Blog Post 5

So far our project is progressing well. We have emailed the principals at JLS Middle School and El Carmelo Elementary School, as well as called and left voice mails to the principals at Brentwood Elementary School and McNair Middle School. Currently the principals have not yet contacted us back yet. In our emails we also provided a copy of our survey questions and interview questions that we hope to ask both the teachers and the students in each grade. We plan to contact the schools a second time on this coming Wednesday if we do not receive a response by then.

Blog Post 4

This week we worked more on coming up with interview questions and also possible survey questions. After talking with the people in the main office building, we learned that we need to contact each school and ask for the school district’s specific permission slip requirements. These permission slips are necessary for us to give to the parents of whichever students we will be interviewing. We plan to begin phone calls and emails to the schools next week. Also, we need to finish organizing our questions such that we can give the school principals a copy of our interview and survey questions.

Blog Post 3

Key traits of a good mentor for my project are interest in the topic and also willing to help. Ideal skills would be someone who has knowledge about conducting interviews. This would be useful so that the mentor can help us phrase questions in a way that is not leading. We currently have the Paly psychology teachers in mind. We hope to ask for advice in how best to interview young students. We want to learn about the student’s background, interests, and feelings about their school, but we do not want the students to feel uncomfortable or at a loss for words.