Blog 10 - Interview 2 Reflection

1. Please explain how you are spending your mentorship time (Is it at a workplace or somewhere else?  Are you shadowing?  Are you able to do tasks that are meaningfully related to the topic?  If so, what?  Are there other people who are experts in the location?  Etc...)

• I am spending my mentorship time in the same place but doing two things at once. I go volunteer about two days a week and four hours every week. When I go in i arrive fifteen minutes before his class of the day begins. Once class starts I am able to sit in and watch how he teaches. My mentor teaches both math and science. After class is over my mentor usually stays after school to help kids who feel they need more help in homework or school work in general. During this time I am able to work with the kids and tutor them with homework, while also getting experience on reinforcing what they learned in class. 

2.  How did you find your mentor?  How did you convince this person to help you?  

• My mentor was actually my seventh grade math and science teacher. He was the one that told my parents and I about Ipoly. Unfortunately after seventh grade he got moved to another school. But he came back to Sparks a few years ago and I was able to visit him. I convinced him to be my mentor when I mentioned what it was I was doing for my senior project and what Ipoly's senior project consisted off.

3. How would you rate your comfort level with your mentor at this point in your relationship?  How does this relate to the time you've spent so far at mentorship/with this person

• If I would rate my comfort from 1-10 with my mentor I would say it would be a good 6. We have been around each other long enough to talk professionally and non professionally. This relates to the time I've spent with my mentor because I get to see them both inside and outside the classroom. And by having this comfort with my mentor, it gives us the chance to talk about his teaching and if there was anything I would change, add, or have done differently. And I think this is the most important aspect I have regarding my mentorship. 

4. What went well in this interview?  Why do you think so?  What do you still need to improve?  How do you know?  How will you go about it?

• My interview went well, it was about the same length as my last one and we were able to talk about things in between. I still need to improve on my small talk in between questions but I am slowly improving on it. I think I can fix my skills on small talk by getting to know my mentor a little better. 

Blog 9 - Advisory Prep 3

1. State whether or not you currently have a mentor, and what the status of your interview is with that person (I have completed the interview, I have scheduled the interview, I have not scheduled the interview, etc).

• I currently have a mentor, I have been working with him since the second week of school. Regarding the status of my interview with my mentor I have scheduled our interview for this coming Tuesday, giving me enough time to type up everything I need to. 

2. At this point, your research is probably guiding your studies toward more specific areas within your topic.  Name the area or two you find most promising and explain your reasons.   

• My two areas that I find most promising are that of classroom management and ways that students benefit most when being taught a subject. In my personal experience with my mentor he has a great grasp of classroom management, he could actually loosen a tiny bit, but overall his class is well behaved. I have seen how the same class gets with a teacher without a different grasp of classroom management. The other area I find most promising is finding some good ways that students benefit the most from when being taught.

3. What kinds of sources do you think will help you in the next month to gain more research depth?  Where will you go to get them?

• I feel like sources out of a book or from experienced teachers can benefit my research the most. I can go to several places for these two things. I can visit the library, public or from the college. I can ask my mentor what he thinks and ask him for recommendations on books that he has read on teaching middle schoolers. I can also ask other teachers on the middle school campus for their advise. 

4. Write down a possible EQ.  Please don't worry about wording other than ensuring that it provides the option for multiple correct answers.  At this point, the senior team is most interested in understanding your thought process.

• What is the most beneficial way of teaching that helps students process what they learned in class?

Blog 8: Independent Component 1 Proposal

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

• For my first independent component I plan to help my mentor with tutoring some of his students after school. I cannot technically help during class since I am there by a site choice, but since my tutoring sessions would be after school I should be just fine.

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

• I am planning to add an extra 30 hours to my mentorship hours. And my mentor would be able to vouch for me for these hours.

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

• My topic is figuring out what I think is the best way to teach/reinforce what a middle schooler learns. By tutoring I get to see what the students learn in class and help teach it in a different way if at first they did not understand it.

4.  Update your Senior Project Hours log.

• Soon