Mentorship So Far.





Through my mentoship I have realized that the passion I have for teaching is bigger than what I imagined. I have been grading tests and helping kids with their fluency. During this, I realized that it brings me a lot of joy to be able to say that I taught someone something that they thought was out of their reach. I have learned a lot from my mentor, such as, the different teaching styles that are needed by and individual student. 
Especially with the new CCSS I have seen a lot of change in the way tachers are teching a lesson as well as what's being taught.I really want to be the person that inspires a kid to want to gain knowlegde and explore beyond. I hope my mentorship continues to give me the same emotion throughout the year.  







Blog 6: Second Interview Preparation

The purpose of the 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 Traci Johnson and she is a third grade teacher at E.J. Marshall Elementary School in Chino. 

2.  What five questions will you ask them about their background?

- What inspired you to become a teacher?

-What qualifications are needed for this job? 

-What was the hardest course you took and why? 

-What have been the major differences that you've seen during your years of teaching? 

-What qualities are needed to become successful in this field ? 

Blog 5: Mentorship Reflection

Based on what you have done for your senior project so far, answer the following questions (be specific and use examples).


1. Mentorship question: Describe your experience in how you found your mentorship?  If you haven't found one yet, describe your experience so far in the search of a mentor.

Finding my mentor right when school started was hard at first because I was trying to decide whether or not to change my topic from law to education. Finding my summer mentor was really easy because Ramiro Cisneros is Jessica Castillo's uncle and I've known her since freshman year and because the mentorship location was very close to my home. Once I went back to school the hard part was deciding if I wanted to do education in the public system or the private system. I ended up going public to be able to chart the changes from standards to Common Core. After I established what I wanted my topic to be finding a mentor was easy because every so often I go back to help my third grade teachers and they gladly took me in to shadow their work.


2. Research question: What has been your most important article you have read so far and why?

I think that there have been two articles that have been very important to my topic. The first was called Don't Teach To The Test and it talked about how the standards were implemented as well as showed that one of the main causes was the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). It was said that teachers shouldn't be teaching to the test because it takes away from any other subject that isn't Math or English/Reading. The second article gave me all the background on how, when, and why the NCLB was started. It was called No Child Left Behind: Just The Tip of The Iceberg. It gave me a thorough history on the standardized testing and why it didn't work in most cases. I think these are very helpful now and will be later on because they will both help me show a transition from the California K-12 Standards to the Common Core standards.

Senior Project & Research

The way senior year started with finding  articles for senior project right off the bat, kind of got me off guard. I like the fact that we're starting early though, as opposed to waiting closer to the due date. During the first research I found it hard to correlate my topic to the articles I was finding on google. I tried google scholar as well and nothing seemed to pop up. After our trip to the library, it's like I was opened up to a new world. I found two useful articles that closely related to my topic in under 15 minutes. It felt like a whole world of knowledge was hidden from me. I now know how to look for specifics and how to rule out articles that will not be beneficial to my research. I feel that now that I know how to properly use the library it will be easier to find the research I'm looking for.

Blog 4: Interview Preperation

1.Who do you plan to interview? Why?

I plan on interviewing Mrs. Day, a third grade teacher at my elementary school because I am focusing on how elementary school teachers prepare their students for testing and what are the methods that work. She also has a lot of experience because she was my elementary teacher and has been there before me. She knows different ways the test has ran and has a lot of experience in trying different methods in order to raise the scores.

2.You have to ask 5 questions. What additional questions to you plan to ask?

• What do you think is the best method to preparing students for the test?
• What's the hardest part in preparing the students?
• How is teaching affected by the standards that have to be learned by the end of the year?
• How to you include other lessons besides those of the California standards?
• In your opinion would a change in the testing be for the better? What parts should change? 
• How have you tried to transition into common core?

Blog 3: Topic Choice and Working EQ

1.  List your topic here: 

The topic I chose for my Senior Presentation is the academic performance of elementary students.

2.  Write a question that helps to focus your research this month.

What is the best way to heighten the scores of standardized testing among elementary school kids.

3.  Post the working bibliography (WB) on the right hand side of the blog and share it so anybody can view it.

Below is the link to my spreadsheet with my working bibliography. 

Working Bibliography

Blog 2: Summer Mentorship Component

Literal:  

1. (Know) Using Google doc (drive) link a log of specific hours and a description of your duties to your blog post.

Below is the link to my summer hours. 
 Mentorship Log

2. What is the contact name & number of where you volunteered?  

Ramiro Cisneros 

(909)730-2881

3. (Need to know) What questions were raised because of the 10 hours of experience?  List them. 

• Why do charges differ from person to person?
• Why are closed out files so important? 
• How long can a trial run?
• Why are minor cases confidential?    

Interpretive

4. What is the most important thing you gained from this experience? Why?

I think that I gained a lot of patience from working on a single case for 3 hours. I had to put files as big as 3 binders in an order as well as according to different sections. I also gained a lot of knowledge in the field of law and how much time and dedication it takes. Through the mentorship I also came to realize that I don't have a great passion for what the DAs do. 

Applied

5. What is your senior project topic going to be?  How did what you did help you choose a topic?  Please explain.

For my senior topic I will be doing something in the realm of teaching elementary kids, specifically 3rd or 4th grade. I came to this realization because I have worked with these grades volunteering recently and came to the conclusion that I have a greater passion for teaching than for law. Mentoring at a firm helped me realize this because I would be there and realized I wanted to be doing something else.