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?