February Update

In the beginning of the school year, I had a wonderful mentor but sadly had to let them go. Why? Adversity. Since I went mentor less for quite a while, I was behind on mentorship hours...

It's the end of February and I have 30+ hours! Now that I have, not two, but three mentors, I'm able to complete my hours and further my research on elementary school teaching. I spend every other Friday shadowing AnnMarie Krall, a first grade teacher. (Fun fact: She was actually on of my brother's first grade teacher.) I also mentor at Lark Ellen's THINK Together program and work will mostly first and second graders. The site coordinator, Lesley Martin, had me help out other classes with older students and because of this, I observed first hand the social differences between the age groups. I also discovered that I personally prefer working with second and third graders because they're less dependent and ready for self-directed guidance.

I truly enjoy working in early childhood education and mentoring at THINK Together has been a great learning experience. I included pictures of my mentorship above and the top two are of the school's library. The students went to the library and had to choose a book according to their reading level. Once they finished reading their book, they had to take an AR test and pass with 80% or higher to participate in an outdoor activity. The two bottom pictures are of the school's garden. The students whom met proficiency in the library went out to this garden and spent time gardening. By giving the students an incentive in reading improvement, they feel most motivated and put in the necessary effort. Below I included my closing quite, enjoy. 

"Spring will come and so will happiness. Hold on. Life will get... warmer." - Anita Krizzan

Blog 16: Answer 2

1. What is your Essential Question?

How can an elementary school teacher most effectively produce fluent readers? 

2. What is your first answer? (In complete sentence format)

An elementary school teacher can most effectively produce fluent readers by providing them [students] materials and time to develop fine motor skills.

3. What is your second answer? (In complete sentence format)

An elementary school teacher can most effectively produce fluent readers by using the visual arts to stimulate response and understanding from children at all stages of literacy development. 

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

• R1: Helps with developing minds because it "produces a less complicated way of thinking." While shadowing one of my mentors, there was a situation where language barriers negatively affected the learning environment. A student with limited english didn't understand much of the lesson so visuals of what my mentor was describing helped greatly. 
• R2: Using visual arts, students are able to picture people and places, allowing them to comprehend what they see. In Visual Thinking Strategies, a third grade class analyzed a painting from the great depression and the teacher facilitated the discussion by paraphrasing their comment and providing new vocabulary. "They model good language usage." pg.119
• R3: Increases the appeal to the task at hand and enhances a student's learning experience. During mentorship, I observed that students were most motivated when drawing and painting was involved in learning their sight words. The kids easily learned what appealed to them.

5. What printed source best supports your answer?

Visual Thinking Strategies by Philip Yenawine (BOOK)

For more information regarding this book click here.

“What’s going on in this picture?”

"With this one question and a carefully chosen work of art, teachers can start their students down a path toward deeper learning and other skills now encouraged by the Common Core State Standards. The Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) teaching method has been successfully implemented in schools, districts, and cultural institutions nationwide, including bilingual schools in California, West Orange Public Schools in New Jersey, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art."

"It provides for open-ended yet highly structured discussions of visual art, and significantly increases students’ critical thinking, language, and literacy skills along the way."

6. What other source supports your answer? 

Great Habits Great Readers by Paul Bambrick-Santoyo
The Parent Backpack for K-5 by ML Nichols

7. Tie this together with a concluding thought.

My essential question was recently revised and my first answer was adjusted accordingly. I drew my second answer from not only personal experience but through research. Visual arts has been proven to have a positive effect on a student's academic character and is engaging, but like books, they must be selected to appeal to the taste of the individual.

Blog 15: Independent Component 2 Approval

The Independent Component 2 is an opportunity for you to add a dimension of creativity and/or an additional outlet for research.  The goal of the component is for you to explore your answers in more depth.  

Please answer the following questions for independent component 2 idea approval. 

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

Originally, my independent component one was supposed to be an additional outlet for research, meaning 30 more hours with my mentor. BUT. I was mentor-less for quite a while and had to add a mini lesson to my IC. Although I learned important communication skills during my IC one with mentorship, I feel that there was not much creativity involved and for this reason want to collaborate with a fellow I-Poly Senior (Woo! Alexis Crisanto!) to create a blog with activities for elementary school teaching.  

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

In order to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence, I will have documentation of every task completed on my senior project hours log and also have the final IC 2 blog linked to my senior blog. The IC 2 blog will be filled with visuals and videos of crafts and activities done for elementary school teaching. It will also include descriptions the importance of each activities and easy to follow instructions (if needed). 

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

This component will help me explore my topic in more depth because I would be incorporating what I learned from mentorship and using tech to connect with other professionals in the field. I'll also be collaborating with another student and be able to share and utilize research we both came to find. By doing this component, I'll be able to rule out any answer that doesn't satisfy my new essential question. 

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

My Senior Project hours link has been updated with an "Independent Component 2" log and can be viewed here.

Blog 14: Independent Component 1

LITERAL

I, Ingrid Mata, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 35 Hours and 50 Minutes of work.

My mentors AnnMarie Krall and Lesley Martin were my main sources in completing my independent component. I also used several books that contributed to the creation of the component and they are listed below. 

• Great Habits Great Readers by Paul Bambrick-Santoyo, Aja Settles, and Juliana Worrell
• The Parent Backpack for K-5 by ML Nichols
• Drawing for the Absolute and Utter Beginner by Claire Watson Garcia
• Watercolor Painting for Dummies by Colette Pitcher
• The Complete Book of Mosaics by Emma Biggs and Tessa Hunkin

My Senior Project Hours log is updated and you can view it here. 

For my independent component one, I completed additional mentorship hours with two different mentors, took an art class, and also designed a mini reading/writing unit for first graders. The unit includes alphabet practice, classroom layouts, and crafts that polish fine motor skills in young children.

INTERPRETIVE 

This component was a real eye-opener to elementary school teaching, my senior topic. I was out in field learning from hands on experience rather than through text books, giving this project most significance. The majority of my independent component was shadowing and working with students and my mentors. This project taught me how vital it is to collaborate with others and how children are sponges, seeking knowledge. I wasn't able to take pictures where children were involved because I don't have parental consent and my mentors are pretty camera shy. For these reasons, I took pictures of the environment which I worked in and included some pictures of parts of the mini unit. 

Above is the digital classroom layout I created.

APPLIED

Working with elementary school students for the past few months has allowed me to learn more about the way they interact with one another and process information. By completing this component with my mentors and designing a mini unit, I was able to observe students little quirks and see the pros and cons of certain teaching techniques. For example, during mentorship I saw a student frustrated with his work and my mentor went in. She addressed the issue by showing the student a different angle in solving the problem. It's all about working the angle. This component has allowed me to better understand the foundation of my topic because I was able to learn from modern day experts in the field.