Culminating Reflection and Self – Evaluation Blog post

I believe that for Early Childhood Development a lot of critical thinking was needed to complete my project because it involved me to come up with an appropriate lesson plan for the preschoolers. I also had to read my mentors child development book to understand the important stages in preschool kids. For example, I read about motor skills which is using your muscles to pick up things or do to things and I didn’t really see it until I went to the preschool and a teacher randomly pointed out to the preschooler that she was using her motor skills when she was trying to push play dough out of a toy and that’s when I realized that I really had to think outside the box. Communication with my mentor, preschool teachers, and the preschoolers was essential for my project because it’s what allowed me to collaborate with them. It’s also a major that requires a lot of verbal communication because you are constantly talking to kids and helping teachers when needed. I tried to be creative as possible with my project by making it stand out from all the other child development projects because child development is supposed to be the best years of a preschooler’s life. And so I made a lesson plan where shapes, patterns, and coloring patterns were involved in just a simple Christmas tree art project. And s that’s where critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity helped me complete all aspects of my Capstone project.

I gained a wonderful experience from my Capstone project because I really enjoyed going to the preschool when I had the chances to go. I really enjoyed being with kids because I felt that I learned so much about them. I also liked helping them make art projects and I really enjoyed it when they would tell me about how important certain things were to them and about how much value certain toys had to them. I also liked how this project involved me to be more social by publicly speaking and talking to a group of kids when before it was hard for me to talk to a group of kids or even my own classmates. Intellectually it has made me into a more confident person then from how I was before and I love it. I love my project because it made me realize that child development is something that I really want to do in college because it is something that I would really look forward to each and every day. It’s a job that I would really enjoy doing because I feel that children have such creative minds that it’s so adorable. It has been such an amazing experience for me that I would want to do this project again.

I personally feel that I did not encounter any problems because I actually found my mentor a week before the Capstone project was even introduced. I would also visit my mentor at least once a week to discuss things about child development. I even completed my hours in four days. My mentor has helped me so much with my project that I was even offered to work with them at the summer camp that they are having in the summer. Once I do that, they will either place me in a preschool or at an after school program depending on how my college schedule goes. I was really organized that there was no time for procrastination. Plus it was something that I really enjoyed doing and it was something that I looked forward to going each and every time I had the chance to volunteer at the preschool.

Theme in 1984

A theme for 1984 would be the one where it talks about "How to respond to authority". Authority is necessary but as stated in one of the group presentations, "it is possible to question authority because it's in every human nature to do so".But, the problem would be that without authority the place would be chaos.I think that the party should have been respected,but if abuse they should have stood up for what they believed in.Winston should have stood up for what he believed to be right and what he believed to be wrong. It would have been considered as a thought crime but I think there were ways where Winston could have proposed ideas and possible solutions. For example, "war is peace" (7) tries demonstrating that by having war, the economy will be safe. It seems like a negative quote but it shows that the party cares about there people. It may not be the best choice or solution but we've had revolutionary wars and until now we haven't really been attacked. So I can see there strategic views and where the party is coming from. "War is Peace" is a way of saying that authority is necessary to protect their people. And how to respond to authority? Well, we aren't always going to agree with what the government says but sometimes you have to deal with it.For example, some people don't agree with gay marriage and what can we do to have our voices heard? Have a strike and or try getting our point-of-views across by having social media sites to help or by writing letters.
"Ignorance is strength" (7) is the one where people should have questioned authority because ignorance is not strength. People should have tried investigating to see what was the problem with their economy because they were limited as to what they could know and how much of it they could know about.I believe that in this situation, people should have asked questions and what not. They were free to believe in what they wanted to.The citizens of the town could have questioned their government by maybe having an anonymous box responding to authority."Ignorance is strength" is the opposite of what people should have thought.

