Blog 22: Mentorship

LITERAL

(a) Log of specific hours with a total and a description of your duties updated on the right hand side of your blog

Updated on the right hand side.

(b) Contact Name and Mentorship Place

Chami Jayasinghe from the Montessori Academy of Chino.


INTERPRETIVE

(a) What is the most important thing you gained from this experience? Why?
On a personal standpoint from my time at the Montessori Academy of Chino, I definitely grew a lot. I developed more self-confidence in myself, because when you are around children for long periods of time, in their eyes you can do no wrong and that was a real ego boost and I learned how to just be myself, and to me that was on of the most important things I gained.
On an academic level I learned how to determine my priorities and manage my time accordingly; I had to set a schedule for myself and be reliable because my mentor would expect me to come a certain day to help her out.

APPLIED

(a) How has what you've done helped you to answer your EQ? Please explain.
Going to my mentorship and helping out helped me answer my EQ because I got to see both sides of my essential question at the same time. My essential question talks about how something a child develops in preschool helps a child in kindergarten. To most this seems very tedious and difficult but since I volunteered at a Montessori school, where the grade levels are mixed, I was able to see exactly how preschool children were learning and how kindergartners who have already learned the material, applied it to their work.
Another benefit to having volunteered at my mentorship was that they were a very hands on, let the children explore, type of school so in the case of my essential question where I was wondering what skill was most useful to a child I got to see what they used more and how it affected them.

April Extra Post

Throughout this entire project I  found it very interesting and helpful in finding something that I like to do. However, nothing I've really done this year, senior project wise, has made me as proud as my independent component 2 did.

With the help of a fellow senior, Ingrid Nicole Mata, we built a blog where we gathered and collected information on our topics and it really helped me embrace my topic with all the regular posts I had to do. So as we are now nearing the end of the year I can truly say that this is one of the products that I am most proud of and worked hard to pull off this month.


Now onto May with all the fun of senior presentations!

March Extra Post

Spring is here, which means SPRING BREAK!
However, before we get to have fun we have to focus and work. For my independent component 2 I have promised to do a blog that provides information and fun. There will be weekly posts either about research we've -Ingrid and I- found or crafts we want to do.
To post that up though we need an actual blog!

(BEFORE)

That's what we've been working on, establishing the account, coming up with specific ideas on when, how, and what we'll post; after much hassle our blog is finally up!

(AFTER...still under minor construction)

A link to the blog can be found on the right side of my blog under independent component. Posts will officially begin in April!

February Extra Post

For my independent component 2 I wanted to make videos and create a blog where I would have different activities, crafts, etc. up for others to look at and since that was approved (yay!) I began looking into what people with existing vlogs did to sort of get a better idea for what exactly I wanted to do.

So March craft ideas are a great time to work within a specific theme, especially for younger kids, so this artist/educator, among her many videos, talks and shows what teachers or even parents can do with their kids. This is definitely something I would do,  have a video where I am making some sort of craft every two weeks, along with keeping up with my activities/craft blog. How exciting!

January Extra Post

Answer two quest
What is the most important skill a child develops in preschool that helps them best excel academically in kindergarten?

The new year is finally here, 2015, and along with that many new challenges and experiences are awaiting. We [seniors] have faced our first challenge of the year and have finally finished second lesson presentations and are now just that much closer to our actual 2-hour!
Putting aside all the stress and anxiety of our second presentation I actually really enjoyed the whole process of finding my first answer for my EQ: Fine motor skills are the collective skills and activities that involve using the hands and fingers, which are a predictor of achievement involving common neuronal wiring, experience-dependent learning, and direct classroom learning.
So now that I explored a type of physical skill I now want to learn more about a emotional/social skill that  may affect a child's ability to communicate with others that may have an impact in the way the succeed academically in later years.

In my last research check I found this article that helps parents understand their child's issues with social skills and what can be affected because of that.

This is something I really want to know more about and I hope will be a second answer to my essential question. In the meantime I will be looking up some books that discuss what a lack of social skills can do to a child academically and the long term effects. 

Blog 12: Mentorship 10 hours check

1. Where are you doing your mentorship?
    I am doing my mentorship at the Montessori Academy of Chino.

2. Who is your contact?
    My contact there is Ms. Chami, who is my mentor.

3. How many total hours have you done (total hours should be reflected in your mentorship log located on the right hand side of your blog like your WB)?
    Unfortunately I have only completed 11 hours for my mentorship. I am thinking of instead of
    going once a week (Mondays) I will start to go both Monday and Friday for 3 to 4 hours.

4. Summarize the 10 hours of service you did.
    The only difference from what I did in the summer and what I do now is that I am no longer in the
     front office answering phones and what not. I am now in the classroom helping out the kids
     with their work, helping Ms.Mary with grading, and running small errands for Ms.Chami.

December Extra Post

The new year is finally here! A new year brings resolutions and new goals, in regards to my senior project there is a lot I hope to accomplish. I wasn't able to go to my mentorship these past two weeks because it is a school and like us a break was given. However, I have been talking with my mentor over the phone and we have been talking about possible things to do for the kids this upcoming year which I am looking forward to.
My essential question talks about what a child needs to learn in preschool -skill wise- in order to succeed in kindergarten which is the start of their education for years to come. So I've been looking at possible crafts and assignments to have the children do to focus on specific skills: motor, reading, vocabulary, writing, etc.

I found this very useful link that shows me a variety of activities a child can do that primarily focuses on their motor skills.

When my mentorship resumes a normal school day my mentor and I will be going over some of the activities I found and will be, hopefully, doing it soon with pictures to come.

In the meantime I will be enjoying the rest of my break, with Netflix, a nice fire, and my warm pjs :).
Happy Holidays!

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! 

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! :)

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.

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 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.