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. 

Independent Component

With independent component being due right around the corner I have been devoting
a lot of my time to research and rehearsing how I would present this to a class
of sixth graders.  It's nerve-racking to try to teach someone that is younger
because they don't comprehend topics the same way I do. I know I will need a lot of
patience but I have it planned out with a worksheet and I'll have them partner off so
that they can also teach other. I feel like my time at iPoly will definitely influence
the way I'm going to teach this topic on Tuesday.

Blog 13: Lesson 2 Reflection

Content:

1.What are you most proud of in your Lesson 2 Presentation and why?

What I am most proud of is how well the activity went. I honestly thought that people wouldn't be engaged but I guess the concept captivated them and that surprised me.

2. a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your Lesson 2 Presentation (self-assessment)?

       AE       P          AP       CR       NC

     b.     Explain why you deserve that grade using evidence from the Lesson 2 component contract.

I feel that I deserve a P because once you look down the contract, I met the specific requirements of time, intro and conclusion, volume, eye contact and professionalism. I kept my presentation clean and to the point in order for everyone to understand with multiple examples. 

3. What worked for you in your Lesson 2?

I think what worked for me was the fact  that I recited what I wanted to say at least 10 times before actually performing it. 

4. What didn't work? If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your Lesson 2?

I would definitely try to improve my time, I was very close to be short on time by about 15 seconds. I need to learn how to pace and how to add for informative content. 

5. What do you think your answer #2 is going to be?

I feel like my answer two will be alignment in the classroom with activities, work and tests. I would have to find more evidence to prove it right. 

Blog 12: Mentorship 10 hours check

Content:

1.   Where are you doing your mentorship? 

I am doing my mentorship at E.J. Marshall Elementary School in Chino, CA. 

2.   Who is your contact?

My contact is my mentor Traci Johnson, she is the one I spend most of my time with. 

3.  How many total hours have you done?

In total I have completed 15 and a half hours without including independent component. 

4.   Summarize the 10 hours of service you did.

The 10 hours of service I have done included; grading tests, helping the students with Native American projects, teaching them to use PowerPoint and helping them on class work. 

Blog 11: Holiday Project Update

Content:

1.  It is important to consistently work on your senior project, whether it is break or we are in school.  What did you do over the break with your senior project? 

Over break the only work I did on senior project was try to change around my lesson plan because I couldn't really meet with my mentor because they were out for break as well. I also tried to start planning out my lesson 2. 


2.  What was the most important thing you learned from what you did, and why?  What was the source of what you learned?

I honestly think that the only thing I learned on break was how to manage time a bit more efficiently because I didn't do research all I did was plan out lessons and components. 

3.  If you were going to do a 10 question interview on questions related to answers for your EQ, who would you talk to and why?

I feel like I would want to talk to someone who has had a wide variety of teaching places and grade levels to see if one strategy works for everyone. 

Independent Component?

Trying to fit a lesson plan into Common Core has proved to be harder than imagined. The way I was taught and the way that is being taught now have drastically changed. I think the easier side of it is noticing how each student learns and focuses. When it's a harder topic you have to find ways to keep the students engaged. Third graders have really short attention spans when it comes to something that isn't crafty. Hopefully once break ends I'll be able to implement more techniques that I've learned.