Blog 19: Independent Component 2

Content:

LITERAL

(a) Include this statement: “I, Daisy Torres, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 31.5 hours of work.”

(b) Cite your source regarding who or what article or book helped you complete the independent component.

"Sixth Grade Math Worksheets." Free Printable Sixth Grade Math Worksheets. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 

Apr. 2015.

"Everyday Mathematics." Everyday Mathematics. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

Another very helpful source was my second mentor Mr. Ball. I've been spending most/almost all of my hours in his classroom. He taught me how to manage the class and helped me plan my lesson and survey.

(c) Update your Independent Component 2 Log (which should be under your Senior Project Hours link)

You can look at these hours on my blog. 

(d) Explain what you completed. 

With my independent component I did service hours helping with many lessons in class as well as helping the students learn. I was able to take a survey with abstract answers and turn it into a lesson that would help the students in the long run. 

 
INTERPRETIVE
Defend your work and explain the component's significance and how it demonstrates 30 hours of work. Provide evidence (photos, transcript, art work, videos, etc) of the 30 hours of work. 

This senior project component was significant because it is based around most of my best answer. I was trying to prove that by relating a lesson or subject with things that the students like then they will be able to enjoy the process and remember it for a longer period of time. Since I was a bit more experienced this time around I was able to handle a class on my own for longer lessons which helped me get the feel of how I had to teach my own lesson. I also learned a lot just by volunteering so often to get my hours done, by getting to know my students I was able to create a very personalized lesson because of the survey. That was a key part to this project, I learned so much from the prerequisites I gave myself that I realized what I needed for my actual lesson. 

(Below are pictures of the environment I worked in as well as screenshots of my created survey and worksheets.)

 
APPLIED
How did the component help you answer your EQ? Please include specific examples to illustrate how it helped. 

This component helped me answer my EQ because I revolved it around the evidence I had found. I had controlled groups to see if relating the review sheet to what students liked would actually help, versus traditional numbers. I also took into account what students were interested in prior to trying to teach them a new topic. I feel like my results really proved what a teacher must do in order to help with long term memory for the end of the year tests. most students had said that lessons weren't fun and that they crammed to study for things like the CST, I tried to eliminate all the negative aspects of what they thought and applied my answers to them, and I have to say that even my mentor was impressed by how fast students were grasping the mini lessons I taught.

Blog 15: Independent Component 2

Content:

Please review the component contract on page 12 of the senior project packet.   The Independent Component 2 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 answers in more depth.  On Friday, April 24, 2014, you will be turning in the following to your blog to prove completion of this component:

·       Log of hours on an digital spreadsheet (with total number of hours included)

·       Evidence of the 30 hours of work (e.g. transcript, essays, tests, art work,    

        photographs) as digital artifacts

·       LIA

The senior team expects that your log will be on the right hand side of your blog in the Senior Project Hours link.   In addition to this,  we expect that you will be able to prove the total 30 hours of work by submitting evidence to the blog by the due date.  For this blog post and approval, please answer the following questions.

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

I'm honestly not sure what I plan on doing but I was thinking along the lines of helping the teacher with end of the year testing. So I'd be researching and helping my mentor get the students ready to test. 

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

I think I'll show evidence by taking pictures like last time, making my worksheets to turn in and showing up he research that went into it. 

3.  Explain how this component will help you explore your topic in more depth.

This component should help me find in depth research about Common Core and that helps because my whole project is based off of the Common Core Standards and how to teach them. 

4.  Post a log in your Senior Project Hours link and label it "Independent Component 2" log.

I did this. 

Independent Component 1

• LITERAL
  (a) Write: “I, Daisy Torres, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 33.5 hours of work.”

• (b) Cite your source regarding who or what article or book helped you complete the independent component.

"A Positive Approach to Teaching Negative Numbers | Scholastic.com." Scholastic Teachers. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Feb. 2015.

Apart from that article that really narrowed things down and put the topic into perspective, both of my mentors, Mr. Ball and Mrs. Johnson also helped me find new ways to teach. 

• (c) Update your hours in your Senior Project Hours link. Make sure it is clearly labeled with hours for individual sessions as well as total hours.

I have my hours updated and you can see those through my blog. 

• (d) Explain what you completed. 

Through my independent component I completed hours or service and helping kids as well as the teachers with the stuff I could handle in class I also learned new methods and taught myself, with help, how to teach a new subject to a group of elementary school children. 

• INTERPRETIVE 
  Defend your work and explain its significance to your project and how it demonstrates 30 hours of work.   Provide evidence (photos, transcript, art work, videos, etc) of the 30 hours of work.  
  

I feel like my independent component is significant because it actually was teaching me how to apply myself when teaching. My whole senior project and answers are based around how to teach and why certain methods are better than others. By me getting prepared with research and by helping the teachers I was able to teach a lesson with a lot of confidence. Not only did I do work while at mentorship but also on my spare time by just observing small things such as how children learn to read. I feel like I truly gained a lot from this experience and I already have plans for my second component. 

• APPLIED
  How did the component help you understand the foundation of your topic better?  Please include specific examples to illustrate this. 

This component helped me understand my topic foundation better because I actually had to go out and dig for answers on my own, not just by interviews. It was a real life experience that I didn't just read about in an article. During my teaching I realized that sometimes it's very hard for a teacher to get to all the questions because you have to focus on the needs of the whole as well as the individual. While I executes the lesson I had been planning for I would have 4 kids with their hands up at a time, and by knowing the children I would know who to go to first and answer their question. I also came to find that relationships with students are very one on one and you build a personal relationship that allows you to understand each of them better. I feel like my first answer really came out of my time with my mentor because I would see the struggle when a student couldn't remember how to do a certain step. I hope that the rest of my time there will be just as insightful. 

Title: Blog 7: Independent Component 1 Approval

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

For my independent  component I plan to  help my mentor plan a lesson for the class and help execute as well as teach. This way I can get a feel for how it's like to not only understand a topic but also help others grasp the idea of different concepts and how to use and expand on them.

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

I plan to meet the required hours by visiting my mentor more than once a week and I also plan to mentor other teachers and gain knowledge and hours from them as well. 

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

I plan to work side by side with my mentor to create lesson plans and I hope to learn the right skills so I can teach as well. I will be staying updated on the teacher websites my mentor has provided as well as read material she thinks are essential to me.