Blog 21 : Interview 4 Reflection

1. What is the most important thing I learned from the interview?  
• The most important thing that I learned from the interview was how the behaviors can affect the students' way of thinking and the way they learn. Also I learned how the teachers really try hard to make sure that each child is learning and to have lots of patience because each student learns differently and at different paces. 
2. How will what I learned affect my final lesson?
• The information that I learned will affect my final lesson because the information that I got from my mentor would really help when explaining my first and second answer. 

Blog 20 : Fourth Interview Questions

1. Who do you plan to interview? What is this person's area of expertise?
• I plan on interviewing my mentor, Jenna Baumann. She's an expert 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 person for my interview four, because of the impact she has on her students. I also love my interviews with her because she gives me so much information and I learn a lot from her. 
2. Post 20 open-ended questions you want to ask an expert in the field concerning your senior project. Your focus should be finding answers to your EQ.
1. How is a decision made about a child's eligibility for special education?
2. What happens if a child is not eligible for services?
3. What should parents do before a IEP meeting?
4. Can a child's IEP be changed?
5. How do I know if a classroom can accommodate a student with special needs?
6. How do you regularly assess the progress of the students?
7. What are schools legally required to do when it comes to special education programs?
8. How do you teach and encourage socially acceptable behavior from the students? 
9. Are there any suggestions you made that implemented in the special education field?
10. How do you manage a very disruptive student?
11. How do you collaborate general education teachers to benefit the students?
12. What special education strategies and techniques have you used to help with the students?
13. What methods do you use to encourage students to explore learning opportunities?
14. How do you motivate the students to persevere with challenging assignments and tasks?
15. How do you teach and encourage socially acceptable behavior from the students? 
16. What role do advocates play in implementing special education programs?
17. How have you encouraged parental involvement in student learning?
18. Should students with special needs be mainstreamed as far as possible?
19. How do you stay current with special education best practices?
20. How have you managed to keep up with the paperwork required of a special education teacher?
21. How have you ensured that each student receives the right type of support?
22. Can a student's placement in a special education program be challenged?

*Note*The interview itself is not due until Friday, April 15th to turnitin.com. However, we want to give you as much time as possible, so we are asking you to complete the blog now. Remember that in addition to turning in the interview to turnitin.com, you also need to turn in the verification sheet to your House teacher and post an audio excerpt of no less than 5 minutes on your senior project blog.

Blog 19 : Third Answer

• EQ 
• What techniques can an elementary special education teacher use to ensure that each child is learning?
• Answer #3 (Write in a complete sentence like a thesis statement)*
• The best technique an elementary special education teacher can use to ensure that each child is learning is making sure that the he / she knows each disability that each student has. 
• 3 details to support the answer
• If a student has difficulty learning by listening then the teacher should teach difficult vocabulary before the lesson, provide study guides / worksheets, teach them by making the student use their imagination, and provide written and oral directions. 
• If a student has difficulty expressing him or herself then the teacher should teach with graphs, photos, or other alternate forms of information sharing. Also the teachers should wait for the student to answer questions themselves instead of calling them out, provide classroom rules, and give them plenty of time to think and reflect about the lesson. 
• If a student has difficulty reading and writing then the teacher should help the student learn by accepting visuals reports, not provide long writing assignments, and allow more oral responses. Also give them the opportunity of using true or false, matching, or multiple choice worksheets, and teach the students directly and not with just worksheets. 
• Main key is to be very patient and be willing to give lots of time to a lesson and to each student to respond in their own way, rather it takes five minutes or three days.  
• The research source(s) to support your details and answer
• http://www.readingrockets.org/article/how-adapt-your-teaching-strategies-student-needs
• http://www.educationoasis.com/resources/Articles/adapting_materials.htm
• http://www.ldonline.org/article/370/
• http://education.msu.edu/te/secondary/pdf/Designing-Lessons-for-Diverse-Learners.pdf
• Concluding Sentence
• I picked this as one of my answers because it is very important that every teacher knows what type of disability he or she is about to deal with. Each disability is different and each needs different kinds of attention and ways to teach. If a teacher doesn't know how to take care of a disability then the student wouldn't be learning and then the whole teaching process is pointless. 

Blog 18 : Answer 2

Are We Done Yet With Senior Project?

