Monday, May 20, 2013
Blog 25: Mentorship
Literal
MENTORSHIP LOG
Interpretive
The most important thing that I have gained from this experience was trying to meet the needs of the students. When I would work with a student one on one I found it very hard to explain what I was teaching. I know how to do the worksheet but I didn't know how to sign the explanation. It was the most difficult thing for me. I had to search how to sign certain words. Ask the deaf teachers and the interpreters how to sign a word or how they would explain this concept. I cant come up with an explanation on the spot but if I go home and thought how I would be able to sign instructions on how to solve a problem I could be able to do it now. This is important because teachers need to be able to make sure that all of the students understand what is being taught. If the student doesn't know then the teacher has to figure out another way that they might understand, that is what I had to do in my mentorship.
Applied
Being at South Hills and going to Mesa Elementary helped answer my EQ because I was able to see the teachers use two answers I found to answer my essential question in the classroom. My first answer: having a strong foundation in ASL, I saw that mostly when I went to Mesa. Christy Neria would have the students write a story in English but have them read it in ASL. I wrote a story of my own and was able to read (sign) it to the class. I also got to her technique in teaching Language Arts.
Baby Essie
Deaf community
The deaf community is, to me, so amazing. They are so close and always there supporting one another. South Hills, this year, was the host of the DHH prom. Yes, the deaf have their very own prom. I didn't know that either. Well there are a total of 20ish some deaf students in South Hills so few other schools who have deaf programs came together to have enough people to have a prom. It was pretty successful and much fun.
Deaf Expo
We went to Deaf expo. Deaf Expo is where all these Deaf organization come together. Here was a picture of me and Matt "the Hammer" Hamill. He is a deaf pro wrestler. He was so cool. And here is a little of Deaf Culture.
RC
 These are some of the really amazing books that Christy Neria let me borrow for my I-search and research checks. |
2nd time at Mesa
All four pictures are when I went to Mesa the second time. The kids really wanted to show me a move that they made. This is there really awesome cool reading corner, there is Christy Neria in the red shirt and black hat in mid sentence. And in the last picture she slits the class in two and here is her half of the class in their math groups.
Mesa Elmentary School
This was my first day at Mesa Elementary School. I was able to go to Christy Neria class which her class had 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. For the first day she just had me observe the class, but I still enjoyed myself very much.
technology
Going to different classes
Throughout mentorship with Mrs. Gough I was able to go to another class. To Mr. Cummins a DHH teacher who teaches English, so I was able to see different deaf classes.
First day of mentorship
Friday, May 10, 2013
Blog 24:Exit Interview
What is your essential question? What is the best answer to your essential question and why?
My essential question is: How can a deaf elementary student best become grade level literate? The best answer that I found to answer my EQ was that the deaf child should have a strong foundation in ASL (American Sign Language).
What process did you take to arrive at this answer?
During research checks I found some articles that discussed the reason why the deaf population have, on average, a 4th grade reading level due to the lack of language that they obtain. That theory has been always in the back of my mind as a possible answer. But it wasnt until my 3rd interview with Maire Lubman where she enlighted me about the importance that deaf children should try to master ASL first. Once they acquired ASL, the English language should be not a greater challenge for the deaf students as it was before. Marie Lubman also shared her story when she was in school and the challenges that she faced. After that interview I felt confident that having a strong foundation in ASL first was indeed a good answer, but was it the best answer? When I went to Christy Neria class at Mesa Elementary School, before I could even ask her questions, she was giving me amazing information about BICS AND CALPS and how she incorporates them in her classroom. When I got the chance I asked her two important questions: How can a deaf student best become grade level literate? Christy informed me that deaf children need to be exposed to language from day one. They need to establish a first language. From there, the deaf child need a constant exposure to print words and communication in their first language. And that the parent(s) should always reference that ASL and English are two separate language so the child may acknowledge the difference. The second question was: What were some challenges that you faced in the classroom? Her response was that she wanted to see more parental involvement. She informed me that about 90% of deaf children have hearing parents and not all of those parents learn sign language. Thats why these children have such a hard time in school because they didn’t establish that foundation of language when they were young. And the perfect time for any child to learn a language is from 3 years old-5 years. So many of these children missed that and there is only so much I can do here at school. Lastly at the end of the day she let me borrow a book called Rasing and Educating a Deaf Child and I found that book to be beneficial to my senior project .
