November Extra Post

Research 

First off, Happy Holidays! I had an awesome break and it saddens me that we have to go back to school but it must be done.
This month I really focused on my research, finding books, articles, etc. because the more I get to go to mentorship the more I get interested in child brain development and the aspects of giving a child the best possible early education. 
This week I had planned to spend more time at the day care but they were also on break, so this week I focused on details from my first lesson that I missed when it comes to research. One of those details was how parents could encourage their kids in their learning adventure; I went to the County Library web page and looked for parent "handbooks" on how to improve their child's enthusiasm to learn while also teaching parents how to help said child. Along with that I also found some books on child brain development and how learning comes into play so I'm looking froward to getting those soon! 

Happy Late Thanksgiving! And onward to Christmas! 

Blog 10: EQ

1. Confirm you have read the following:
    An essential question must:
     a. Provide a framework for studies (It calls for breadth and depth of research, is not a yes/no
        question)
     b. Take a stance (It allows you to argue some point. Cannot be a recitation of facts or a list)
     c. Format (It is specific. The wording makes sense)

I reviewed the rule of three for writing an EQ.

2. Review the following:
     a. What is the most important factor in healthy weight loss?
           a.1. This EQ allows an individual to research different methods that affect weight loss and
                   how they contribute. It allows the researcher to make a decision based on what they
                   found was best; allows a stance to be taken. Meets the rule of 3.
     b. What is most important to securing a conviction in a criminal investigation?
           b.1. This allows the researcher to look up previous convictions and what made them
                   successful, helping them answer their EQ. Once finished seeing what is successful it
                   allows researcher to take a stance based on the information they gathered. Meets
                   rule of 3.
     c. What is most important in creating a hairstyle that best satisfies a customer?
           c.1.  This EQ seems very opinionated, because it is something based on what someone may
                   like and what another may not; makes arguing difficult. Does not meet rule of 3.
     d. How can an anesthesiologist best treat chronic pain?
           d.1.  This EQ sets a very good research path because the researcher will be able to look up
                    information on anesthesiology and how it works; then they will also be able to tie it in
                    with what chronic pain is and how an anesthesiologist can best treat that pain, providing
                    different points of view. Meets rule of 3.

3. Based on your review of the rule of 3 and your experience with assessing four EQs, please write another draft EQ for your senior project.
     What is the most important skill a child develops in their early education that helps them best
     excel academically?

Blog 9: Lesson 1 Reflection

1. Positive Statement
What are you most proud of in your Lesson 1 Presentation and why?
I am most proud of the way I was able to engage my audience with my hook and the way I managed to connect it to my own experience. I feel like what gets an audience interested in what you have to say is if you connect whatever story, or information, you may have and make it your own; make it relatable.

2. Questions to Consider
     a. What assessment would you give yourself on your Lesson 1 Presentation (self-
         assessment)?
         P/AP  
     
     b. Explain why you deserve that grade using evidence from the Lesson 1 component
         contract.
         I think I deserve this grade because I know I probably missed out on some key factors in
         regards to application of research by referencing specific examples in the justification and
         foundation row, but I overall think I did fine when talking about my resources and
         mentorship/interview. For the "P" consideration though, I know I met the required time, was
         prepared on time, had one required prop, my introduction did include audience interaction, I
         cleaned up afterwards, and turned in my lesson plan at the required time.

3. What worked for you in your Lesson 1?
I think what worked for me in my Lesson 1 was that I was prepared and had a clear idea of what I wanted to say about what I have discovered and learned so far, via my mentorship experience and my research. I also think that bringing a personal visual also helped because it belongs to me, making it a little more relatable as opposed to if I would've brought a random child's work.

4. (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your Lesson 1?

To improve my lesson I probably would have talked more about what exactly child development is and how it truly affects child education. I feel like I was a little too worried about making time that I may not have said everything I would have liked to about the different stages in development and how it correlates with the education process, or how there are certain stages when an educator has to focus on helping a child develop and enhance specific skills.

