Extra Blog: September

After searching for research on how to teach math in the first few research checks, I noticed something that came up a lot. Teaching math to Special Ed students seemed to be a difficult situation for most teachers. After seeing this pop up time after time, I decided to look into it and ask my mentor if she had any Special Ed students who she taught and how they reacted to the math curriculum. My mentor, Laura Murillo, said that she did work with a few Special Ed students who were placed into her class. She then referred me to one of her colleagues, Mike Lawrence. Mike Lawrence is a Special Ed Teacher at Rivera Middle School, who works with Special Ed students after they have been through my mentor's class. Mr. Lawrence average work day consists mainly of going over topics with Special Ed students after they have been through the actual class. Mr. Lawrence believes that teachers do a pretty good job at teaching the actual subject during instructional period, and thinks that having a person go over the material with the Special Ed student proves to be very beneficial. The main problem that Mr. Lawrence experiences when dealing with Special Ed students is their ability to focus and pay attention to a particular problem. Although this is a huge set back, most Special Ed students under his supervision seem to excel in their math courses and other courses they are taking. I think knowing about the students prior conditions should be an important aspect to consider when I am answering my essential question and I find that Mr. Lawrence might be incredibly useful to answer this. I will probably use Mr. Lawrence as an interviewee in our next interviews because of his abundant knowledge of teaching and helping students.

Blog 6: Second Interview Preparation

1. Who is your mentor and where do they work?
My mentor is Laura Murillo. She is a middle school math teacher and Rivera Middle School in Pico Rivera.

2. What 5 questions will you ask them about their background?
- What made you strive to become a math teacher?
- What college did you attend, and is it the one you wanted to attend?
- Did you always want to be a math teacher, and why?
- How do you feel about teaching middle school students?
- What aspect of being a math teacher do you most enjoy?

Blog 5 : Mentorship and Research Reflection

1. Describe your experience in how you found your mentorship. If you haven't found one yet, describe your experience so farina the search for a mentor.

Originally I had planned on my senior project being about teaching physics, however, I realized there are very few physicist around my area, and since it was the summer, none of the physics teachers were working. Eventually I realized it would be impossible for me to find someone with the little amount of time I had left. So I decided to look to other teaching positions in hope that it would prepare me a little for the teaching aspect of my original topic. I talked to a couple of teachers at the high schools in my area, but again they were one summer vacation, and wouldn't be able to actually help me into school started for me too. Finally, I turned my mother who is math teacher, and her district had started a week before we did, so I decided that she would be a good mentor. Since then, I helped her create lesson plans and clean up her class before school actually began.

2. What has been the most important article you have read so far and why?

I would say the most important article I have read is "Grade 8" by the Common Core State Standards Initiative because it helped me understand what is being taught to the students. Although I wanted to focus mostly on the teaching aspect of my senior project, it is imperative that I understand what is being taught so that I could understand why it is being taught a certain way.