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.