Blog 12: Mentor ship 10 hour check

1. I am doing my mentorship in Pico Rivera, at Rivera Middle school.

2. My contact is my mentor, Mrs. Laura Murillo.

3. As of right now I have 15 hours.

4. In the 10 hours of service, I helped my mentor teach students, and walked around and helped her students who needed a little more one-on-one time. I also helped set up lesson plans.

Blog 11: Holiday Project Update

1. Over the break I worked on creating lesson plans that would help my mentor in her class, as well  as read a couple of books about working with teenage students and teaching math. Finally, I made posters that would supplement my mentor's lessons about equations and graphs.

2. I learned that many students are helped by a visual when being taught something. Students who didn't understand the subject would be able to use the visual to their advantage and figure out what was going on. Using posters lead me to figure this out.

3. I would probably talk to one of the 6th grade pre-Algebra teachers, Mrs. Gomez. Mrs. Gomez knows more about teaching using supplementary visuals, and other tools to help students than many other teachers.

Blog 10: EQ

1. I reviewed the rule of 3 for writing an EQ

2.a. This looks fast and sloppy and does not work well because it is too general.
     b. Yes. Frame work narrows the question down to a very specific topic. Takes a stance by having you choose a side. Specific enough for the topic.
    c. Yes. Framework makes the question more specific, and forces reader to take a stance.
     d. No. The framework is not that great, and is not that specific.

3. Revised EQ: What is the best technique to teach 7th grade Algebra in terms of maximizing scores on a standardized test?

Blog 9: Lesson 1 Reflection

Lesson 1 Reflection

1. Positive Statement

What are you most proud of in your lesson 1 presentation and why?
I am most proud of the confidence i had when i presented to the class. Usually I would be a little nervous, but this time I felt a lot more prepared to speak to the class.

2. Questions to consider

What assessment would you give yourself on your lesson 1 presentation?
I would give myself a P.

Explain why you deserve that grade using evidence from the lesson 1 component contract.
I did everything that I was supposed to do, and thats like a P.

What worked for you in your lesson 1?
Splitting up the possible answers and explaining why each fit into my essential question best.

If you had a tim machine, what you have done differently to improve your lesson 1?
I probably would have added a lot more detail pertaining the answers I gave in my presentation.

Extra blog

After working with my mentor for a while, I realized an important part of teaching any class is the assessments. Assessments basically determine how well a student is understanding the subject. So how do teacher assess how their students are doing? By having tests. Most students think test are the worst part of class, but little do they know that it is how they are being graded. Since most students only care about the grade instead of actually learning the subject, it is important to make test that revolve around it. When I asked my mentor about how she gets her assessments, she said she makes them. So we sat down and walked through how to make a test. The difficult part about creating a test for students is figuring out what is to difficult and what is too easy for the students. The test needs to be able to properly assess the students and to do that it needs to cover the subject entirely. 

Blog 8: Researching and working EQ

1. What is your working EQ?

What is the best way to teach students math so they can do better on the CST's?

2. What is a possible answer to your working EQ? Please write the answer in thesis format. 

• Students need to be motivated to learn and succeed in a classroom.
• One-on-one time with the teacher is very important for a student.
• Great work ethic is required for students to greatly advance in this field. 

3. What is the most important source you have used that has helped you come up with an answer to your working EQ?
"9 Strategies for Motivating Students in Mathematics." Edutopia. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Sept. 2014. <http://www.edutopia.org/blog/9-strategies-motivating-students-mathematics-alfred-posamentier>.

This article talks about the different ways to motivate students so that they can do better in their classes.
4. Who is your mentor, or where are you doing mentorship, and how does what you are doing relate to your working EQ?

Mentor: Laura Murillo

Mentorship Location: Rivera Middle School

Reason: Laura Murillo is a math teacher at Rivera Middle School, and this is important because it gives me first hand experience at what teaching math to middle school students is like. 

Blog 7: Independent Component 1 Approval

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

For my 30 hours, I intend to go to continue with my mentor ship by helping create lesson plans and setting up activities, and by going into the classroom and working one-on-one with some of the students who are having a difficult time in the class. 

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

In order to show the 30 hours, I will probably bring in some materials that have been worked on, and the different scores that a students has gotten on test (taken once a week) since I have been working with them

3.  And explain how what you will be doing will help you explore your topic in more depth.

This will help me explore my topic by showing me first hand where some of the difficulties for understanding algebra lie, and how to help a student overcome them which is incredibly important. 

4.  Updated Senior Project Hours