Blog 11 : Lesson 1 Reflection

1. What are you most proud of in your lesson, and why?
• What I'm most proud of in my lesson was that I had a lot of information to talk about. I'm proud of this because it's shows that I really know my topic and that I'm always learning more with research checks and at my mentorship. 
2. What assessment would you give yourself on your lesson? Explain why you earned that grade using evidence from the component contract.
• I think I would give myself a P on my lesson because I knew what I was talking about, my hook activity really tied in with my lesson, I had constant eye contact with the audience. I also mentioned my interview one, two, and my mentorship, and I believe I showed three months worth of research throughout my lesson, However, I unfortunately went over time. I had to be cut off! Who knew that ten minutes would pass by so quickly ):
3. If you could go back, what would you change about your lesson?  How can you use that knowledge to give a better Lesson 2?
• If I could go back, I would change the way I spend my time. I would make sure that I don't go over time and that I manage what to say or else to speak less of certain things. I would also try not to use note cards on my next presentation and try to be more confident in myself. I can use this knowledge to give a better lesson two by not only practicing my presentation at home but to also time myself so I know not to go over time. Also if I practice more then this will help me with the fact of not using note cards and being more confident in myself next time. 

Blog 10 : Interview 2 Reflection

1. Please explain how you are spending your mentor-ship time (Is it at a workplace or somewhere else?  Are you shadowing?  Are you able to do tasks that are meaningfully related to the topic?  If so, what?  Are there other people who are experts in the location?  Etc...)
• What I'm doing at my mentor-ship is observing what the teacher does and also helping the students complete their work. I help them finish their work by doing hand-over-hand in order to trace the worksheet and to show them how to complete and how to do the worksheet. I also clean the classroom when the students are out and I prepare their backpacks with take home notes for their parents and preparing them to go home. Yes, I'm surround by lots of experts. There are four teacher aids in the classroom alone and there are other teachers and staff that are experts in what they do as well. 
2. How did you find your mentor?  How did you convince this person to help you?  
• I found my mentor because she's my little brother's teacher. I didn't really have to convince her because she already me and knew how interested I was in the topic and was always happy to answer any questions that I may have and always happy when I went over to visit and help her around the classroom and students. 
3. How would you rate your comfort level with your mentor at this point in your relationship?  How does this relate to the time you've spent so far at mentor-ship/with this person?
• My comfort level is very strong with my mentor only because I would always volunteering before I actually asked her to become my mentor. We kinda already knew on another because of my brother. This relates to the time that I've spent with my mentor because when I go to do my mentor-ship hours I already feel apart of the staff because I was and still am there so often, so that I can have a normal everyday conversation with any staff person and even some students. 
4. What went well in this interview?  Why do you think so?  What do you still need to improve?  How do you know?  How will you go about it?
• A lot things went well in my interview. My mentor gave me so much information that I can use for research and the conversation would never have an awkward pause or moment. I think it went well because we already somewhat know one another so it was easy to have a conversation with one another. I need to improve with more interesting and more in depth questions. I know this because I feel like I could have gotten more information out of my mentor. I will go about it by starting to develop good questions as I go along when doing my research. Also I can ask other staff members for more information on things that I may be researching on. 

Blog 9 : Advisory Prep 3

1. State whether or not you currently have a mentor, and what the status of your interview is with that person (I have completed the interview, I have scheduled the interview, I have not scheduled the interview, etc).
• Yes, I do currently have a mentor. I unfortunately still haven't scheduled my interview with my mentor. 
2. At this point, your research is probably guiding your studies toward more specific areas within your topic.  Name the area or two you find most promising and explain your reasons.   
• With all the research I have been doing, I think a more specific area that I want to learn more about, is the way a special education teacher knows what method of teaching to do for each student's disability. If this idea does not play out smooth then I hope to focus on IEP for special education.  
3. What kinds of sources do you think will help you in the next month to gain more research depth?  Where will you go to get them?
• The kind of sources that I think will help me more in the next month are books. During our library visit I wasn't able to check out books because my school ID was not registered. I will get these sources at the Cal Poly library because it's on campus and it's easier for me to check out books and to return them on time. 
4. Write down a possible EQ.  Please don't worry about wording other than ensuring that it provides the option for multiple correct answers.  At this point, the senior team is most interested in understanding your thought process.
• Possible EQ - What technique do teachers use in order to assure that each child is learning? 

