Senior Project Reflection

(1) Positive Statement
            What are you most proud of in your block presentation and/or your senior project? Why?

                  Overall, I would say my presentation.  I felt like I explained my three answers so that both the seniors and juniors in the class would understand how I came to the conclusion of those answers. I explained components of each answer to make sure that the students in my presentation understood, and were able to grasp why I choose my answers to be answers to my EQ.

(2) Questions to consider
           a. What assessment would you give yourself on your block presentation(self-assessment)?
                          P+
           b. What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project(self-assessment)?
                         P
(3) What worked for you in your senior project?
              My activity. What I did for my activity, was I translated a poem from English to Italian. I gave every other student a name tag to wear around their neck and they would be the "teachers". While the ones who didn't have a name tag were the "students". The teachers (had the poem in english) role was to best teach to their capabilities and from what they learned in my presentation, from my first two answers to use those strategies and techniques to teach the student (with the italian poem) what the poem said. The students in my presentation were able to feel a E.L. student's struggle learning a new language and the "teachers" were able to understand the complexities first grade teachers face when wanting to teach an E.L. student English. They only had to teach one student whereas a first grade teacher would have to teach a class of 32 students with E.L. or non-E.L. in the class.

(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?
                              I would probably pace myself. I wasn't nervous when doing my presentation, but when I presented , the whole time the students in my presentation were dead silent, so I took it as they were getting bored. Which I didn't want, so I tried to speak faster so that I could retain their attention until the activity. I made time but I would , now, not take the silence to mean they are bored but that they are attentively listening.

(5) Finding Value
            How has the senior project been helpful to you and your future endeavors? Be specific and use examples.
                       Senior project has helped me look more closely at future careers I might want to do going to college and all now. I really liked first grade teaching and I have found myself looking at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to see the projected amount of jobs in the next couple of years, and when I will graduate from college to see my success of getting a job in the market. I am trying to find all the information I can to possibly pursue this as my future career.

Advisory Meeting #2

EQ:What is the best way for a first grade teacher  to maximize an E.L. (English Learner) student's score on their district's test?

Answer #2:

There are many ways for a first grade teacher to maximize a E.L. student's score on their district test, one of the best ways to do this is through social learning through oral language.

1. When kids talk to their peers on the playground in the english language. They are continuously trying to better understand and speak english through the playground interactions.

2. How english learners stick with students who know their native language. These english learners can better communicate and these students with whom they stick around with can better help them in translating their native language into english.

3. When these english learners are talking to their peers, they are learning how to better transition into english , with simple phrases on "how do you feel?", "how was your day?" and they can later start to answer more questions that require more detail from the student.

Research:

1. PBS. "Social and Emotional Growth." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 22 Aug. 2013

2.Kindermusik’s ABC Music & Me. "Schools." Early Childhood Curriculum. Kindermusik’s ABC Music & Me, n.d. Web. 04 Sept. 2013.

3. Hay, Ian, and Ruth Fielding-Barnsley. "Social Learning, Language And Literacy." Australasian Journal Of Early Childhood 37.1 (2012): 24-29. Academic Search Premier. Web. 20 Sept. 2013.

4. Alicja Rieger,, and Ewa McGrail,. "ON POINT Understanding English Language Learners’ Needs and the Language Acquisition Process: Two Teacher Educators’ Perspectives." Understanding E.L.L. Great Urban Schools, 2006. Web. 9 Jan. 2014.

5. Hill, Laura E. "California's English Learner Students." (PPIC Publication). N.p., Sept. 2012. Web. 09 Jan. 2014

Conclusion:
There are many different ways in which a first grade teacher can maximize a E.L. student's score on their district's test but there  are several best ways that prove  the most effective to get your students as a first grade teacher to reach their full potential.

Lesson 2 Reflection

1. Positive Statement

What I am most proud of in my Lesson 2 is of my hook activity as well as my activity. I say this because I was able to tie in both in the use my answer. I was able to tie in my hook activity by incorporating listening, like the game. For my activity I was able to help my peers better understand that difficulties that English learners in 1^st grade can have and how as a 1^st grade teacher you can better understand those difficulties to be able to teach better for student comprehension.

2. Questions to Consider
       a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your Lesson 2 Presentation (self-assessment)?
                                       P    
       b.     Explain why you deserve that grade using evidence from the Lesson 2 component contract.

3. What worked for you in your Lesson 2?
            What worked for me in my Lesson 2 I would say my activities because I felt that it helped my peers better comprehend the English learner difficulties these 1^st grade students face in 1^st grade and how it would hard to improve there test scores if they had first didn’t understand these difficulties.

4.  (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your Lesson 2?

          I would have talked a lot slower and I would have tried to better phrase my answer because I explained it but the point of the answer is to do all the explaining without the need of the person to do it.
5. Finding Value
    What do you think your answer #2 is going to be? 

            Oral language- how students learn more of a specific language if they converse with other students by being interactive with them and being able to pick up the language they are learning( like in my case would be English)