Career Day at HTHNC is a day when students get the opportunity to shadow someone in the work force of a career they’re interested in. Yet, it is also to show students what a normal day of work looks like for a person that works there and to make students and show and as well ask them if this is what they actually want to become.
I shadowed a teacher. Her name is Tonya Scott, she is a Physics/ Chemistry teacher at San Pasqual High School in Escondido. It is a public school and she also shares the science placement with other teachers that always are willing to help each other.
Well, since her class is divided into two subjects it might be quite different, yet how she organizes her teaching is the same for both classes. She is given instructions to follow that instruct what she needs to teach. Yet, it takes two or three weeks to go over one unit. She said that she first lets them play with something, experiment something and then she has a week to teach the science behind it and finish off the unit with an experiment. In her physics class they were finishing Electricity and at the end of this reflection I will show some pictures I took when the students were working on this project. They all assigned to build a solar powered race car. They were to build a design and the circuit design, and they really let their imagination and creativity take over.
Well, she shared that her day technically starts at 7:10 but school starts at 7:30 am, all teachers must be present at that time. It’s purpose it’s to give time to the teachers to either do some grading before, or organize the day for the students. The dress code isn’t very strict but it always asks for professional wear. The students aren’t supposed to have their phones out at any time and teacher’s aren’t really either but they do have access to their computers.
Well, Mrs. Scott shared with me that this would be her first year teaching at San Pasqual and new teachers aren’t really allowed to participate in grand events. Yet, they are encouraged to help chaperone a dance, support events like small competitions within the school etc;
Well, we have the opportunity to have a physics class freshman year and Chemistry next year. I guess just being in a project based learning has it’s advantages but at the same time it can have difficulties applying it to a public school. Yet, we have learned lots of leadership skills and organizing skills. Every time we do a project we all have graphic organizers, we have planning time and we could always reach to our teachers for help. In every project we always have to collaborate with different types of people. Whether we like them or not at the end we all have to work together if we want to get a task done. Learning how to collaborate is also a great skill we have learned over all throughout the year with all projects. I guess that as a teacher, you have to be able to organize and plan everything before you start to work, also a teacher has to break down this great concepts of a subject down to make the students understand something new, also being able to interact with people.
Mrs. Scott had gotten a bachelor's degree in physics and chemistry. She worked at Biotech too. She always loved science since her childhood. She grew up being outside and looking at animal and nature as a whole and was also always attracted to it and loved to explore. When she had her first child she decided to not work at biotech no more, that's why now she has come back to science but to be a chemistry and physics teacher. She also keeps in mind that she would like to know why normal cheerios don't get soggy.
What I learned is that if you really like teaching you got to love people. You have to love getting to know them and being able to interact with them. I learned that you have to be in the present and you have to take care of your time. That you have to know how to organize your time and teaching. It is very important that you make sure that your students are learning. I just really learned that it's all about learning about new people and how to break down the principles of a subjects to make your students understand at the level that what they learned will stick to them for the rest of their life.
Well I had three choices for my career day, to either shadow an engineer, or a teacher. However, teaching has always caught my attention since I was small. I wasn't sure what I wanted to teach but teaching has always been something I wanted to do, but this doesn't leave out the thought that our minds can change over time. I haven't changed the thought of doing something related to science or mathematics, but if I had the opportunity to do something more grand than being a teacher in sciences or mathematics I would. I honestly would just like to be involved in the invention of our future. This doesn't mean that I don't want to be a teacher but it also means that I want be involved in STEM.
Something I would like to keep in mind for next year is that I should have more time to think and investigate. I really enjoyed the experience but as I mentioned before I would like to be informed and experience different things and jobs to finalize my decision on what career I want to pursue. Since this was a very busy year for me personally I also want to take more time to relax and take it slow and not rush just to make it happen. it's better if I know that I will have to do planning without stressing about it.
In my case I did a cold email in order to shadow Mrs. Scott here below is the cold email script.
Dear Mrs. Scott,
I'm Paola Toledo a student at High Tech High North County School, and I am interested in the a opportunity to intern for a day at San Pasqual High School to further my understanding of teaching. My school is organizing an activity called Career Day which takes place on May 19th. This activity is for the students to have an opportunity to shadow a professional to learn about a career. I'm very interested in Science and Physics, and I would gladly love to know if you were available for potentially shadowing. I would be just shadowing/ following you from your the beginning of your normal work day until your day of work ends. I would love to hear your response as soon as possible, before May 12th in preference. Thank you so much! Have a nice day.
Sincerely,
Paola Toledo
I also had some questions prepared for my shadow person. This were the questions and answers
Q: What educational background most prepared you for this job?
A:
Q: What specific skill training helped you prepare for this job?
A:
Q: To what extent do you find your work interesting and fulfilling and why?
A:
Q: What are the most important rules or practices that you must follow in order to be consider a dedicated and responsible professional?
