4/27

Honors Mentorship Program

Week of April 27, 2015

“Reflection”

My mentorship was in a high school classroom, the subject was Spanish for Native Speakers II. From my mentorship I have gained knowledge, wisdom, and understand how students work, from a teachers perspective. My mentor showed me ways to grab a students attention, the work ethic versus other students, and the learning styles some students prefer. Watching students from  a teachers stand point of view is different, from the point of view of peers. I feel that the knowledge I acquired at my mentorship will help me understand my students when I grow older, and more skillful in the field of education. To get the most from my experience, I showed up on time and got involved with the class. I would show up to my mentorship, take roll, hand-out worksheets, and call-out or write-out answers to quizzes or tests.

This mentorship has prepared me for the future by, drawing-up the real feeling of an actual high school classroom. I can enroll in many courses to help me have an understanding about high school classrooms, or ask about advice from experienced teachers, but if I would have never been in  a real classroom I would not have understood. The mentorship has changed my view by, knowing that you do not just show up eight hours and forget all about work, you have to make lesson plans and grade tests. I still want to become high school Spanish teacher, and one day to be able to teach in a Spanish speaking country.

My advice to future students who wish to participate in Honors Mentorship Program is that they should know what they would like to be when they grow up. They need to know what they want to be, so they can take full advantage and appreciate what they learn in their mentorship. Thinking back, reflecting back,  on my mentorship I wish I would have actually gone in front of the board and taught my mentors classes. Having a mentor really shows you what the real life is like, not what a textbook tells you it is. Have fun at your mentorship and take full advantage of it!

Self Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird

 

“Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird, 1940.” , By Frida Kahlo. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.

3/16

According to the video, seventy-percent of the population has a fear of public speaking. They present a triple-P method to get you calm, and through an oral presentation. Glossophobia is the fear of the tongue. To be a confident public speaker one must be prepared, have posture, and pander to the audience. To be confident you must have the audience to your side.

The way I will incorporate the message of this video is by arranging, and reciting my presentation over and over before I present it to my relevant group. Having a good stance is important, so your audience takes you seriously. Making an audience laugh will make them enjoy being there with you, and give you confidence. The information given in the video, and the tips are very helpful to give a well presentation.

3/2

“Going to college for a  degree in a field of study that interests me, but also including being assured that I either double major in that field and education, or just education, such as middle grades education or foreign language education. It is also important to explore other levels and subjects of education, to make sure that this is the field you are happiest in. For example, if you are interested in elementary education, it is important to spend time in elementary classrooms shadowing a teacher to make sure that you are in the right field. Once in your program, it is important to establish relationships in each school you are a guest in, who knows, one of them may one day be your employer, and every teacher you shadow could be a recommendation.”

The tasks that I am enjoying at my mentorship are grading, making copies, and comparing the work ethics of students. My less attractive tasks are, I know I should get used to this is, presenting instruction to the classroom. I think I feel that way because the students are all my age level.

2/23

My website:

http://hmptsl.wix.com/the-spanish-language

Week of 2/2

I have been working on real inquiries, which are surveys and interviews. Additional information that I have gathered is quantitative data on the survey that I given the students with, and drawing conclusions on the way students write and how in depth they do into a question. Right now I am working on a visual, which is the website, and maybe a prezi. I would also like to create and film a presentation, to show to a couple of the Spanish teachers at my high school. I hope my project turns out to be informative to people related in my group, and well-developed.

1/12 Assignment

“Why do you think it is necessary to take a foreign language, in this case Spanish, to graduate from high school? ”

Answer. ” Because this country is very diverse and it’s basic for education, just like math is. ”

Reflection. I would have said we need it to communicate with people who speak the second most widely spoken language.

“What do you struggle with in Spanish? ”

A. “I struggle a bit with writing because of the accents”

R. I would agree that accents are difficult to pin-point where they exalt go. When struggling to find where they go, keep in mind that they only go on vowels.

“Do you see any Hispanic influences around you?”

A. “Yes I see it in the hospital as I volunteer, and at school”

R. I do see Hispanic influences at school but I also see them in town, like at restaurants and grocery stores.

“Do you have a favorite famous Hispanic, If so who?”

A. “My mother”

R. Wow, I would of said famous celebrities like Jennifer Lopez, or Enrique Iglesias. Our families are great people to be around with.

“Has being able to speak Spanish helped you in any way? ”

A.”Yes I can communicate and translate for others. ”

R. Spanish has always helped me understand Karon root words and their meaning.

“Who influenced you to become a Spanish teacher?”

A. My high school Spanish teacher.

R. My mother influences me to become a Spanish teacher.

“Do students influence you in anyway?”

A. Yes, they help me become a better, but not just as a teacher but as a person. ”

R. I’m glad that we influence teachers but nit just on their teaching habits, but in their real lives.

“What do you wish to accomplish with your students when this school year is over?”

A. To let them know that we as Hispanics have influenced America.

R. I have learned that many famous Hispanics have influenced America, like Cesar Chavez and Sonia Sotomayor.

“Do you feel like you have impacted the lives of your students?”

A. Yes, they show me that when they go off and tell their parents new words they have learned. When their parents are impressed with their growing vocabulary, they care to share that with me.

“Do you plan to be a Spanish teacher for the rest of your life? ”

A. No, I do not want to clase my self to other opportunities in the field of education. I may want to be a principle of a school one day.