What problems did you face? How did you resolve them?
Through out the whole project I have had two main problem that I had to face. I like my mentorship at South Hills High School, but I want to go out to other places. I did not want to stay in the same place for mentorship, I wanted to encounter another perspective. There is a Deaf organization called GLAD (Greater Los Angeles Agency on Deafness) and they have many deaf community services. I wish I could have gone but the headquarter is in LA, and I did not have any transportation of arriving there. Though I was unable to go there, I found another place that was closer in the area, Mesa Elementary School.
My second challenge was being able to communicate with the teachers. Every teacher that I have come in contact with, except Christy Neria, are Deaf. Though I am slightly fluent in ASL I did have trouble understanding what they were expressing. To paint a picture of the situation, it is like a person who has taken a spanish level one and two class. Then they have to talk to a native spanish speaker. What seems like a normal speed of talking to the native spanish speaker seems like 500 mph to the somewhat beginner spanish speaking student. How I was able to overcome this challenges was just having to practice on signing, finger-spelling, and receptive skills.
What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?
I have a few sources that helped me to come to my best answer which is having a strong foundation in ASL. First was Christy Neria, who has been extremely helpful to me helping me become confident in my first and best answer and hep me come to my second answer. Another source was a book called Language Learning Practices with Deaf children and Raising and Educating a Deaf child.
What is your product and why?
My product is how to individual approach students needs. This is my product because you may be very knowledgeable in the subject that you teach but the main goal for a teacher is that the students understand. I realized that not every student are the same. Some may get it faster than others, some may not. My second independent component help me to figure that out.
My essential question is: How can a deaf elementary student best become grade level literate? The best answer that I found to answer my EQ was that the deaf child should have a strong foundation in ASL (American Sign Language).
What process did you take to arrive at this answer?
During research checks I found some articles that discussed the reason why the deaf population have, on average, a 4th grade reading level due to the lack of language that they obtain. That theory has been always in the back of my mind as a possible answer. But it wasnt until my 3rd interview with Maire Lubman where she enlighted me about the importance that deaf children should try to master ASL first. Once they acquired ASL, the English language should be not a greater challenge for the deaf students as it was before. Marie Lubman also shared her story when she was in school and the challenges that she faced. After that interview I felt confident that having a strong foundation in ASL first was indeed a good answer, but was it the best answer? When I went to Christy Neria class at Mesa Elementary School, before I could even ask her questions, she was giving me amazing information about BICS AND CALPS and how she incorporates them in her classroom. When I got the chance I asked her two important questions: How can a deaf student best become grade level literate? Christy informed me that deaf children need to be exposed to language from day one. They need to establish a first language. From there, the deaf child need a constant exposure to print words and communication in their first language. And that the parent(s) should always reference that ASL and English are two separate language so the child may acknowledge the difference. The second question was: What were some challenges that you faced in the classroom? Her response was that she wanted to see more parental involvement. She informed me that about 90% of deaf children have hearing parents and not all of those parents learn sign language. Thats why these children have such a hard time in school because they didn’t establish that foundation of language when they were young. And the perfect time for any child to learn a language is from 3 years old-5 years. So many of these children missed that and there is only so much I can do here at school. Lastly at the end of the day she let me borrow a book called Rasing and Educating a Deaf Child and I found that book to be beneficial to my senior project .
What problems did you face? How did you resolve them?
Through out the whole project I have had two main problem that I had to face. I like my mentorship at South Hills High School, but I want to go out to other places. I did not want to stay in the same place for mentorship, I wanted to encounter another perspective. There is a Deaf organization called GLAD (Greater Los Angeles Agency on Deafness) and they have many deaf community services. I wish I could have gone but the headquarter is in LA, and I did not have any transportation of arriving there. Though I was unable to go there, I found another place that was closer in the area, Mesa Elementary School.
