May Additional Blog Post

So, on May 28th, I did my Final Lesson Presentation in the Junior Math class. I had a few props out during my presentation; stuffed toys for the activity, activities I did at my mentorship, and some books that helped me in my research.

I think I did really well on presenting my information and I'm happy I got it over with. Now, I only have two weeks left of being an high school student.

I'm ready to gradute international Polytechnic High School and move on to the rest of my life at Mount Saint Mary's University (Chalon Campus) in Los Angeles.

Blog 23: Senior Project Reflection

(1) Positive Statement

What are you most proud of in your block presentation and/or your senior project? Why?

• I am most proud of how I explained my answers and a little bit of my foundation. When I explained my information, I made sure to refer to my sources. I know I mentioned some my experiences in my mentorship and how my I-Poly experiences helped me with my whole senior project.

(2) Questions to Consider

a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your block presentation (self-assessment)?

• I think I deserve a P because I met all the things for P consideration. I talked and did my lesson for at least an hour. I referred to my mentorship and printed sources.

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

• I think for this overall project, I deserve a P. For the senior project components and assignments, I made sure I completed them and made sure I knew all, or most, of my information.

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

• What worked for my in my senior project was connecting and attempting to engage with the audience. Since social-emotional skills is an ability we need to interact better with others, I was able to share about how I-poly helps us practice these skills because we do many group projects.

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

• If I had a time machine, I would make sure I would tell myself to pause for a bit and make sure I present all the information I need to help my audience understand more about my answers or about my project because I know I forgot to mention multiple things. Also, I would make sure I slow down a bit because I think I barely made it past the one hour mark.

(5) Finding Value

How has the senior project been helpful to you in your future endeavors?   Be specific and use examples.

•  Senior project has been helpful to me in my future endeavors because I was working with children. In the future, I hope to be a pediatrician. I want to be in the medical field and still work with children. Although I only worked with children the ages 2.5 -5 years old, I will know how to deal with them if they get irritated by something or if they do not know how to describe how their feeling. I also know what to do if my future children throw a tantrum.

Blog 22: Mentorship

LIA Response to blog:

• Literal
• Sabrina's Senior Project Hours
• Corona-Norco Family YMCA
• Volunteer Coordinator: Therese Marquez
• Phone: (951)736-1415     E-mail: marquez@ycornor.org
• Mentor: Miss Jenny Zymora
• Phone: (909)346-8117
• Interpretive
• What is the most important thing you gained from this experience? Why?
• The most important thing that I gained from this experience was that the social-emotional development is one of the main abilities children ages three to five need to have in order to get through life. They need this ability to be able to communicate and work better with others. I also learned how to deal with children better if they are not following the rules. I am able to negotiate with the children rather than bribing them.
• Applied
• How has what you’ve done helped you to answer your EQ?  Please explain.
• My EQ is: what is the most effective strategy for a preschool teacher to use to develop their students social and emotional development? What I have done during mentorship that has helped me answer my EQ was through play. Although I helped the children find the words that matched to their feelings and observed what they needed to work on, play was the best because they get that hands on experience with their emotions and others emotions. They learned not to hit out in frustration when they are playing. The children come up to the teacher to let them know what their classmate did and how it made them feel. Then the teachers would talk with the children to explain how it is not nice whatever they did and bring emotions into the conversation. Also, we mainly do activities with the children. It's all just fun stuff.

       

Blog 21: Exit Interview

(1) What is your essential question, and what are your answers?  What is your best answer and why?

My essential question is "what is the most effective strategy for a preschool teacher to use to develop their students' social and emotional skills?". 

My answers are:
1.) To teach the students' how to self-regulate emotionally so they could manage and understand theirs and others feelings.
2.) To have the students engage in play so they get hands on interaction with theirs and others emotions.
3.) To observe and get to know the child to see what they need to work on.

My best answer is sort of a combination of all of my answers. It is my answer 2, to have the students engage in play so they get hands on interaction with theirs and others emotions. My reason is because through my experience in my mentorship, all we do is do activities and play. All the children do is play, play, play. They learn through the activities and story books, but majority of how they learn is through play.

(2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?

The process I took to get to this answer was through my mentorship. My interviews with my mentor and the other teachers at the Corona-Norco YMCA really helped me come up with my answers. Before, I thought the best answer was to get to know the child and observe them because all the children are different. They're all different ages and they understand things differently. My mentor and the other teachers helped me see that the best strategy to help a child develop their social and emotional skills is through play. They helped me see that the 

(3) What problems did you face?  How did you resolve them?

Problems I faced in finding these answers was finding a specific strategy because I found many techniques that could follow multiple strategies. For example, with teaching a child how to self-regulate, a technique is to have a child do some role play with their peers and that also falls under the play strategy. Also, with observing and getting to know a child, you need to observe them doing something like how they interact with their peers. Because some techniques could intertwine with other strategies, I saw that most of the techniques follow my answer of having the students play. Thus, helping me find my best answer.

(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?

My first significant source is a book called, "Play: The Pathway from Theory to Practice." by Sandra Heidemann and Debbie Hewitt. The book was very informative with play in preschool. It explained the different kinds of plays 1 to 5 year olds experience and gave some tips in what to look for in seeing the child improvement in their social and emotional development. 
My second significant source was an interview with one of the teachers at the Corona-Norco YMCA and mentoring. Lizbeth Barrera was really informative when I interview her. She went into detail with her answers and gave examples, like some of her experiences. It was also easier to understand her answers because I've also seen and experienced what she had.

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