders, i've come to realize that their confidence as students and as individuals overall begin to drop when they hit 10-11 years old. In sixth grade, the average student is 11-12 years old. I now understand how important it is as a teacher to really help the students achieve maximum success by making them believe they are capable of , not only that, but so much more as well. A student with a high self-esteem is proven to work more efficiently in the social aspect of the classrooms such as presentations, and debates. These students need reminders of how bright they are, and it is our jobs as TA's and Teachers to remind them of it.

Blog 18: Fourth interview prep

Whom I plan on interviewing:

        My mentor William Harper because i feel at this point, he has the most to offer information wise and he could help me tie my senior topic in together so i could have a smoother transition into presenting it.

The questions I plan on asking:

What is the activity you enjoy most within your classroom to help the students work on their presentation skills?

On average, how much time do your students spend doing independent assignments and/or projects in class?

On average, how much time do you spend lecturing in class?

What age group do you prefer to teach? Why?

When did you decide education was the career you wanted to pursue?

How many years have you been teaching?

Do you ever change the curriculum for some students who may be struggling to keep up with his or her peers? Why? Why not?

What does being an Independent student mean to you?

What type of misbehavior do you find most common in your classroom?

Addressing number nine, how do you deal with this misbehavior?

Do students have a penalty for not turning in homework? If so, what is it?

Do your students get individual academic goals for the year, (such as reaching advanced on the standardized test scores) or do you have an overall academic goal for all students to reach as a unit?

What is the most helpful source you turn to for new teaching methods?

Have you seen a change in student performance with the new Common Core State Standards?

How do you manage to keep your students on task at all times?

What was a method you used for the old California Standards test?

Is there any teaching method you implement that works no matter what you teach?

What is one method that definitely doesn't work in any classroom?

Blog 17: Third Answer

My essential question is :

What is the most significant factor in insuring the independence of a preschool special ed student by the age of 5?


My third answer is:

the most significant factor in insuring independence of a preschool special education student by the age of five is to help them create an individual lesson plan that involves both social and academic skills for them to learn at their own pace. :emphasis on Pace.

February Extra Blog

Valentines day
 Today in mentorship, we handed out valentine cards after testing hours. It reminded me of how excited I was in Elementary school to pass out a valentine card to EVERY person in my class. It was such a nice experience and it was adorable to see the students kind of awkwardly hand over cards to those whom they secretly admired and vice versa. it was sweet and a different pace for our normal busy friday schedule.

Independent component 2

(a) “I, Ilse Gutierrez, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30.5 hours of work.”
(b) My two main sources are my mentors Mr. William Harper, and Mrs. Anderson. 
(c) Updated
(d) I've completed 30.5 hours of extra mentorship. I volunteered with me. Harpers class as well as Mrs. Anderson's class on Thursdays and Fridays.
INTERPRETIVE 

APPLIED
My essential question is "what is the most significant factor in insuring the independence of a preschool special education student by the age of 5?" The reason I chose to do more mentorship hours was because I found that my first few points that led to my first answer came from one on one interaction in a classroom as well as observations on the students social and academic skills, and the teachers different teaching methods. I found that volunteering with a third grade class and a sixth grade class gave me aware since knowledge on, not only a specific grade level curriculum, but educating as a whole. Working on my independent component two I found my second and third answer. My third answe being my best. It was basically doing research in person and observing it first hand.

Blog 16: Answer 2

1.  What is your EQ?

What is the most significant factor in insuring the independence of a preschool special ed student by the age of five?
2.  What is your first answer? (In complete thesis statement format)

The most significant factor is to teach them an effective form of communication depending on what disability and/ or syndrome they may have.

3.  What is your second answer? (In complete thesis statement format)

The most significant factor is to challenge each student academically and make sure they are treated a individuals so they can learn at their own pace within the classroom setting.
4.  List three reasons your answer is true with a real-world application for each.

- children need to be challenged academically in order to advance levels. For example, when a student is being challenged to learn 3 words in sign language a week instead of two, they're already advancing at a more rapid pace.

-learning at your own pace is important within the early childhood development stages. A reason as to why that's true is because when young students feel like they're being left behind, they'll lose interest in the curriculum and become co-dependent on their teachers to do most of the work for them.

- in order for students to become independent, they must be at a certain level academically. For example, pre school special Ed students have to take a test individually at the end of the three years of preschool to determine whether or not their academic level of comprehension is high enough to be places in traditional courses.

5.  What printed source best supports your answer? 

Learning At A Steady Pace by Sam Triggens 
6.  What other source supports your answer?

My mentor

7.  Tie this together with a  concluding thought.

Honestly, this answer is not my best answer out of the two. It is very true that academic skills are just as important as social skills (such as communication: my answer 1) but I definitely think social skills may have the upper hand.

Independent component 2

For my independent component, i'm planning on continuing with my mentorship because I feel like I learn more about my topic observing in the classroom, than doing another activity outside of it. I volunteer at San Jose Elementary school on Fridays from 1-3 so in order to complete my hours, I will now start going twice a week starting next week (February 16, 2015). 

Independent Component 1

“I, Ilse Gutierrez, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.”

• I did 30 hours more of mentorship for my independent component.
• INTERPRETIVE 
  My mentorship teaches about my topic more than any article or book I could read.
• APPLIED
   Using mentorship for my independent component was beneficial to me because it helped me come up with my first answer. My first answer has to do with communication and within the classroom I volunteer in, observing my mentor, William Harper, I've come to realize that children don't learn how to communicate with one another on their own. It isn't always something that may come natural to young students. It's the teachers job to help them learn different, yet effective forms of communication and social skills.

Blog 13: Lesson 2 reflection

1. What I'm most proud of my hook activity because I think the sign language gave the opportunity to be interactive with my audience.

2. AE/P+
b. I thought I did a really good job explaining and focusing on my topic in depth. I also had good eye contact and felt comfortable speaking to my audience. I sited several sources and gave several real life scenarios.

3. I think the sign language worked extremely well and everyone participated.

4. What didn't work was that I didn't really reference my PowerPoint a lot while speaking.

5. My answer number two would be "To help the students learn at their own pace to excell socially and academically as individuals."

Blog 12: Mentorship 10 hours check

1. I'm doing my mentorship at San Jose Elementary School with a class of 6th graders, as well as a class of 3rd graders.

2. My contact is Mr. William Harper

3. I've done 49 and a half hours.

4. At my new mentorship, I've been volunteering at an elementary school. On thursdays from 12:55-2:30, i volunteer with Mrs. Anderson's 3rd grade class. I help organize things, grade papers, and decorate the classroom. On fridays from 12:50-3:00, I volunteer with Mr. Harper's 6th grade class. I mostly grade papers, and observe classroom activities and different teaching methods he uses.

Blog 11: Holiday Project Update

1. Over winter break, I read articles on child development, different teaching methods in a classroom, and autistic students who excel in art.

2.  The most important thing from what I've learned has to be the fact that teaching is more complex than us students see it to be. A classroom setting, along with teaching methods differs throughout every grade level, as well as subjects. For my topic specifically, pre-school special ed and traditional pre-school courses require different teaching methods as well as different curriculum.  I went to the Laverne Public Library and found several magazines that had articles that gave me a good insight on teaching as a whole.

3.  I would talk to my new mentor, William Harper, because he has several years of experience within a classroom and he has several years of experience in training new teachers as well. I know he could give me a new perspective on my senior topic and in education as a whole.