Blog 8 : Independent Component 1 Proposal

• Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.
• What I plan on doing for my 30 hours is to be the teacher of the classroom. I plan on printing out handouts, creating homework, and coming up with fun games and activities for the students to do. I'm hoping to do my lesson on learning their colors, new animal sounds, and counting up to 20. If I do this for my 30 hours, then I will get the feeling of having to teach each student differently, because each student may learn differently than others. Since each student learns differently than I would have to do different activities and different lessons. I would also have to come up with things to keep the students into the lesson.
• Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.
• I will show that I did 30 hours by taking photos, bring the different handouts, and explaining or video taping the different lessons and activities that I did with the students. Also I can bring in the homework that I assign the students and the classwork that they complete in class. I will reach my 30 hours because I will teach for three hours every day and the work that I have to do at home like: creating activities, getting supplies, finding different worksheets, that fit every students disability, to do during class and homework worksheet to do at home. 
• Explain how what you will be doing will help you explore your topic in more depth.
• This will help explore my topic more in depth, because having to find different techniques for each student but that still teaches the same topic as the rest of the class is the same as IEP program.  Having to find multiple worksheets and lessons for every student's different disability can help me see how special education is a lot of work because of having to teach each student differently. Some students learn with words, others with iPad, or with worksheets or pictures. Also just working with the students one on one will help me because it's giving me more experience with each student and each of their own different disability. 
• Update your Senior Project Hours log.
• I plan on updating my senior project hour log every time I go to the classroom to teach and when I'm at home creating the activities and worksheets for the students to do the next day. 

Blog 7 : Second Interview Preparation

• Who is your mentor and where do they work?  If their workplace does not reflect their expertise, what makes them an expert?

• My mentor is Jenna Baumann, and she is a teacher at Anderson Elementary School. She's considered an expert to me because she works and teaches children with special needs. Therefore, she has plenty of experience with children who struggle in learning because of certain disabilities. 

• What five questions will you ask them about their background?

• What type of college courses did you need in order to work with special education?

• What made you want to work with special education?

• What type of degree did you graduate with from college?

• With that same degree, what other jobs could you get?

• What skills does one need in order to be a good teacher for special education?

• How long did it take you to become a special education teacher?

• What is the process of becoming a special education teacher?

• Has this been your dream job since you were young?

Note to self

(The interview is due 10/31 by 8AM in numbered Q&A format to turnitin.com.  Additionally, a reflection of the experience as well as a 5 minute audio/video clip should be posted on the blog by that time.)

Blog 6 : Advisory Prep

• What has worked well for you concerning senior project this year?  What has made it a positive experience for you?

• Some things that have worked well for me concerning my senior project was finding a mentor, and having lots of detailed research based on special education. Being around my mentor and her students have made a positive experience for me, because I have created a bond with her students, have been able to participate more, and the students now look up to me as one of their own teachers too. 

• What are you finding difficult concerning senior project?  How can you adapt to make that portion work better for you?  How might the senior team help?

• The thing that I'm finding most difficult concerning my senior project is finding people to interview. For this past interview I didn't want to interview my mentor because I wanted to interview her for a more important event. I can ask my mentor to recommend me to other faculty or others that she may know, in order for the interviews to work better for me. I'm also having trouble on visiting my mentorship. I say this because the school I mentor at runs from 8 AM - 1:30 PM. I don't have enough time to drive all the way out to the school because it's located in San Bernardino, when I'm located in Pomona around the time the students get released. I can perhaps find a closer mentorship near me in order to make it work better. The senior team has helped me so far. For example, Mr. Rivas has recommended me to two people who work in the office that have experienced with special education.  However, I do not know how else the senior team may help me. 

Blog 5 : Interview 1 Reflection

1. What is the most important thing I learned from the interview?  Is there anything I would do differently for other interviews?
• The most important thing I learned in this interview is the that teacher aids in a special education classroom play a very important role next to the teachers. Something that I would do differently for my next interview is to have prepared more questions. 
2. Did I get additional resources and contacts?  What is the most useful?  Why?
• Yes, I did get more resources because now I can get research on RBT and try to get more detailed facts about their role in a classroom. The most useful was the RBT because now I have more things to do my research check on. 
3. What makes my interviewee qualified to help me? 
• My interviewee is qualified to help me because she has been working with special education since 2001 and is a certified person RBT and is still working with students and their behavior. 

Blog 4 : House Advisory Prep 1

Throughout my senior project, I'm hoping to show others that people with special needs are "normal." When I go out with my little brother all I see are people judging, and that's something that I don't want to see. People look at my brother as if he's not normal. I understand if it's a child who looking, but when it comes to adults it hurts me. Most people see my brother as if he's strange, but no one knows him like I do. He's just as normal as every other. He speaks, walks, eats, play, and learns just like anyone else. He may be slow at most things, but he can still do things like everyone else. Since I'm so close to my brother I know how to react to him. I understand that I need to repeat things over and over until he understands, I understand that he has trouble with things that seem easy to us, and so throughout my project I want to show others that special needs people are like you and me. They may have struggles that are easy to us, but to them it may seem like a big challenge. Therefore, I hope people can gain the patience to understand their disability and to help them. I also hope to get people to want to know more about special needs and to love them just like I do. 

