Thursday, February 27, 2014

EQ Answer #2

Answer: To effectively integrate technology within learning environments.

Detail 1: Teachers who use technology effectively in classrooms are rated as being overall better instructors.

Detail 2: 73% of students believe an effective use of computers and other learning aides within the classroom would improve their learning environment.

Detail 3: 67% of students believe their teachers hav an ineffective use of technology that should be improved.

Backed by Source ID#34 and #35.

Friday, February 14, 2014

Valentine's Day!

 "I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear."
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!

This past month has been very busy. I have recently gotten into negotiations with my mentor regarding the mentorship hour count which shall come very soon. We both reached consensus on increasing my overall count of hours by my participation in a financial research project, aimed to simulate the management of a theoretical organization.

In addition to my mentor's research project, which shall be due on the first week of May, I have been wanting to integrate my new found fascination with technology into my year long project of education. I have been formulating a second or third answer for quite a while now, and may later integrate some sort of technology into my project. After all, technology and education go hand in hand with each other as both are very rapidly expanding fields.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Independent Component 2 Approval

Content:

1.  Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.

For the next 30 hours, I will role-play completing a mock-grant proposal for a socioeconomically disadvantaged school, justifying funding for equipment.


2.  Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.

I will submit the mock grant proposal, and the evidence of 30 hours will be found in my Independent Component 2 Log.

3.  And explain how what you will be doing will help you explore your topic in more depth.

The main objective of a nonprofit would be to write grant proposals. Since my EQ has to do with nonprofits, it would allow me to explore the nonprofit aspect of my project more, and would allow a more in-depth view on these organizations.

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Independent Component 1

LITERAL
 
(a) I, Adrian Gallegos, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.


(b) Cite your source regarding who or what article or book helped you complete the independent component
.

My two sources most important to this component was Source ID#16 - "The Fluency Development Lesson Gets Graphic." by Belinda Zimmerman, and Source ID #19 - "The Case for Graphic Novels" by The Communications in Information Literacy Organization.

(c) Provide a digital spreadsheet (aka log of the 30 hours).   Post it next to your mentorship log.

Done.


(d) Explanation of what you completed. 
For my Independent Component, I have completed the beginning phases of a professional comic book production.  
 
INTERPRETIVE 
Defend your work and explain how the significant parts of your component and how it demonstrates 30 hours of work.   Provide evidence (photos, transcript, art work, videos, etc) of the 30 hours of work.


I have completed about 32 hours of my Independent Component. My original plans were to produce a full, professional comic book structured around Personal Finance, but I have undermined the amount of work that goes into producing the average graphic comic. Planning phases, and various elements going into pre-production alone account for nearly 8 hours of work. I have timed myself doing pages, and average a little less than 1 page every 2 hours. I have worked with others on this project, but to maintain consistency, a majority of the content was unused. Every page was created from scratch on Adobe Illustrator, including the text. I am remorseful that I have not completed the entire comic book within 30 hours, but shall continue working on it throughout the year in order to finish something that may enlighten students how to effectively manage their money - a skill essential to surviving the real world - without a lot of unnecessary technical jargon.

A delightful screenshot of the beginning pages.
 

APPLIED
How did the component help you understand the foundation of your topic better?  Please include specific examples to illustrate how it helped. 


This component helped me understand the foundation of my topic in a lot of ways. It has enlightened to the amount of resources out there which are already dedicated to teaching people - especially students that fall under the category of my essential question. However, there aren't enough good resources - That is; A lot of educational resources exist, but little to none of them are engaging or easy to understand, especially when the target audience usually aims for a general understanding rather than a scholarly pursuit.

Lesson 2 Reflection

Content:

1. Positive Statement

What are you most proud of in your Lesson 2 Presentation and why?

I am most proud of my poster. I will cry if my EQ is changed.

2. Questions to Consider
       a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your Lesson 2 Presentation (self-assessment)?

      I would give myself a P.

       b.     Explain why you deserve that grade using evidence from the Lesson 2 component contract.

I did what was required on my presentation, and I made everything look professional and well done. I also met time. My activity, poster, and presentation have all met the requirements, and served their purpose well.

3. What worked for you in your Lesson 2?

Everything. I graphically designed and printed the poster, which came out great! I was initially afraid the activity was too long, but it actually worked out with the students, and my talking portion of the presentation went swimmingly.

4.  (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your Lesson 2?

Provided it could only be used to change my 30 minute presentation for some odd reason, I would just rehearse a little more, and perhaps change a few fonts so that they were bigger. I felt most of my presentation was well done.

5. Finding Value
What do you think your answer #2 is going to be?

It's still a work in progress, but I am considering incorporating my new found skills of web design into this. Perhaps something like "By offering young teens an opportunity to work interdependently online." Again, a work in progress.