Blog 22: Senior Project Reflection

(1) Positive Statement

What are you most proud of in your Block Presentation and/or your senior project? Why?
- I was able to meet the time requirement of thirty minutes. At first I wasn't confident that I was going to make so, I feel proud that I was able to.

(2) Questions to Consider

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

      P       

b.     What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project (self-assessment)?

      P 

(3) What worked for you in your senior project?






- I was able to find a mentor (Ms. De La Pena) that was willing to help me, we formed a really good relationship. She also referred me to Yadira Rivera who works in the special education department with a few highly autistic students, so that I could go observe her classroom.

(4) (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would have you done differently to improve your senior project if you could go back in time?

- Have more structure in the classroom, speak a little more confidently. Have a more hands on experience with children that have autism; not just learning from observation.

(5) Finding Value

How has the senior project been helpful to you in your future endeavors? Be specific and use examples.
- The volunteer work (mentorship) was enjoyable and it also counts for my community hours that I need for college. Also, knowing about autism helped me learn about other types of disorders which helped me learn about different types of behaviors. Now I am able to comprehend why some people act the way they do, when at first I didn't. 

Blog 21: Mentorship

Content:

LIA Response to blog:

    Literal

·     Log of specific hours with a total and a description of your duties updated on the right hand side of your blog

·     Contact Name and Mentorship Place: Valeria De La Pena, Cortez Magnet Elementary School

 

    Interpretive

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

- I gained more knowledge on the different problems students' in elementary education possess such as knowing how to read and write and solving math problems. Also, usually parents with autistic children are not usually involved with their school. Learning about their behaviors was another thing that helped me understand them.

   Applied

     How has what you’ve done helped you to answer your EQ?  Please explain.

- Mentorship has helped me answer my EQ by just going to observe and help in the classroom. The whole day is full of routine, which involves a lot of consistency. My best answer is to have the students improve in their consistency since it is very essential to them. My other answers were having effective IEP goals and parent involvement.

Extra Blog Post: April

                     The behavior chart, each student has one clip and start at "Ready to Learn"                                                   

When a student has been on green or above on the behavior chart for a whole week, they get a bouncy ball from the gumball machine.

Once a student has completed and passed their color coded words, they fill in their gumball machine (ei. Peach words have a list of words and green words have another set of words). At they end if they finish all of their words, the students who passed get a pizza party.

                                                      Rare words for the students to learn.

                                                        Filing their English/History work.

Blog 20: Exit Interview

Content:

(1) What is your essential question and answers? What is your best answer and why?
- What is the best resource a special ed team can provide highly autistic students in elementary school in order to promote academic success?
- My three answers: Having effective IEP Goals, developing consistency, and parent involvement
- Best answer: Helping the student in developing their consistency
- Why is this my best answer?:  Usually kids deal with a lot of consistency in the first place and it is very much incorporated in daily life and in school.

(2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?
- With some of my recent research I saw some videos (ELIJA &CafeMom) that showed ways a student learned and they all showed ways of being consistent.

(3) What problems did you face? How did you resolve them?
- Problems like not being able to meet with one of my mentors due to the different schedules. Also, since I am going to mentorship at a school it's a bit harder for me to stay longer at mentorship because I also go to school.
- Resolve? During Spring Break I had the chance to meet with the mentor I had trouble seeing. I met with the her at least twice the whole day and got to observe the classroom and it's functions.

(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?
- Mentorship; Yadira Rivera, since I feel like she has more knowledge about it (with 19+ years of experience). Also articles written by Michelle Garcia Winner that talked a lot about improving in speech.

Be prepared with evidence and specific examples to support any response.  It is also significant to cite sources as you explain..

Independent Component 2: Blog 19

Content:

LITERAL:
(a) “I, Kimberly Gallardo, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.”
(b) Cite your source regarding who or what article or book helped you complete the independent component
- Yadira Rivera, who works at Cortez Magnet who works as a special education teacher for kindergarten.
- Valeria De La Pena, who also works at Cortez Magnet as a first grade teacher.
(c) Provide a digital spreadsheet (aka log of the 30 hours). Post it next to your mentorship log.
(d) Explanation of what you completed. 
- I've completed 30+ hours of helping in a first grade classroom, mostly working with the students and helping the teacher events held inside the classroom. I also sat and observed in the special education classroom over Spring Break so that would be able to stay through the whole day.

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

During Cesar Chavez Week

Easter

APPLIED:
How did the component help you answer your EQ? Please include specific examples to illustrate how it helped.
I was able to visit Ms. Rivera's classroom several times even though the schedule was a bit tough. When going to observe in her classroom I had a better understanding of how things worked inside and outside of the classroom. I now have a better connection with Ms. De La Pena as a result from all the times I've been to her classroom and learned more about her teaching style.

Extra Post: March

The kids made Abraham Lincoln out of construction paper and they also read books about him. 

As an activity the kids were told to make an "Olaf" out of marshmallows, candy, and pretzels sticks.

I mostly helped them with the eyes, the nose, and sticking the body together. 

Blog 18: Third Answer

Content:

Just like you did for answer 1 and 2 post your:

• EQ: What is the best resource a special ed team can provide high function children in elementary school to promote academic success?
• Answer #3 (Write in a complete sentence like a thesis statement)*
• The relationship between the teacher and the parents of the child should be positive and effective to the student's learning.
• 3 details to support the answer (a detail is a fact and an example)
• "The manner in which schools communicate and interact with parents affects the extent and quality of parents' home involvement with their children's learning. For example, schools that communicate bad news about student performance more often than recognizing students' excellence will discourage parent involvement by making parents feel they cannot effectively help their children."
• There are a lot of benefits of good parental involvement in their children's education, by getting ideas of how to help and support their children. (Such as learning about new programs the school has to offer.
• "There are other advantages for children when parents become involved — namely, increased motivation for learning, improved behavior, more regular attendance, and a more positive attitude about homework and school in general."
• The research source (s) to support your details and answer
• Interview 1

• Building Parent-Teacher Relationships

  By: American Federation of Teachers (2007)

• Concluding Sentence:
• A student should be able to go to school with a positive mentality and be able to get encouragement from their parents and the school.