1. What is your EQ?
• What techniques can an elementary special education teacher use to ensure that each child is learning?
2.  What is your first answer? (In complete thesis statement format)
• The best technique that an elementary special education teacher can use to ensure that each child is learning is to have one teacher design and teach the, but then to also have more teachers that tour the classroom, providing support by answering questions, re-explaining key concepts, and assisting with behavior management.
3. What is your second answer? (In complete thesis statement format)
• The best technique to ensure that each child is learning is to have good communication / contact with the student's parent.
4.  List three reasons your answer is true with a real-world application for each.
• Without talking to the student's parents the parents wouldn't know what is going on with their child at school.
• At my mentorship we had a class party and each student brought in something except for one student, because the parent didn't know we were having a party. 
• Sending out updated classroom handouts to parents. 
• Each parent should know how the classroom, that their child, is in is going. There should be updated schedule and important dates so the parents are up to date with everything that is happening.
•  My classroom sends out a handout to the parents every Monday to let the parent know what is going to happen in the class that week. 
• Talking to the Parents face-to-face. Conference meetings
• Each parent should come and speak with the teacher at least once a week. Each student have different needs and because of this each student needs different type of care. 
• Student in my class has a teacher aid with him 24/7 and at the end of the day the aid writes down what the student did throughout the day. The parent should always read what the aid said because the parents should help their child at home too when the teachers aren't around to help.
• Parents should know how to take care and help their children when they are at home so the student won't forget what they are learning and keep the same behavior at home and school. 
5. What printed sources best supports your answer?
• http://www.specialeducationguide.com/pre-k-12/the-parent-teacher-partnership/making-a-smooth-transition-to-school/
• http://www.specialeducationguide.com/pre-k-12/the-parent-teacher-partnership/where-to-turn-when-you-have-concerns/
• http://www.specialeducationguide.com/pre-k-12/the-parent-teacher-partnership/consistency-between-the-classroom-and-home/
• http://theparentacademy.dadeschools.net/pdfs/Effective_Communication.pdf
• http://center.serve.org/tt/Comm_SpecialNeeds.pdf
6. What other source supports your answer?
• Another source that really helps my answer is my mentorship. I see a lot of interaction with the parents and teachers. I'm also one of the people who create the week schedule, prints them out, and makes sure each student has one in his or her backpack. 
7. Tie this together with a concluding thought.
• This answer is an important to my EQ because without communication between a teacher and parent there is no way the student is doing better with his or her need. The student shouldn't be learning just at school, the learning should continue at home or else the student will only behave at school and not home. There should always be repetition so the student understands a concept and it can only work if the parents repeat the concept at home too. 

*note to self*

On Friday, 2/26 for Advisory, you will be presenting what you have from this blog.  The presentation is more like a share-out and should not last longer than 2 minutes. You don't need a visual, and you should not read what you have written. 

Blog 17 : Interview 3 Reflection

1. What is the most important thing I learned from the interview?  
• The most important thing I learned from my interview, was a possible answer to my EQ. My interviewer gave me a possible answer and also gave me lots of background information so I can do more research and have more information to support the answer. 
2. How has your approach to interviewing changed over the course of your senior project?
• My approach to interviewing has changed a lot. I feel a lot more confident when it comes to interviewing anyone. It has also become a lot easier for me to come up with follow up questions, and it has also helped me in my other classes, such as in Yearbook. In Yearbook we do lots of interviews in order to create a story, and now I can say that I'm a lot more confident and feel comfortable with giving interviews. (I still feel nervous when getting interviewed though, especially for a job)

Blog 16 : Independent Component 2 Approval

1. Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.
• What I plan on doing for my 30 hours is to teach my own lesson to the students. I had originally planned to do this for independent component one but there was a problem with me getting to my mentorship. I plan on doing a followup lesson from whatever the teacher is teaching and so I will need to get creative and come up with activities and ways to teach the students.  
2. Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.
• To meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence, I plan to take pictures of me teaching the students and the students working on the worksheets that I provide them. Also upload the worksheets that I create and perhaps upload a couple of pictures of the student's work. 
3. Explain how this component will help you explore your topic in more depth.
• This component will help with my topic because it will help me to see what technique is best way to teach and help the students. It will also help me to see how each student is learning differently and find more ways to help the students learn. It will prove to me how my answers really work and help me to find my last answers and figure out which is my best answer. 
4. Post a log in your Senior Project Hours link and label it "Independent Component 2" log.
• Done. 

Note to Self:
Please review the component contract in 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 22, 2014, you will be turning in the following to your blog to prove completion of this component:

• Blog post answering specific questions posted by senior team
• Log of hours clearly delineated as Independent Component 2 on the senior project hours 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   

Your answers to the questions should be supported with details and examples for the senior team to understand what you plan to do. Once we review your Blog Post 16, your house teacher will discuss with you the approval of your plan.  If it is approved, please start working on it.  If it is not approved, your house teacher will explain why. It is your job to address the concerns so you can get your component approved.  Additionally, any changes requested must be addressed to your house teacher well in advance of the completion date for full credit on the assignment.

Blog 15 : Independent Component 1

LITERAL

• (a) Write: “I, Pauline Miramontes, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 33 hours of work.”
• (b) Cite your source regarding who or what article or book helped you complete the independent component.
• My mentor and mentorship helped me complete my independent component. 
• (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.
• Up on Senior Project Hours link.
• (d) Explain what you completed.    
• Since my first plan of independent component one didn't go as plan. I just did extra hours at my mentorship. 

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.  
• What I did for my 30 hours was the same thing as what I did everyday at my mentorship. I helped with the students, made copies, helped around the school, and just offered my assistance to anyone who needed it. 



The classroom that I spend most of my time.



The rest of the students that I spend most of my time with. 



Some of the students that I watched over during an assembly.  



Students watching a movie celebrating it being Friday!

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 to understand the foundation of my topic because it gave me more time with the students. I believe that the students are more comfortable with me because they refer to me as a teacher.  I'm also the youngest within the staff and so I'm able to do more fun activities with the students because I don't get tired as quickly like others. Doing these extra hours made me feel more welcomed into the staff and I believe I'm well known around the school to the point where everyone is comfortable to ask me for any help that they may need.

Grading Criteria 

• Updated log in Senior Project Hours Link 
• Evidence of 30 hours of work 
• LIA submitted to blog