Blog 20: Fourth Interview Questions

1.  Who do you plan to interview?  What is this person's area of expertise?

• I plan to interview my mentors co-worker which has been teaching for about 10 years or more.

2.  Post 20 open-ended questions you want to ask an expert in the field concerning your senior project. Your focus should be finding answers to your EQ.

Communication

• What do you consider the best method of teaching?
• How do you effectively teach students and make sure they don't fall back.
• How do you understand that you are getting results and that your way of teaching is helping them or not?
• How do you use communication as a factor in your teaching. What type of activities, worksheets, or games do you play to help the children communicate better and gain skills out of it.
• What methods do you see other Kindergarten teachers use that seem to help children in their communication skills, that can help them for the future?

Technology

• What do you think about innovations in education? Is it better or worse?
• How do you use technology within your lessons?
• Do you use it often or do you think the use of communication and old school teaching methods help children understand topics easier?
• If you could choose to be a school with no technology would you change it? Or would you keep the technology as it is now. What do you think the children would gain more knowledge from
• Do you see technology as a necessity to be taught since our world is quickly advancing to a  technological world. Do you think teaching them early about computers and skills will help them in the future or do you think it is just a waste of effective learning time?

Common Core

• How has common core changed in your eyes over the past years? Better or worse?
• Do you think common core is preparing our youth for the future or just making it harder and more stressful for them?
• How much did No Child Left Behind affect education? Did it make it better or worse?
• If you could change anything what would you change in terms of common core?
• How has common core affected you personally as well as your co-workers?

Starting Questions

• In general, what could you tell me about your education experience from k-12 grade
• What is the most effective way a Kindergarten teacher can prepare his students for our quickly changing world?

Ending Questions

• How do you effectively teach children and keep them up in the world we live in.
• Is there anyone in particular, you know that would be a great help towards my future interviews?
• As a teacher now, would you prefer to keep teaching in this period of time to teach how it used to be 10 years ago?

Blog 19: Third Answer

• EQ 

• What is the most effective way a kindergarten teacher can prepare his students for our quickly changing world?

• Answer #3 (Write in a complete sentence like a thesis statement)*

• A kindergarten teacher can prepare his students for our quickly changing world by understanding and meeting the standards set by common core

• 3 details to support the answer

• Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them. Know number names and the count sequence.

•  Representing and comparing whole numbers, initially with sets of objects

• Describing shapes and space. More learning time in Kindergarten should be devoted to number than to other topics.

• The research source(s) to support your details and answer

• "Kindergarten » Introduction." Kindergarten » Introduction. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Oct. 2015.

• "‘This Really Isn't Kindergarten Anymore’." Washington Post. The Washington Post, n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2015.

• "The Thomas B. Fordham Institute." Is Common Core Too Hard for Kindergarten? N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2015.

• Concluding Sentence
• Having teachers meet the standards that need to be met by common core will increase the creativity and will educate the children and a quicker and faster rate. A long as they are kept on track and are taught everything they need to be, they will be prepared for what is to come.

Blog:18 Answer 2

1.  What is your EQ?

• What is the most effective way for a kindergarten teacher to prepare his students for our quickly changing world?

2.  What is your first answer? (In complete thesis statement format)

• Teaching children how to communicate in ways that ready their minds for complex thought

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

• Introducing and using technology as a key tool for a child's future success

4.  List three reasons your answer is true with a real-world application for each.

• Students gain technology skills
• It helps them understand lessons in a  different and quicker way.
• Also keeps them doing hands on activities weather it be on a smart board or iPads.

5.  What printed source best supports your answer?

• "How Can Technology Be Beneficial in a Kindergarten Class?" Everyday Life. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Jan. 2016.

6.  What other source supports your answer?

• "Your Child and Technology: What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know." GreatSchools. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2016.

7.  Tie this together with a  concluding thought.

• Technology is everywhere in the world. It is used each and everyday by millions of people. Technology is advancing each and every day, it is only right if we begin to teach basic skills to students at an early age and help them understand how a computer is used or iPad so later they understand how to use these resources for benefit int he future. We can use it as a tool to help children understand lessons and get their minds to think in a more creative and complex way.

