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.