Second Interview Questions

My mentor is Mrs. Murillo. She works at Rivera Middle School, and works for El Rancho Unified School District.

• So Mrs. Murillo, tell me a bit about your education.
• How and why did you choose your career?
• Did you have trouble finding a job?
• Can you give me some history about El Rancho Unified School District?
• I heard you have recently gone back to college to study more. How is that going?
• How will going back to college affect your career?

Blog 4: Working EQ

1. Positive Statement: A positive outcome of what I have accomplished so far is that I have become much more aware my topic. I am now up to date about what is occurring with Algebra in California.

2. EQ Content: My first interview really helped me understand a teachers view on Algebra. Also, she explained the relationships between her and the students, which I came to realize was very important.

3. So far I have been able to find research easily. My first interview was very simple and easy to arrange. Overall, I have been able to obtain information without too much struggle or frustration.

4. What's troubling me now with my senior project is my mentorship. I am allowed to mentor with the math teachers at Rivera Middle School, and I am sure I could also mentor with other schools. However,  I still have to attend I-Poly classes, so my schedule will not allow it. I have been thinking about mentoring with tutors or just mentoring during Saturday School, so that might solve my problem.

5. Finding Value:

• I would like to study more about the educational system revolving around Algebra. I also want to study different teaching strategies. 
• My goal by the end of the year is to help students at I-Poly with Algebra related work. I hope to tutor many students over the course of Senior Year. 
• The next person I would like to talk to is Mr. Covarubias. Mrs. Murillo had pointed me to his direction. He is the head of the math department at Rivera Middle School, as well as an Algebra teacher himself.

Blog 5a: Problem Statement

1. Teaching Algebra

2. A problem that is occurring right now is whether to have Algebra as an 8th grade standard or not. For a while, districts in California were trying to accelerate everyone to finish Algebra by 8th grade. Recently, a bill was proposed to make it so that it would not be an 8th grade standard. So the problem would be which is better for overall students; having algebra as a standard in 8th grade or 9th grade? When I do come up with a solution, I will publish a paper with the help of local education departments and submit it to Dean E. Vogel, president of the California Teaching Association.

3. Another problem is whether certain teaching strategies are better than others. This can be a behavioral project idea, but it does leave room for experimentation. After I find a solution, I will show school districts my results, beginning with El Rancho School District.

Blog 3: Interview Preparation

1. I plan to interview Mrs. Murillo, my mentor from my summer mentorship homework. It seems like a logical choice because she is an actual algebra teacher. It is also nice to start off simple and work your way up to higher authorities.

2. I would ask about 8-12 questions. I think that might be stretching it, but I do want to get as much information as I can. These are some of the questions I might ask in addition to the 5 original questions:

• "Why are you so comfortable in your classroom?"
• "How do you grab the attention of your students with math?"
• "What does Algebra mean to you?"
• "Tell me about your teaching strategies."
• "What is your relationship with the students?"

Blog 2: Topic Choice

a. My topic is teaching Algebra. I chose this topic because I love mathematics and I enjoy helping people understand it. I chose Algebra in particular because it contains the basics to many other mathematic and science classes, including Geometry and Chemistry to name a few.

b.

• I plan to tutor more students at I-Poly in Algebra and some science classes that involve Algebra. This relates to me improving as an I-Poly citizen because before, the max amount of people I tutored was 2. By tutoring more students, I will contribute to the goal that everyone at I-Poly can learn and graduate.
• I plan to observe my mentor and understand how to explain concepts of Algebra to students who are having trouble in math and science. Speaking to people in a way that will make them understand what I am trying to explain will obviously make me a much better communicator.
• I plan to see connections between my mentor and my current 12th grade teachers. This way, I can learn what my teachers are trying to make me understand much faster, making me an effective learner. Also, by learning what troubles the students that I am tutoring, I will be able to come up with solutions for future students with similar problems.
• I plan to use computer applications such as Gradebook Pro and the AVI program. I will also know how to operate ELMO's, projectors, and I-Pads. This will make me more effective as a user of technology because many of these devices and computer utilities are in modern day classes.

Blog 1: Summer Mentorship Component

Assignment: Job-Shadowing in an Algebra Class

Literal (Know)

Day 1- August 23, 2012 (5 hours)
Mentor: Laura Murillo
School: Rivera Middle School
Contact Number: (562) 801-5088

• Signed students into Mrs. Murillo's gradebook
• Collected homework from students, as well as passed out worksheets
• Observed Mrs. Murillo's lecture on integer review
• Repeated this process for 5 different classes

Day 2- August 24, 2012 (4 hours)
Mentor: Laura Murillo
School: Rivera Middle School
Contact Number: (562) 801-5088

• Organized books
• Collected homework and passed out new assignments, including a quiz
• Helped grade homework and quiz
• Put grades from the homework and quiz into the gradebook
• Observed Mrs. Murillo explaining all of the answers on the quiz
• Repeated this process for 5 different classes

Day 3- August 27, 2012 (5 hours)

Mentor: Laura Murillo

School: Rivera Middle School

Contact Number: (562) 801-5088

• Graded homework from over the weekend
• Put more grades into the gradebook
• Observed Mrs. Murillo giving a warm-up, as well as helping the students understand the homework
• Repeated this process for 5 different classes
• Helped a couple students understand their homework during lunch

Literal (Need to Know)

• How does the teacher have time to help out every single student should they ask for it?
• Which way of teaching ensures complete attention from the student?
• Why does the teacher insist on teaching the very basic form of a problem, instead of the actual problem?

Interpretive

I think the most important thing I gained from this experience was being able to help out a student. After watching Mrs. Murillo teach, I knew how to explain problems to a student. I do not mean that I learned the content from Mrs. Murillo, I mean that I learned how to make it seem simple for the student to understand.

Applied

By doing these 10 hours of job-shadowing, I realized that teaching Algebra was something that I am really interested in. I've always enjoyed math; it has been, and still is, my favorite subject. I was planing to do something math-related for my senior project. The reason I chose this subject was because the classroom feels like the right environment for me. Grading papers and helping students out made me feel successful, so that is why I am pursuing this topic.