Week of 1/13

1.I really want to know the importance of the negative or positive effect of a teacher on a young child's life. The drive for my research is due to my extreme interest in impacting one's life.
2.Distinguish how an early childhood teacher can impact the rest of a child's life at such an early age.
3.  a powerpoint, prezi, or poster.
4. A survey on high school students or adults on whether they were affected by their early childhood teachers.

Discovering dynamics in my mentorship

Social Conscience: Working in a first grade classroom at Spout Springs Elementary has shown me the importance in education. These early years of school are where students receive their foundation for the rest of their life. If taught right, both in academics and in morals, these students could strive to be the next Bill Gates, Oprah, or MLK J.R. Early childhood education can greatly cause a future improvement in the world.

Community: Community goes right along with Social Conscience. Education is an extremely active member of the community, for every child goes to a school of some sort. Learning the right things in school can cause the current children to grow up and make a huge impact on their community and the world.

My essential question

EQ: Distinguish how an early childhood teacher can impact the rest of a child's life at such an early age.

1. Why did you select this as your essential question?  I selected my essential question simply because I know students lives are deeply impacted at a young age. I would like to know exactly how a kindergarten or first grade teacher would help shape their lives.
2. What excites you most about finding the answer to this essential question? What excites me most about finding the answer to my EQ is the stories and personal memories of how early teachers shape people. This topic can bring up the impact with education, or with positive or negative life decisions children may make in the future, and it's very interesting to me.
3. Do you feel that this question accurately reflects a desire/need that you have to find out more about this topic? I feel that this question reflects a desire to find out more about this topic. I always strive to positively impact anyone I associate with, and I would like to see how this topic correlates with my personal goals.

Reflection of October

In the past month, I have learned and experienced a lot at my mentorship. Every Wednesday, the students went to career clusters and experienced an hour and fifteen minutes of a possible career of your choice. I went with Mrs. Smallwood to "Kids In the Kitchen", where students learned about food substitution and healthy eating, and also got to make food of their own! Every other day in the classroom, I have had a ton of chances to be hands on with the kids. I personally have been working with the same few children daily, to enhance their phonics and reading skills. It has taught me patience, and tricks to improve my teaching abilities.
Last year, I took a class called Intro to Early Childhood Education. Out of all my high school classes, this class probably helped me the most with my internship. In that class, we learned all about the standards of teaching, the making of lesson plans, and even then we were hands on by going to the elementary school every other Wednesday. That class provided more of an inside look on the big picture of teaching, rather than just being in the classroom every day. We also got a glimpse on special education, which opened up my curiosity for all the different areas I will have to choose to teach.

Plagiarism

1) how would you define plagiarism?

• I would define plagiarism as stealing someone else's work or ideas.

2) Do you think it's important? Why or why not?

• Yes  I think preventing plagiarism is very important. You should be writing about what YOU think and your ideas, not using someone else's. 

3) When can you imagine high school or college students struggling with plagiarism?

• I could see students struggling with plagiarism when they have an assignment or essay based on something they don't know very well. When researching things about the subject, it's often hard to change the views to meet how you feel vs how the writer of the article/ other essay felt. 

Learning Revolutions

After reviewing the speech made by Ken Robinson about the case of personalized learning, we were told to reflect on the following questions:
1. What would you pursue or study if you had unlimited time and resources? I believe even though I would have unlimited time and resources, i would still pursue the career in Early Childhood education. That's where my heart lies, and I can't think of anything I would want to do more.
2.Which has more influence, aptitude or attitude, and why? I believe aptitude and attitude come hand in hand. You can't have a strong positive attitude in something you can't properly achieve, no matter how hard you try. For example, a positive attitude in me wanting to be a singer wouldn't get me far in the case that my aptitude to do so is not very high.
3. Do you think that our current grading system needs to be abolished? What alternative do you recommend? I do believe the current grading system should be abolished. It's unfair to the student population. I believe grading should be based on the individuals level in education. It should definitely be on a more personal level rather than giving the same test to everyone, no matter what their level of knowledge.
4. Some of the HMP class goals are: to help students develop time management skills, foster a sense of independence and accountability, and real life problem solving. This class requires a lot of student motivation since you are not meeting with a teacher on a daily basis. What areas of improvement or areas of personal growth has this class brought to your attention? Honors mentorship has definitely brought many areas of personal growth to my attention. One big one is time management, due to having a bunch of time on my hands and the choice on how to spend that time, whether it be wisely or to be foolish. This class has helped me to make better, responsible decisions with my time. Another thing it has brought to my attention is my communication skills. Working in a classroom with a bunch of six year olds definitely doesn't give me the chance to be shy and quiet, but rather to speak up and make decisions. It has improved my maturity and self motivation as well.

College Search Survey

After taking a survey over the career field I'm studying on Collegesearch.com, I found out plenty of information about colleges to pursue my dream in becoming a teacher. With the degree field I'm studying, I began to look at three schools:

1. University of South Carolina. Located in Columbia, SC. www.sc.edu
2. University of North Georgia. Located in Dahlonega, GA. www.northgeorgia.edu
3. Liberty University. Located in Lynchburg, Virginia. www.liberty.edu/

Some Criteria for a quality program of study includes a good Early Childhood Education program. Being that I want to be a teacher in Kindergarten or first grade, I need a top notch program that will help me to become the best teacher I can be. The three best universities for ECE include Arizona State University, the University of Central Florida, and the University of Minnesota- Twin Cities. For a quality ranking and education program, A medium sized school not TOO far from home would be ideal. Somewhere in the East or only a couple states away would be preferable, but staying in Georgia would also work. The school would also need to be either affordable, or give the chance of funding and financial aid. 
After researching and going on ngcf.org, I found several potential scholarships that will apply to me when I graduate:

1. Tommy Aaron/ Charlie Aaron Foundation Scholarship
2. Otis Spunkmeyer Scholarship (DECA)
3. The National Beta Club Scholarships