Blog 3 : First Interview Preparation

1. Who do you plan to interview?  Why?
• I plan on interviewing Adrienne Campos. I would like to interview Ms. Campos because she is the teacher's aid. She has been working with special education for many years now, therefore I believe she has plenty of experience with the different types of special needs students. I'm also interested in asking the difference between a teacher's aid and the teacher. I understand that she is the aid and is always with the students, but I still wonder what her main role is in a classroom. 
2. What additional questions do you plan to ask?  
• What special education techniques have you used to help the students learn?
• What inspired you to be a special education teacher/aid?
• How do you handle a student when he/she misbehaves? 
• How would you explain the classroom atmosphere the teacher provides for the students? 
• Do you think it's a better learning atmosphere when special needs children are combined with other students? 

Blog 2 - Summer Mentorship

1. List the contact name, phone number, and organization of the person with whom you volunteered.

• Name - Jenna Baumann
• Phone Number - 1 (951) 505-3553
• Organization - Teacher at Anderson Elementary School

2. What qualified this person as an expert in your topic choice?     

•  Mrs. Jenna was a qualified expert for my topic, because she has worked with special needs children for many years. She has been my brother's teacher for the last two years and the improvement in him is astonishing. Therefore, I knew Mrs. Jenna would be a great mentor, because of the impact she has on her students. 

3. List three questions for further exploration now that you've completed your summer hours.    

• How does a repeated lesson affect your whole lesson plan?
• What helps the students to learn easier?
• When does the teacher know to move on to a different lesson?

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

• The most important thing that I gained from this experience is patience. I learned to be patient because of the students. The students at Anderson Elementary all have special needs, therefore the faculty and I had to be very patient with the students because of their disabilities. For example, Mrs. Jenna had planned to learn about farm animals for only one day, but since the students had a hard time the lesson ended up being two days more than expected. Some students learned quicker than others, but others still had trouble. Therefore, I would have to sit down and go over the same topic more than once, but with the patience that I gained throughout the days it became much more easier on me and the students.

5. What is your senior project topic going to be?  How did mentorship help you make your decision?  Please explain.

• I'm still confuse on what I would want my senior topic to be. I was hoping to have the topic of the development of students learning. My mentorship helped me with my decision because seeing how each student learn differently can really affect them. Some students used puzzles instead of cards to learn the different animal sounds. Also some students had different worksheets. The worksheets would all have the same topic, but some would have more pictures or more color than others. Some students would learn with the iPads. They would push the sound or color of the animal to explain themselves or to name out the animal that was being shown to them. Seeing all the different ways the students can learn made me want to learn more and wonder why they need to learn that way. 

Blog 1 – Senior Final Lesson/Interview Reflection

1. What three lessons were most helpful for you to see, and why?
• The three lessons that were most helpful for me were criminal law, special ed advisor, and teaching elementary. Criminal law was helpful for me because I learned a lot about the law and the speaker had me very entertained with her activity and this helped me pay attention more to her knowledge of criminal law. With the experience I have at home with my younger brother I have decided to do my senior project on special needs children, therefore the special ed advisor presentation helped me a lot because it gave me a background of what I'm going to learn while doing my project. Lastly, teaching elementary was helpful for me because it also gave me information about children and what to expect when mentoring at school during the summer. 
2. List one thing that you learned about the senior project in interviews that will help you get off to a good start?
• One thing I learned about the senior project in interviews that will help me get off to a good start was to do my service hours right away. I learned that once I do my service hours/mentorship then I would have a handful of information ready to be used for my senior project. 
3. What topic(s) are you considering, and why?
• The topic I am considering is special ed teaching or special ed nursing. I'm considering these topics because my brother is special ed, therefore I have quite a lot of experience with how special ed children react to learning, and what kind of care parents would want their children to be in when they are sick. 
4. What EQ do you think might be interesting to consider in guiding a project like this? (Please don't worry about any sort of formula...we want this question to come from your genuine interest).
• An EQ that I think might be interesting to consider in guiding a project like this would be...
• What kind of training would a special ed nurse have to have to be more successful than others? 
• What kind of training would a special ed teacher have to do in order to teach more to the kids?
5. What are some ideas you have about finding summer mentorship?
• Having to find a summer mentorship can be quite hard for some people. It can be hard because a hand full of people still do not know what to do their senior project on and having to know right away so one can find a mentor can be quite hard and forced. Also it can be hard to find a mentorship because some topics require a harder to reach mentor than others. However, for me it was easy because I'm planning on mentoring at my brother's school while he attends summer school.