My second challenge was being able to communicate with the teachers. Every teacher that I have come in contact with, except Christy Neria, are Deaf. Though I am slightly fluent in ASL I did have trouble understanding what they were expressing. To paint a picture of the situation, it is like a person who has taken a spanish level one and two class. Then they have to talk to a native spanish speaker. What seems like a normal speed of talking to the native spanish speaker seems like 500 mph to the somewhat beginner spanish speaking student. How I was able to overcome this challenges was just having to practice on signing, finger-spelling, and receptive skills.
What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?
I have a few sources that helped me to come to my best answer which is having a strong foundation in ASL. First was Christy Neria, who has been extremely helpful to me helping me become confident in my first and best answer and hep me come to my second answer. Another source was a book called Language Learning Practices with Deaf children and Raising and Educating a Deaf child.
What is your product and why?
My product is how to individual approach students needs. This is my product because you may be very knowledgeable in the subject that you teach but the main goal for a teacher is that the students understand. I realized that not every student are the same. Some may get it faster than others, some may not. My second independent component help me to figure that out.
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Blog 23: 2014 Interview
1. Who did you interview and what house are they in?
Ari Cocjin
East house
2. What ideas do you have for your senior project and why?
I'm not sure but I have narrowed it down to design, marketing, and forensic. I choose these three because I did a poster for project Prometheus and that caught my attention in design and the geometrics that are behind all of it. Marketing because I am drawn to the psychological aspect of it, like why they buy what they buy and why they buy that specific brand. For example the have a bottle of ketchup and they slap a label on it and people buy it. Lastly, forensic because when growing up I would watch CSI shows and it was always interesting to me.
3. What do you plan to do for your summer 10 hour mentorship experience?
I am not sure of what I want to do for mentorship. I am still working on it.
4. What do you hope to see or expect to see in watching the 2013 2-hour presentations?
I would like to see some hands on activities and for the seniors to make their topic and presentation interesting and not boring.
5. What questions do you have that I can answer about senior year or senior project (or what additional information did you tell them about senior year or senior project)?
What would be a good mentorship for me?
I personally can not help you answer that question but there is a senior, Nicole Diaz, who is doing forensic photography. I know it is not the exact same thing but if you do decide to pursue in forensic then I do recommend that you talk to her and if you could, watch her presentation.
How would I be able to choose to see her presentation?
You don't, juniors are assigned where they are going to be placed but if you are really determined to see a presentation then you can switch out with another person. But how they did it last year was you had to find another junior who is in the presentation that you want to see and if they are willing to switch with you, you have to have them (the other junior) sign a slip and have both teachers(the teacher of the 2 hr presentation that you were assign to you and the teacher of the 2 hr that you want to see) sign the slip as well.
Ari Cocjin
East house
2. What ideas do you have for your senior project and why?
I'm not sure but I have narrowed it down to design, marketing, and forensic. I choose these three because I did a poster for project Prometheus and that caught my attention in design and the geometrics that are behind all of it. Marketing because I am drawn to the psychological aspect of it, like why they buy what they buy and why they buy that specific brand. For example the have a bottle of ketchup and they slap a label on it and people buy it. Lastly, forensic because when growing up I would watch CSI shows and it was always interesting to me.
3. What do you plan to do for your summer 10 hour mentorship experience?
I am not sure of what I want to do for mentorship. I am still working on it.
4. What do you hope to see or expect to see in watching the 2013 2-hour presentations?
I would like to see some hands on activities and for the seniors to make their topic and presentation interesting and not boring.
5. What questions do you have that I can answer about senior year or senior project (or what additional information did you tell them about senior year or senior project)?
What would be a good mentorship for me?
I personally can not help you answer that question but there is a senior, Nicole Diaz, who is doing forensic photography. I know it is not the exact same thing but if you do decide to pursue in forensic then I do recommend that you talk to her and if you could, watch her presentation.
How would I be able to choose to see her presentation?
You don't, juniors are assigned where they are going to be placed but if you are really determined to see a presentation then you can switch out with another person. But how they did it last year was you had to find another junior who is in the presentation that you want to see and if they are willing to switch with you, you have to have them (the other junior) sign a slip and have both teachers(the teacher of the 2 hr presentation that you were assign to you and the teacher of the 2 hr that you want to see) sign the slip as well.
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