1984 chp.1-3

The first biggest problem with Winston is that he is having crimethink thoughts which goes against the principles of Ingsoc. Forexample, Winston is writing crimethink thoughts in his diary in which he writes "DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER" about four more times in his diary (19). He writes this in his diary because he doesn't believe in the statements from the "Big Brother" party. He then wants to get rid of that page but then he decides to just hide his diary because he knows that the Thought Police can get him and give him some sort of punishment. And a thoughtcrime is considered death, according to the principles of Ingsoc. The second biggest problem is that he is in conflict with himself because he questions himself  asking for whom is he writing his diary for, the future?past?or the age of imaginary.He in a way believes that someone one day could be able to read his diary yet he tells himself that if the thought police were to  read his diary then him and the diary itself would be wiped off of existence.He then felt like "he was a lonely ghost uttering a truth that nobody would ever hear (26). The third biggest problem with Winston is that he talks about the love of his mother that she had for him and he talks about remembering his little baby sister and father. He also doesn't know or remember much in the way his family died but he knows that they sacrificed their lives for him dying in a tragic way. He claims that even though he was dreaming about them he remembers living a life full of love, togetherness, and friendship. He claims that love and affection is not seen now because he states that "such things, he saw, could not happen today. Today there were fear, hatred, and pain, but no dignity of emotion, or deep or complex sorrows (29). Oceania conflicts with what Winston thinks because the party states that Oceania had never been in alliance with Eurasia but he claims that they have been in alliance and therefor that is why these parties exist and why they're currently or were in war. In this particular situation he is having a doublethink mind because he believes in two contradictory beliefs in which he accepts both.

Stranger Than Fiction

An author of a story is the one who writes the novel and the one who is narrating is the one telling the story to the audience. The difference between an author and a narrator can be that when the narrator reads the story to the audience it might not always capture the same tone or image as the author's. For example, when the author in Stranger than Fiction starts writing her novel, sometimes her tones and  images don't exactly match because there were times where she was constantly changing Harold. At the beginning of the novel she says that Harold is brushing his teeth a certain amount of times and when Harold realized that he was being narrated he would stop doing what she said and then he would continue moments later. Which in that example of the film shows that her narration did not always capture the image that was told in the book. When the narrator, narrated the story, Harold would sometimes change the image of the author's story by doing the opposite because the professor in the movie told Harold to do the opposite of what the voices said to him so that he would stop hearing voices inside his head. And so the narration did not always match with the plot of the author's book.She also claimed that Harold would die and then she changes the ending by letting Harold  live. And in order to be in control of the story, the narrator must capture the same tone and image as the author's.
As a narrator/author of my research paper choosing the right perspectives in my research paper was determined as to weather or not the information that I had was relevant or not to my topic which was Child Development theories and stages.I chose the most important theories that related to the everyday life of a a preschooler which included certain stages.For example, I thought that Jean Piaget was an important psychologist to include in my research paper because it allowed me to connect it with the cognitive stage which is seen in an everyday life of a preschooler.It's where they acquire new facts and an understanding of the world.Some theories were best if they weren't included because there are four important stages in child development and theirs also other theories that are meant to explain other aspects of human development which those other theories weren't really related to my topic. I gave information based on different psychologist's and different books that I had with me.I think the impact of my research paper will hopefully be a positive one because I tried to explain how those theories and stages relate to the everyday life of a preschooler.

Meeting up with my mentor

                                                         When I see my mentor

November 5: My day consisted of giving my mentor the letter that I wrote to her which was the Mentor Letter.I also asked her questions and talked about possible lesson plan ideas.She told me where I could volunteer.
Total hrs. spent:1 hour
November 14:I checked up on my mentor to to talk about some ideas that I had for my lesson plan.I also check up on my mentor to talk more about college and preschool.She let me borrow her college book which is on Child Development and she let me keep a smaller booklet.
Total hrs. spent:1 hour
December 17:I went to go talk to my mentor about what I was going to teach the preschoolers the 21st of December.I showed her the two books that I chose to read to them.I also sort of got an approval on my lesson plan ideas.I also asked her questions about college and what classes I should take to get sort of an idea of classes to take to meet my ECE units.Which are Child Development classes.
Total hrs. spent:1 hour
To be continued...
I also spent two hours talking to my mentor about finishing touches to my senior project and because of this I have a total of 30 hours.