Blog 17 - Interview 3 Reflection

1. What is the most important thing I learned from the interview?  

• That Technology is always changing, but the use of communication within the student is a really important factor. You cant use technology to teach children if you don't have communication. So both communication and technology are key factors to each other. Once you can make use of them two then the outcome becomes effective. Then on making it a really effective way of teaching.

2.  How has your approach to interviewing changed over the course of your senior project?

• I guess I'd have to say preparing beforehand instead of the day before. I also am more focused on answering my essential question rather then just asking questions out of the blue. I am actually getting answers i need and that help me now. I now use these interviews as a reference for my future lessons and for the research i look up in the future.

Click HERE for my Interview

Blog 16: Independent Component 2 Approval

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

• I am still unsure, I plan on talking to teachers on what I could do to better this Independent component. Right now I am planning to do lesson plans.

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

• So research and make like a book well like 2 different types of books. One book with lesson plans for teachers that are teaching kindergarten. And another book with like activities that would teach kids new things and basically like packets they get regularly at school to fit with their topic. I will show evidence by linking my sources and formatting them correctly.I will show pictures or add links to my finished component so you can see where I am at and how my books or packets are going. I also plan to give some packets to my mentor Karen Lopez so she can review them and give me tips on what I can fix.

3.  Explain how this component will help you explore your topic in more depth.

• I think this component will help me explore my topic by giving me an actual sense of how it is to do lesson plans. And also will guide me and help me find out more what the kids are learning and how teachers are explaining the information to the students. 

4.  Post a log in your Senior Project Hours link and label it "Independent Component 2" log.

• Fin.

Independent Component 1

• 
  
• LITERAL
  (a) Write: “I, Anthony Gomez,  affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.”
  (b) Cite your source regarding who or what article or book helped you complete the independent component.
• None, Just my mentor Karen Lopez experience of 25 years and still going.
  (c) Update your hours in your Senior Project Hours link. Make sure it is clearly labeled with hours for individual sessions as well as total hours.
• Done
• (d) Explain what you completed.    
• Done
• INTERPRETIVE 
  Defend your work and explain its significance to your project and how it demonstrates 30 hours of work.   Provide evidence (photos, transcript, art work, videos, etc) of the 30 hours of work.  
  
• I added a link on my hours log that has all the pictures I took for each day i went in or when i did something different.
• APPLIED
  How did the component help you understand the foundation of your topic better?  Please include specific examples to illustrate this. 
• Didn't help much. I guess just talking to my mentor each time I went in. I would get input on what she thought about my answers or id ask her questions and she'd always provide me with information. It was always good and useful information that she gave me.Some information like when she talked ot me about how technology was being implemented in kindergarten. that helped since I related other articles to what she said and found a  correlation between them.

Lesson 2 Reflection

1.What are you most proud of in your Lesson 2 Presentation and why?

• I am most proud on how well I presented because I had enough information that if I wanted to I could've spoken for longer than the time given. 

2. a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your Lesson 2 Presentation (self-assessment)?

• I honestly think I did well enough to deserve an AE. I felt like I hit all the points necessary.

     b.     Explain why you deserve that grade using evidence from the Lesson 2 component contract.

• I felt like I hit all the points necessary. I had an appropriate volume/enunciation, appropriate body language/eye contact, and even engaged with the audience. I used my time effectively, I always had something to teach and say. I had many props and a powerpoint. The research was clear and justified, referenced my mentorship, and had good sources of research. My activity went well and was great, it helped everyone learn my answer, and the game was pretty self-explanatory but I still gave directions.

3. What worked for you in your Lesson 2?

• The way I explained everything and used gestures. I really liked how the class responded and participated when I asked questions. My activity also seemed to grab the attention of the class. The class seemed to enjoy it more than I thought they would.

4. What didn't work? If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your Lesson 2?

• I would probably change my hook because I think it took a little too long and seemed to bore the class and bore me as well. I'd probably make it more creative next time.

5. What do you think your answer #2 is going to be?

• I believe my answer 2 will either have to do with technology or common core. I am leaning more towards technology. So for my answer #2 I'd say. A kindergarten teacher can prepare his student for our quickly changing world by using technology to expand the minds of kindergarteners.