R.I think I would love to be a Spanish educator fire the rest of my life.  I may want to even teach in another country one day.

1/5 Blog Assignment

Many things drive my research, but the main one is “want.” I want to become someone that encourages students to want to actually learn and excel in a new language.  Since I am a native speaker of the Spanish language, speaking, writing and reading come easy to me. Students who learn a new language and do not have any background knowledge of it,  tend to struggle more than those who already have some knowledge about it. Non-native Spanish learners encounter many different problems, and have many uncertainties.  I would like to understand the uncertainties of a non-native Spanish learner.  My current essential question is “predict why it is necessary to enroll in a foreign language course, in this case Spanish, to graduate from high school. ” It has changed since when I wrote it earlier in the school year.

Other than the requested website, I plan to publish a brochure to showcase my project. For my”real inquiry” I will survey and interview my essential question to non-native, native Spanish speakers, and Spanish teachers. I plan to let my mentor know what I am doing, and take in to account feedback.

My Essential Question

“Predict what is the most widely spoken language throughout a great deal of various countries.”

My question is a “which” question. I chose this question because I want to express the fact of how widely spoken the Spanish language is . You might of thought that the most widely spoken language was English. The  united Kingdom and The. United States of America are wealthy and developed with a high literacy rates, but it does not mean it’s the most world widely spoken language. China is the country with the highest population, with approximately 1.357 billion people, thus Mandarin Chinese is the most populous spoken language. Spanish is the second most widely spoken language with about 6.15% of the world population, but this language is the most spoken in various  countries.

What excites me most about finding the answer to this essential question is that Spanish is the most spoken language in various countries! Just to list a few countries that speak Spanish are Spain, Mexico, parts of the United States, Cuba, Venezuela, and Argentina. This language is spoken in widely in Latin America. It is called Latin America, because Spanish is a Romance Language derived from Latin. It really means a lot to me tha I speak the most spoken language in various countries. I also speak the third most spoken language, which is English. Being bilingual has helped me get a job, and know scientific words just from knowing the roots.

This question does accurately reflect a desire I have about finding out more about this topic. Spanish is my first language, it is really near and dear to me. It is the way I can communicate with my parents and relative that I have in Mexico. If I would have grownup with not knowing Spanish I would have struggled in Spanish class in high school, or not been able to write down I’m bilingual in job applications. I enjoy learning about new facts, world records, and “did you know” statements. For me to ba able to be counted as an individual, that adds to the percentage of the spoken Spanish language, means a lot to me. Spanish is a language I understand and want to learn more about.

11/10

My mentorship has worked out really great. I really enjoy my mentor and the atmosphere. Things that have happened are grading papers, taking roll, and sitting in the teacher’s desk. I have also read out loud, and gone over review question based on stories the class has read in a text-book called “Nuevas Vistas.” When I walk into the classroom the first thing I do is go to the teacher’s desk and take roll on her laptop. I am more familiar with the students, than when I first started to be a mentee in the class. Then my mentor talks to the class for about five minutes about their weekend, or random subjects that come up. After that, she introduces a new story and makes the class do a simple activity to get them engaged into the new material. The students begin reading the story out loud by taking turns as a whole class. After they have finished reading they discuss about the story and questions they have. Then I hand out review sheets to each student. They work on the review sheet till the end of class. That is the usual day in my mentorship.

A class that I feel that has helped me with my mentorship is, Food nutrition and Wellness. It’s an odd class to think about that relates to my mentorship, but my teacher since day one has taught us to always be on time and have manners. This teacher really cares about us, she has asked me about my plans that  I have for colleges and if I have applied to any scholarships. She has asked me if I would like to do any volunteer hours at I.N.K. Next week she is going to take a couple of her students to Americas Home Place. The purpose of this trip is to shadow a person in their career field. Manners that my teacher has taught me help me reflect those on the way I behave and interact with my mentor and her class. My teacher has always taught us to be on time, dress appropriate always, and show manners.

11/3 Blog Post

http://growingleaders.com/blog/first-soft-skill-develop-students/

Reading this article really helped me to realize what actions or movements that young people like me might do. I think sometimes we, as teens and young adults, act a certain way but don’t ever really realize that. Challenges that I face in the work place are just sitting at a desk and grade papers, but that is part of what I am going to be doing when I hopefully become a teacher. Another challenge I face is students not paying attention or trying the work that is handed to them. By fixing that challenge I feel that I should think of a creative way to exhibit the material. Social intelligence is being able to cope with social relationships and the environment that comes along with it. It is in the human nature of us to react to anything and everything, the key is to react consciously. The article talks about an American troops deployed in Iraq, and that they tried to give blankets and food to citizens of Iraq. The citizens immediately reacted and started throwing sticks and rocks, the military officer in-charge of the troops acted with social intelligence. The commander of the troops told them to drop their guns, kneel, and smile, then they had communication with the Iraqi citizens. Social intelligence is important because we need to behave properly, not like a bunch of crazy animals going on a running rabies rampage. One thing that spoke to me personally was the fact that the author of this article called out fresh young people out of college. He called them “Too loud…,forward…, self-absorbed…, and lacking self-awareness.” (Growing Leaders). I do believe it is true that some young adults do act like this, but not every one of us do, people like that leave a bad impression on us, the upcoming generation. It really is an inspiring article, to be respectful and be aware of yourself.