October Extra Post

Independent Component

For my lesson plan on Monday, or Tuesday, I was planing on having "memory" books to explain my hook activity a little further. So I was going to bring my little book from when I went to preschool and then compare it to one from my kids, but I realized they don't have one! -gasp- It is the one thing I have kept from preschool and something I constantly look back at and smile.

My cover page with my school and year!

My karaoke choices certainly have changed :)

My little 's' is trying to fly away! How cute :)

So here's my new mission-if I choose to accept it, which I do.
Children don't remember much from their preschool years and it's really nice to have a little token of that time in one's life, so I am taking it upon myself to give back to my kids by making them their own personal memory books.
This is my new mission while doing my independent component this semester and I plan to post little pictures of my mission's progress. Here's to hoping for the best! :)

Blog 8: Research and Working EQ

1. What is your working EQ?
What are the most important skills a child can develop to have an impact on the way they excel academically?

2. What is a possible answer to your working EQ? Please write the answer in thesis format.
EQ: What are the most important skills a child can develop to have an impact on the way they excel academically? 

• Children, and their educators, should focus on developing their motor skills . 
• Social and interaction skills should be stressed at an early age as they both intertwine later in life both academically and personally. 
• Cognitive control, although rarely taught, is an important skill for success in school and life, that if not introduced at an early age can hurt children later in life.
• Educators must also be aware of the certain stages a child goes through and how to address them, as at these stages certain skills should be focused on more than others. 

3. What is the most important source you have used that has helped you come up with an answer to your working EQ?
The most important source I have found most helpful in helping me think of a working EQ is a scholarly journal by Adele Diamond, titled Preschool Program Improves Cognitive Control, it talks about a crucial factor in a child's life and that if it's missed it can affect a child later. This got me thinking about all the other skills necessary for a child to develop in order to do well in school and when they should develop them.

4. Who is your mentor, or where are you doing mentorship, and how does what your doing relate to your working EQ?
My mentor is MS. Chami and she works at Montessori Academy of Chino. By going to her classroom and interacting with the kids it relates and helps me answer my working EQ in the way that I get to see them being taught essential skills that will help them in future academic endeavors. They are being taught to work hands-on and how to interact with others around them -which improves their social skills-. I feel like my mentorship does a good job of knowing at what stage a child might be at and then helping them work on skills that need fine tuning, which I am now being introduced to and apart of by going, helping them do their worksheets, or just being a support for them and sitting there while they work.

Blog 7: Independent Component 1 Approval

What is it? Independent Component 1 is an opportunity for you to add a dimension of creativity and/or an additional outlet for research. The goal of the component is for you to explore your topic in more depth with this component. 

To get your idea approved now, please answer the following questions: 

1. Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.
For my thirty hours I plan to just spend more time with my mentor, in her classroom. I chose to do this because I feel like in order to really learn how early childhood education affects a child is by actually observing them in the classroom.
So, I plan on going on Wednesdays, in addition to already going on Mondays, and really interacting with the children by helping them with their work.

2. Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence. 
To show evidence of the work I will be doing with the kids I will post pictures on my blog of work they do, which includes; crafts, worksheets, drawings, etc. However, I'm not sure if I am allowed to take pictures of myself with the children, but I'll be sure to ask the Director and my mentor for permission.

3. Explain how what you will be doing will help you explore your topic in more depth.
As I mentioned before, my topic is Early Childhood Education, and I think to know how my topic really affects the kids I have to actually see it taking place. So by adding more hours with my mentor, I feel like that's the best way to gain knowledge and experience it first hand. By spending more time interacting with the kids I'll really learn how having an education early on helps them personally.

4. Update your Senior Project Hours log.
Senior Project Hours Log.

September Extra Post

Pinterest is a-ma-zing!

I've been using Pinterest for a while now but for personal reasons, that is until I found all the lovely resources and ideas I can use at my mentorship! My mentor, Ms. Chami, has an assistant, Ms. Mary, who helps her in the classroom and usually comes up with all the fun craft ideas. However, I've been looking through Pinterest lately and I found some great ideas that I hope to add to their already colorful classroom. 

I would love to add these to the top of the windows in the classroom to create a more inviting environment.

