Blog 16: Answer 2

1.) What is your EQ?

What is the most effective way a kindergarten teacher can ensure a successful school year?

2.)What is your first answer?

As a kindergarten teacher, you have to love what you do and love being a kindergarten teacher.

3.)What is your second answer?

Classroom management is a big deal and  knowing how to control the class plays an important part in having a good year

4.)List three reasons your answer is true with a real-world application for each.

When the classroom is managed and everything is under control, the class flows better then when everything and everyone is unorganized. 

5.)What printed source best supports your answer?

An article I printed about classroom management. Sharon Taylor, a kindergarten teacher explains how to keep your classroom controlled and the benefits of it.

6.)What other source best supports your answer?

I have many other articles that I have researched that are about classroom management and how to keep the classroom and the students under your control since the beginning.

7.)Tie this together with a concluding thought.

I think that in order to have a great school year, both of my answers are really important. Loving what you do will let the kids have fun and enjoy themselves and having good classroom management is important so you can get done what needs to get done.

Blog 15: Independent Component 2 Approval

1.) Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.

     For my 30 hours, I'm planning on doing more mentorship in the classroom. What I did with my independent component 1, was I would go to on Thursdays for mentorship and on Fridays for Independent Component. That helped me because Fridays are the arts and crafts days so it gave me a chance to observe how creative the kids get and a better idea of what Kindergarten really is.

2.) Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.

    To meet the expectations of evidence, I will take pictures of the work the kids do and maybe some of myself when I'm helping the kids out, (making sure to not show any students face.) And I could also bring some of their art work.

3.)Explain how this component will help you explore your topic in more depth.

    This component will help me explore my topic more because it will show me both parts of kindergarten, the teaching and learning of actual curricular material and the creative arts and crafts part.

4.)Post a log in your Senior Project Hours link and label it "Independent Component 2" log.

Independent Component 1

Literal: 
I, Daniela Diaz, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.
The sources that helped me with my independent component was mostly more mentorship. I just did more hours in the classroom.
I completed 30 extra hours of mentorship which I did mostly Fridays because those are the arts and crafts days out of the whole week; which are also very important in kindergarten.

Interpretive:
I used to go to mentorship on Tuesdays and Thursdays and that's when the kids would just do the normal learning the alphabet and writing and spelling. For my independent component, I decided to change it and start going on Fridays because that is when the kids get to paint and create things and really show their creativity. I took pictures of my mentorship and the classroom.


Applied:
This independent component really helped me a lot because it made me realize how important all the crafts are to the kindergarteners and the cassroom

Lesson 2 reflection

1.) What are you most proud of in your lesson 2 presentation?

I am proud of the fact that I had a lot of research and information, and from the recommendations that I got, I was very enthusiastic and presented well.

2a.) what assessment would you give yourself?

I would give myself a P+ 

2b.) Why do you deserve that grade?

I think I deserve that grade because I completed all of the P requirements and I feel like I did a good job with presenting and kept people engaged.

3.) What worked for you in your lesson 2?

What worked for me was that while I was presenting, people seemed to be interested in my presentation so it made it easier to present and it gave me more confidence.

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

What didn't work was that I didn't really practice at home so that's what I would have done differently. And I would have worked on my "like" and "um".

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

I think it's going to be that a teacher has to have good classroom management and be aware of the classroom.

Blog 12: Mentorship 10 hours check

1.) Where are you doing your mentorship?

San Jose Elementary School. Ms. Dahline's kindergarten class.

2.) Who is your contact?

My mentor Ms. Dahline.

3.)How many total hours have you done?

I have done 50 hours at the school not counting the 10 hours for summer I did at the Red Cross before changing topics. All together I have done 60 hours.

4.)Summarize 10 hours of service you did.

In my mentorship, while Ms. Dahline is teaching I usually watch her and sit in the back. Once she's done and passes out the worksheets for the kids, I go around the classroom and help any kid that's having trouble. I spend time with them individually and re-explain what to do and how to do it. I also supervise the kids when they have activities like painting or arts and crafts.

Holiday project update

 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?

During winter break, I couldn't do much with my mentorship because I work in a classroom; so they went on break at the same time we went on break. I did do some extra research to make up for not being able to be in the classroom. With the holidays around, I decided to research about how the holidays were presented to all the kids without it being against anything someone believes in. 

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

The most important thing I learned was that it is important to know what each child and their families celebrate and what they don't celebrate. It's important to talk to the parents at the beginning of the year to know what's going on and also make sure that whatever is done in the classroom, it has to be meaningful to the children and everyone should always feel comfortable. 

I got this from articles mostly from pbs.org and diversity in the classrooms.

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 would like to interview my mentor, Ms. Dahline but I have already interviewed her twice so I don't think I would be able to interview her anymore so I would probably interview one of the two other kindergarten teachers that my mentor likes to combine the classes with. They have their own classroom and many other kindergarteners to interact with so they can really help me answer my EQ.

December post

With the holiday spirit, the kindergarteners got a chance to watch a Christmas movie. The movie was Rudolph's story and his experience with being different. I enjoyed watching this movie with the kids and being able to see their reactions to what was going on. They felt bad for Rudolph when he was being left out and they were happy whenever Rudolph was happy. Te expression I enjoyed most from them was when the movie introduced Rudolph's girlfriend. When the kids found out that he had a girlfriend, they all freaked out and said "Ewwwww!" and then started giggling. It was very innocent and I was glad I was there to see that.