My Teaching Plan & What I Learned

When trying to come up with a lesson plan,teachers have to design it using a web diagram as a tool to guide them with possible lesson plans and possible times in which these activities may occur.I remember that it was only October and teachers were already creating the December lesson plans. Christmas was coming up and I had three ideas and I got to do two since it was a funky sort of schedule day.My lesson plan consisted in tying it to the season and I thought what I better way than to do a lesson plan on Christmas in which they can create their own reindeer using food and learning how to make patterns on a paper Christmas tree. It was snack time and I settled down the kids.They were quiet and they were attentively listening to my instructions.I first said get your Ritz cookie out and put cream cheese on it.I waited.Secondly,I said put green M&M's on the Ritz cookie to create eyes.Thirdly, I said put the red M&M towards the end of the cookie to make the nose.Last,but not least I told them to put pretzel sticks towards the top to make the reindeer.But, before we made this I made the kids guess what we were making.And a boy got it right away and he said, "Are we making a reindeer?" and I said yes.It was a total success.My second lesson plan was around 3 p.m and I pulled two kids at a time where we would use stickers as ornaments to create a pattern on the Christmas tree.Some struggled and some had an easier time making the next pattern.Some of the kids also argued because they couldn't agree with each other but they managed to get the job done because I made them work on the cognitive stage which is to resolve  their problems by asking questions and stating what they don't like to come up with a solution that could help them complete the pattern and coloring the tree.I learned that it takes more time for others to learn something while their are those who get it right away.What would I do differently next time?instead of making it a partner activity I would work with them individually to help them more.I worked on these lesson plans for an hour and they came into effect the second time I went to go see my preschoolers.

Time spent on lesson plan: 1 hour

Preschool day 3

It was January 2nd when school resumed for the preschoolers. A lot of the kids did not go to preschool. I went to the preschool at 7:30 a.m and that is the time that they open. It was a random day actually because we had few kids show up to preschool. The teachers were on vacation and we had subs from the Real Program. The kids had free time and I was with a group of kids that were playing with play dough. They were working on their motor skills which are when you use your hands and muscles to make something. For example, there was this hard play dough toy that required a lot of their muscles to make play dough come out in twisted strings.Then,it was lunch time and one of the kids got upset with the other and accidentally hit the other child and the teacher helped resolve the problem.The teacher would ask them questions and then they would ask questions and then they would talk it out and resolve their problems.I would say that they were in the cognitive stage because the cognitive stage states that " kids learn how to solve problems, ask questions and think critically. And this incident proves that stage.We then listened to stories and we talked about New Years and we sang the weekday song. I also finished my 25 hours that day but hopefully I will go and visit them to learn more about preschool and Child Development. I plan to visit them on February and I was thinking of doing a little mini lesson plan on valentines day but with more of like them making cards and exchanging them between their friends.More of it being like friends appreciation day.We could also make cookies and have that be part of the snack time activity.I also realized that being a teacher takes a lot of dedication and patience because planning takes time and it has to be enough to cover the whole day. I also learned that preschool isn't all that cheap but their is a statistic that kids who go to preschool have a higher chance of going to college and being more social when entering kindergarten while their will be those kids who will probably cry on the first day of school.It's also hard for a kindergarten teacher to teach those who did not go to kindergarten because she has to teach them to take turns,raise their hands,and also teach them how to share.

Hrs:9
Total Hrs: 25

Preschool day 2

It was December 21 when I went to the preschool to do my lesson plan with the kids.I arrived at 8:15 a.m and most of the kids had already arrived. I met new kids that I had not seen from my last visit. I met Manny, Gaby, and this other boy that I sadly forgot his name. I sat down and I read them books that they chose for me to read. What I really liked was how they got so excited when I read their favorite books to them. They started making predictions and they gave comments about the book and that really ties with what I am reading about in the Child Development book that my mentor let me borrow. It was getting close to Christmas time and my lesson plan was how to make a reindeer using Ritz crackers, cream cheese, M&M's, and pretzel sticks. It went really well because they followed my instructions,it was snack time and they got to make two reindeer's. I was a bit nervous but everything went really well.Then, later on Santa made a visit and gave all the kids a book. After, that I got in a table and I called two kids at a time to color a tree and make a pattern on the tree. We used stickers as the ornaments. I noticed that some kids had trouble making a pattern while their were others that found it a bit easy. Some of them couldn't agree on how to contribute when trying to color the tree. Some would get upset because they wanted to color the tree in a neat way while the partner wanted to scribble scrabble the drawing. What would I do differently next time? I would probably call one person at a time to see how I can help that person individually. There's no right or wrong way in teaching, but teachers also need to see what they would do differently next time. But, I really enjoyed this day so much with the preschoolers! Also since I always go during my school breaks their schedule changes because it's the holiday season and some kids don't show up to school. They had free play,snack time,more free play, lunch time,nap time,art time, and that is what they did. I also plan to volunteer next time and check out what the kids will do next time I see them and hopefully by then I will be able to come up with another lesson relating this time with the season.

Hrs logged in: 8
Total hrs:16