Adding color to a room really brightens things up, especially for a child who is a visual learner. The bright colors, I think, makes it feel more open and fun.

I think that for a child it's very important to show them how they are doing, having a visual up to remind them where they're at can perhaps keep them on track of being productive. I also love the colors!

I've also discovered some great, well at least I think they are fun, crafts we can do with the kids to enhance/improve their motor skills, through a fellow blogger on blogspot.com who happens to be a Kindergarten teacher. She has various templates of activities and worksheets I know I can bring up with my mentor, and Ms. Mary, and perhaps use them the next time I go to help out. Pinterest is an incredible website that I know I will continue using for future ideas. 

Here is a link to my board.

Blog 6: Second Interview Preparation

The purpose of this second interview is to justify your mentor as an expert in the field. Thus, you will be asking them at least 5 questions about their background and/or the background of the organization or company where they work.

1. Who is your mentor and where do they work?
 My mentor is Ms. Chami and she works at the Montessori Academy of Chino.

2. What five questions will you ask them about their background?
I plan to ask her the following questions:

• What made you decide to become a preschool/transitional kindergarten teacher? Why not pick one over the other?
• Have you worked at other schools? If so, what are some differences in the schools?
• What does the "Montessori Method" mean to you?
• What kind of education did you have? How do you think it affected your life?
• As a parent, what kind of education do you want your children to have? Why?

Blog 5: Mentorship and Research Reflection

1. Mentorship question: Describe your experience on how you found your mentorship? If you haven't found one yet, describe your experience so far in the search for a mentor.
Finding my mentorship was...interesting. I wanted to do my mentorship at a cosmetology school, and everything was good to go but then at the last minute it didn't work out with my would be mentor. When I was starting to sort of panic, I thought I'd give teaching a try, so I contacted my middle school teacher but she was too busy and our school hours were totally different, so that wasn't possible. My mom then told me of a family friend who worked at a daycare, and I thought that I should give it a try, I mean I've always loved kids and I know I want to follow a career path where I end up helping them in some way. So I went down to the daycare, talked to the director and she said she'd love to have me helping out; the first couple of weeks I didn't do much, I was at the front office making copies, filing papers, and answering phone calls but then I was allowed to go into a classroom, with supervision, and I ended up really liking it. Next Monday, I will be officially starting my mentorship for the year alongside my mentor.

2. Research question: What has been your most important article you have read so far and why?
The most important article that I have found is on Early Childhood Education and it is from the US Department of Education. I find it very important because within the article there are other links to specific programs, studies, handbooks, etc., and I know I will go back and explore the links to help me on my senior project.

August Extra Post

Plan for the year

I haven't had the chance to go to the day care because I've been busy with school, however I've been keeping in touch with the director over the phone and I should return either this Thursday or next Monday. I plan to go right after school and on the day I return. The director and I, have been planning what I will do in order for my senior project to go well; we pretty much decided that I'd be kind of doing what I did over the summer just with more interaction with the kids. So I'd help Ms. Naomi Palma, my mentor, wake up the kids, instead of putting them to sleep, and afterwards get them prepared for their afternoon activities.

Until then here is a picture of where I spent most of my summer and of where I look forward to spending my time for the next couple of months:  

On the corner of Riverside and Ramona.

Blog 4: Interview Preparation

1. Who do you plan to interview? Why?
     I plan to interview Arelly Areola. Im going to interview her because she is a student teacher at my mentorship, so I think it'd be good to get answers from someone who is in the process of getting their credentials and see what they have to deal with.

2. You have to ask 5 questions. What additional questions do you plan to ask? Ask open-ended questions. 
I plan to ask the following questions:

• How far along are you with your studies?
• Did you always want to teach? If so, why? If not, what did you originally want to do?
• What is the reason behind choosing to work with children? 
• Do you have experience with them? If so, what have you done?

Blog 3: Topic Choice and Working EQ

1. List your topic here:
Early Childhood Education

2. Write a question that helps to focus on your research this month.
What is the most significant factor in helping a child transition into Kindergarten?

3.Post working bibliography (WB) on the right hand side of the blog and share it so anybody can view it.
The link has been posted on the right hand side of my blog. It can also be found here.