A:
Q: Is this a typical work day for you? If not what is a typical work day?
A:
Here are also some pictures I got to take during the class:
I shadowed a teacher. Her name is Tonya Scott, she is a Physics/ Chemistry teacher at San Pasqual High School in Escondido. It is a public school and she also shares the science placement with other teachers that always are willing to help each other.
Well, since her class is divided into two subjects it might be quite different, yet how she organizes her teaching is the same for both classes. She is given instructions to follow that instruct what she needs to teach. Yet, it takes two or three weeks to go over one unit. She said that she first lets them play with something, experiment something and then she has a week to teach the science behind it and finish off the unit with an experiment. In her physics class they were finishing Electricity and at the end of this reflection I will show some pictures I took when the students were working on this project. They all assigned to build a solar powered race car. They were to build a design and the circuit design, and they really let their imagination and creativity take over.
Well, she shared that her day technically starts at 7:10 but school starts at 7:30 am, all teachers must be present at that time. It’s purpose it’s to give time to the teachers to either do some grading before, or organize the day for the students. The dress code isn’t very strict but it always asks for professional wear. The students aren’t supposed to have their phones out at any time and teacher’s aren’t really either but they do have access to their computers.
Well, Mrs. Scott shared with me that this would be her first year teaching at San Pasqual and new teachers aren’t really allowed to participate in grand events. Yet, they are encouraged to help chaperone a dance, support events like small competitions within the school etc;
Well, we have the opportunity to have a physics class freshman year and Chemistry next year. I guess just being in a project based learning has it’s advantages but at the same time it can have difficulties applying it to a public school. Yet, we have learned lots of leadership skills and organizing skills. Every time we do a project we all have graphic organizers, we have planning time and we could always reach to our teachers for help. In every project we always have to collaborate with different types of people. Whether we like them or not at the end we all have to work together if we want to get a task done. Learning how to collaborate is also a great skill we have learned over all throughout the year with all projects. I guess that as a teacher, you have to be able to organize and plan everything before you start to work, also a teacher has to break down this great concepts of a subject down to make the students understand something new, also being able to interact with people.
Mrs. Scott had gotten a bachelor's degree in physics and chemistry. She worked at Biotech too. She always loved science since her childhood. She grew up being outside and looking at animal and nature as a whole and was also always attracted to it and loved to explore. When she had her first child she decided to not work at biotech no more, that's why now she has come back to science but to be a chemistry and physics teacher. She also keeps in mind that she would like to know why normal cheerios don't get soggy.
What I learned is that if you really like teaching you got to love people. You have to love getting to know them and being able to interact with them. I learned that you have to be in the present and you have to take care of your time. That you have to know how to organize your time and teaching. It is very important that you make sure that your students are learning. I just really learned that it's all about learning about new people and how to break down the principles of a subjects to make your students understand at the level that what they learned will stick to them for the rest of their life.
Well I had three choices for my career day, to either shadow an engineer, or a teacher. However, teaching has always caught my attention since I was small. I wasn't sure what I wanted to teach but teaching has always been something I wanted to do, but this doesn't leave out the thought that our minds can change over time. I haven't changed the thought of doing something related to science or mathematics, but if I had the opportunity to do something more grand than being a teacher in sciences or mathematics I would. I honestly would just like to be involved in the invention of our future. This doesn't mean that I don't want to be a teacher but it also means that I want be involved in STEM.
Something I would like to keep in mind for next year is that I should have more time to think and investigate. I really enjoyed the experience but as I mentioned before I would like to be informed and experience different things and jobs to finalize my decision on what career I want to pursue. Since this was a very busy year for me personally I also want to take more time to relax and take it slow and not rush just to make it happen. it's better if I know that I will have to do planning without stressing about it.
In my case I did a cold email in order to shadow Mrs. Scott here below is the cold email script.
Dear Mrs. Scott,
I'm Paola Toledo a student at High Tech High North County School, and I am interested in the a opportunity to intern for a day at San Pasqual High School to further my understanding of teaching. My school is organizing an activity called Career Day which takes place on May 19th. This activity is for the students to have an opportunity to shadow a professional to learn about a career. I'm very interested in Science and Physics, and I would gladly love to know if you were available for potentially shadowing. I would be just shadowing/ following you from your the beginning of your normal work day until your day of work ends. I would love to hear your response as soon as possible, before May 12th in preference. Thank you so much! Have a nice day.
Sincerely,
Paola Toledo
I also had some questions prepared for my shadow person. This were the questions and answers
Q: What educational background most prepared you for this job?
A:
Q: What specific skill training helped you prepare for this job?
A:
Q: To what extent do you find your work interesting and fulfilling and why?
A:
Q: What are the most important rules or practices that you must follow in order to be consider a dedicated and responsible professional?
A:
Q: Is this a typical work day for you? If not what is a typical work day?
A:
Here are also some pictures I got to take during the class: