Blog 14: Third Interview Preparation

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

1.  Who do you plan to interview?  What is this person's area of expertise?
I plan to interview my mentor again, Karen Lopez. She has been teaching over 25 years.
2.  Verify that you have called your interviewee to schedule an interview.  What is the date and time of the interview? 
I will be interviewing her Tuesday, January 19th at 3 PM.
3.  Phrase an open-ended question that will help you find research resources that would help to answer the EQ.
What strategies can I use to find the research for my topic? What sources do you get information from?
4.  Phrase an open-ended question that will help you think about other useful activities you might do to help you answer the EQ (IC2, possible experts to talk to, etc).
What do you consider the best method of teaching? Can you tell me a little about how you've noticed education change in the past 20-25 years? What technology has been most useful to you?
5.  Phrase two open-ended questions that help you to understand your interviewee's perspective on an aspect of your EQ. 
What do you think about innovations in education? Is it better or worse?
Do you think technology makes it harder to teach students or easier? If so why?What type of programs are used at this school? Is it well funded or did someone have to look for an alternative and find a cheap program. Since a lot of the money goes towards the free and reduced lunch program?

Blog 13: 10 Hour Mentorship Check-In

1.   Where are you doing your mentorship?
I am doing my mentorship at Arroyo Elementry School
2.   Who is your contact?  What makes this person an expert?
Ms.Lopez is my contact and she is an expert because she has been teaching for around 25 years.
3.   How many  hours have you done during the school year? (Summer Mentorship Hours and Mentorship Hours should be reflected separately in your Senior Project Hours log located on the right-hand side of your blog).
During the summer, I did 15 summer mentorship hours and  throughout the year I did 25 Mentorship Hours. 
4.   Succinctly summarize what you did, how well you and your mentor worked together, and how you plan to complete the remaining hours.
Well for the most part, I usually cleaned, reorganize materials. But I also helped with her lesson plans and made packets for the kids. Some days I get to learn more than others a lot of  my topic. She's let me use materials from her classroom to use for my lesson plan and I think we a have a good connection. To complete my remaining hours I will be coming in like usual but I talked ot her about giving me things to do at home. So I'm also going to be doing tat towards my mentorship.

Blog 12: Holiday Project Update

1.  It is important to consistently work on your senior project, whether it is break or we are in school.  What did you do over the break with your senior project?

• I did not do anything regarding my senior project.

2.  What was the most important thing you learned from what you did, and why?  What was the source of what you learned?

• I learned to check the blog more and that I should've probably did stuff regarding my senior project.

3.  Your third interview will be a 10 question interview related to possible answers for your EQ. Who do you plan to talk to and why?

• I might talk to my mentor again since we had a really good interview the first time and she knows her stuff.
• But I'm most likely going to talk to one of the other teachers on campus who is also a kindergarten teacher (one of my mentors teacher friend).

Blog 11: Lesson 1 Reflection

How I felt after I finished my presentation.

1. What are you most proud of in your lesson, and why?

• I think I am most proud on how I executed my presentation. I had to leave a lot of information out, so I know I could have talked a good 15-20 minutes if I wanted to. I didn't think I would talk well and hit most of the key things I needed to, but I did.

2. What assessment would you give yourself on your lesson? Explain why you earned that grade using evidence from the component contract.

• I'd give myself an AE since I believe I hit every aspect desired on the component contract and spoke the desired amount.

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?

• I would probably have my probs set up better so the whole room is able to see them. Some people had to stand up to see the books or things i had on the whiteboard. I also could have used pictures.

Blog 10 - Interview 2 Reflection

1. Please explain how you are 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 am spending time with my mentor by going each week at the school she works at "Arroyo Elementary" I work in the classroom with her usually shadowing. I am able to help with lessons and make the children books, and cut things out or them, etc.Right now i am in the process of seeing if I can work with they kids, hopefully, I can get approved with that. Yes, there are other experts in the location, many other kindergarten teachers I have not yet spoken with. 

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

• It is quite strange. I talked to one of the girls in the office and left them with my name and phone number asking I could volunteer there. Someone then called me three weeks later saying they would like me to volunteer with them but gave me no name they just said to show up at room k-3. So when I did that is when I met Kathryn Lopez. The reason it was strange was because she was not the one who I talked dot over the phone and had no idea who I was. But I talked ot her and explained what my topic was about and she was happy to have me volunteer with her. So this all started last year. 

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?

• I would rate my comfort level mentor on a scale 1-10, a 10. I feel pretty comfortable around her since she knows me and I know her. I think we have a good relationship. As or the time I've spent with her its been on and off but we are still good.

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?

• Everything went well, I was worried my 5 questioned were vague, but when I asked them she explained each and everyone very well to me. I learned so much more than I thought I would. I can probably improve on making it less awkward, I don't think I make it awkward I just feel awkward sometimes. So i can improve on that by asking question in a more moderate tone. I will also try to ask more questions on the next interview.

Link to my Second interview click HERE.

Blog 9 - Advisory Prep 3

1. State whether or not you currently have a mentor, and what the status of your interview is with that person (I have completed the interview, I have scheduled the interview, I have not scheduled the interview, etc).

• I currently do have a mentor.I just need to fix my schedule to make more time with her. I have a scheduled interview next Wednesday with her, so I should be good.

2. At this point, your research is probably guiding your studies toward more specific areas within your topic.  Name the area or two you find most promising and explain your reasons. 

•  As of right now I am still a bit iffy on what I want to go into, but I believe behavior issues will be one specific area. I have read many articles that explain early behavior is linked to the way the children act around others in the future and affects how they learn and develop. Classroom environment might also be another since many children develop skills in a fun like managable area. Without one it creates a boring and not so fun environment where the kids dread to learn. The better the classroom the better the teaching for the kindergartners.

3. What kinds of sources do you think will help you in the next month to gain more research depth?  Where will you go to get them?

• I think reading books and watching videos will help me gain more research depth. I will get the books at the Cal Poly library as for the videos I will  look them up on youtube or other websites.

4. 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 most interested in understanding your thought process.

• What is the most effective way a kindergarten teacher can prepare and educate the students of the world?

Blog 8: Independent Component 1 Proposal

I want to be like the lady serving the drink

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

For my 30 hours, I plan on interacting more with the kids and actually teaching like the teacher does. I haven't gotten much the chance to do so. So I'm hoping I can talk with my mentor as see if I can help the students with whatever they are struggling with, interact with then during their play time and possibly get to read to them.

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

To show the evidence, I will be recording myself before I go in to help each time and record and talk about what I got to do afterwards. Sort of like a vlog. I will also have my mentor sign off that I did do the amount of hours. I plan on also doing projects and keeping them to show what I did that day. Not only that but possibly also creating a new blog on what I got to do different each time I go in.,

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

Most of the time I have volunteered with my mentor, she has had me do more of paperwork like making packets, lesson plans, organizing the room, making folders, and much more. I want to get the sense of how it really is interacting with the students. I want to gain the experience helping the kids and get an idea of what Its actually like being the teacher.

4.  Update your Senior Project Hours log.

Starting soon