Blog 2: Summer Mentorship Component

Literal

1. Summer Log => Mentorship

2. Contact Name: Thushara DeSilva
    Contact Number: (909) 591-3937

3. What questions were raised because of the 10 hours of experience? List them.

• Based on the different developing levels of the children, how are lesson plans arranged? Each child has different ways of grasping various tasks, especially when they are barely beginning to learn and are already at different stages, so how is one lesson plan arranged for all the children?

• How does the academic plan, in action, differ from that of the summer? I saw during the summer session that the kids would have their hour or two of academic time and then they had their break, followed by their lunch and finally nap time. How does this process differ from the actual academic school year?
• Does the material taught to the children stay with them? When people put their child in pre-k/day care at such an early age they tend to do it because that way the child will have an advantage later on, is that true?

Interpretive

4. What is the most important thing you gained from this experience? Why?
     The most important thing I gained from my mentorship this summer there is a lot more to teaching a little group of toddlers than I expected. Based on the far memories of what I remember preschool to be like, the teachers require an insane amount of patience. I have had plenty of experience with toddlers, my cousins, but not at the level I got to partake in. There was this one time a child did not want to sit down at circle time and while a regular parent would probably demand the child to sit down and listen, the teacher paid no attention to the child and gave the child time to see how much fun it was to sit down with friends and sing songs and let the child on their own come to the circle and participate. Teaching toddlers isn't just telling them what to do and when to do it, it is giving them a chance to learn when it's okay to do their own thing and when it's time to participate and pay attention because when they're older it plays it big part in how they interact with others.

Applied

5. What is your senior topic going to be? How did what you did help you choose a topic? Please explain.
    I originally wanted to do cosmetology; I figured it's my last major project might as well do something fun but it didn't really appeal to me too much or work out how I planned. So when my mom was telling me a story about how I used to "force" my younger brother to play school with me when I was in kindergarten and teach him how to do math, read, and write, I realized I wanted to do something related to teaching; more specifically teaching children. My mom's friend daughter works at a day care, so I asked her if I could go and she said she'd ask her director if i could come in. I ended up spending my time there for my mentorship and that's how I realized that for me teaching pre-k is fun and that's what I want to do for my senior project.

Blog 1: 2-Hour Presentations

1. What presentations did you see?

• Teaching Biology: Alejandro Espinoza
• Educational Nonprofit Management: Eustacio Rodriguez
• Special Education: Diana Serrano
• Neonatal Nursing Intensive Care: Michelle Ortega
• Dentistry: Nitjasin QP
• Firefighting: Steven Robles
• Beauty Salon: Briana Ososrio
• HLE Officer: Devanna Terry
• HIV: Rhaven Innis
• STEM Involvement K-12: Brendan Trang
• Medical Missionary: RJ Baron
• No Kill Rescue Shelters: Elizabeth Valle
• Teaching Kindergarten: Alexis Teixerira
• Theater Acting: Gustavo Rios

2. What questions do you have that haven't been answered about the senior project? This can be about the senior project in general, any components or about a presentation you saw or what they said.

• What is the exact time requirement? What does "making time" mean?
• What are the minimum or maximum activities you can do? How does it affect your grade, if it does at all?
• How are you graded?

3. What has the most important part of the senior project been based on what you have seen in the 2-hour presentations?
    Based on what I have seen from the 2-hour presentations I think the most important part of the senior project is knowing exactly what it is your mentor does and how it affects them. The best presentations I saw were the ones where people talked about not only their experiences and what learned during their mentorship but also about the life of someone actually doing the job.

4. What topic are you considering doing and why?
     The topic I'm considering doing is cosmetology. I would want to do cosmetology because I feel like in the society we live now everything is about aesthetics and how things look and cosmetology is all about appearance and the way you make things look. Being the type of person who is a visual learner I think it would be the perfect topic for me.

5. What are you doing for your summer mentorship?
     For my summer mentorship I plan to go to a cosmetology school a couple streets away from my house where I have asked the director if I could observe what they do and what it takes to be a cosmetologist.