Rebecca Y. Caabay

     The past few weeks have been unimaginable in every way possible. Instead of neglecting my continuous thoughts on the world's current state of protests and dealing with a fatal, infectious disease, I decided to use them as a motivator to look further into this situation for my Passion Project. As a biologist, I have always been interested in symbiotic relationships in nature, thus naturally gravitated towards learning about the relationship between viruses, specifically the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and humans living through a global pandemic. Besides learning about the immediate effects of COVID-19, I was mainly concerned about the long-term effects. Through more research I discovered studies around childhood trauma from disease outbreaks is very new considering we've only recently been experiencing epidemics such as those in 2003 and 2011 related to SARS. Thus, not much planning or preventative measures have been put in place to help with recovery from a pandemic tha

BRILLIANT MINDFULNESS I will mostly likely use this website as a reference in the future as it holds valuable mindfulness resources for teachers. Brilliant Mindfulness is relevant to my inquiry because it includes applications, books, and websites for further information on mindfulness. These resources can be applied to audiences for kids, teens, and teachers, but  I will mostly be using those focused on kids. The website also includes specific mindfulness practices I can utilize in the classroom with videos/podcasts, lesson plans, and creative projects for this age group.    Beach, Sara B. "Mindfulness Resources for Teachers". Brilliant Mindfulness .  http://www.brilliantmindfulness.com/resources-for-teachers/ InsightTimer This application is free for all users to help with sleep, anxiety, and stress. The app includes insightful talks, guided meditations, and music. I plan to incorporate the 5-minute mindfulness session in the classroom as a daily practice. Anticipating that

KIDSHEALTH: MINDFULNESS 1) This article was written by D'Arcy Lyness PHD, a child and adolescent psychologist. She is also a Behavior Health Editor for Nemours Center for Children's Health Media. That informs kids and parents about health education. Nemours is a children's health system whose mission is to improve the health and spirit of children. They also support family-centered care hospitals, clinics, and clinical research. 2) Mindfulness focuses on defining mindfulness and the importance of mindfulness in people's lives. They provide a list of ways mindfulness can help us in our everyday lives such as paying better attention, staying calm under stress, avoid getting too upset about things, feeling happier and enjoy things more, etc. The article goes on to explain how mindfulness works, and introduces a step-by-step guide on how to start practicing mindfulness.  3) StoryToolz rated this article's Automated Readability Index at Grade 5.6 and Average Grade Level

1) How did you select the images and digit platform for your project?      Canva has been a reliable design and graphics website for my visual creations. For my visual I wanted the setting to be in the classroom because that is where most mindfulness education takes place, however, can also be expanded to the outdoors. I chose students sitting in a circle because this displays unity and the value of each student. (I would have rather liked to find a picture with the teacher also integrated into the circle as an equal). The thought bubbles display students releasing their stress/anxieties to focus on the present. The larger thought bubble overhead includes mindful terms I found that keep us grounded.  2) In what ways did creating the visualization deepen your understanding of the topic in ways that reading alone might not have?     While creating the visual I realized how our minds are constantly active with positive and negative memories. Some students' can't help these intrusi

Undoubtedly, the COVID-19 pandemic has posed harsh economic and health challenges detrimental to children, families and communities worldwide. As GMCS prepares for hybrid re-entry for the 2020-2021 school year, all staff and educators should be aware of the trauma in both students and teachers caused by these unforeseen events. Gallup being a highly impacted hot-spot on the border of the Navajo Reservation, multiple families have been adversely affected. Poor emergency response and management has made existing challenges like stress, homelessness, unemployment, and food security, and loss of loved ones even more burdensome. Because everyone's experiences will be different, there's uncertainty around how students will perceive the situation. However, what coping mechanisms and interventions is the school organizing and funding for students that do have a strong negative perception. Childhood trauma can lead to adverse effects in children’s emotional, behavioural and social lear

Hello everyone! My name is Rebecca Caabay and I am pursuing my Masters in Elementary Education alternative route to licensure at the University of New Mexico. I am going into my second year of teaching 5th grade at Jefferson Elementary in Gallup, New Mexico. I am originally from the small, desert-city of Imperial, CA and I moved to Gallup shortly after I accepted my offer to join the 2019 Teach For America corps.  I am a University of California Davis Alumni and graduated in 2018 with my BS in Biological Sciences. From the jump start of my undergraduate career, I worked for Undergraduate Admissions as a Public Advisor and had the opportunity to work closely with mostly BIPOC students on the path to attaining a higher education. My passion has always been about helping others find their passion, and I am fortunate to be able to do that through education. I have dedicated years of service as a member of the Rotary family to create a lasting change in communities, along with making friend

5 Ways to Support Student Learning 1. Target Overall Comprehension of Language Before tackling a text, I would provide students with important vocabulary and meaning. I would also start with shorter texts, and practice reading comprehension to see if students are developing thinking skills to pick up on the main ideas. Additionally, providing real-life examples and have students compare/contrast to what was read. 2. Teach Vocabulary I would introduce students to new vocabulary words they will encounter in their readings. Using the Frayer's vocabulary model, students can write the definition, synonyms, antonyms, and picture that represents the word. Also, learning how to dissect words into their prefix, root, and suffix parts, and learning their separate meanings. This can be a multisensory activity where each student has a different prefix/suffix/root part and roam around the room to connect with peers to create different words. Another game could be charades, pictionary or taboo.

"Guide on the Side" Strategies Three strategies that I took away from King's article that I will implement in my teachings include Guided Reciprocal Peer Questioning, Jigsaw and Co-op Cooperative Learning. Peer questioning is an effective strategy for students to practice higher order thinking possibly when reviewing a novel. For instance, using the given text-dependent questions students can build upon the sentence stems provided to create their own questions, and generate in-depth knowledge of the readings. Then, students practice explaining, making inferences of the text, and relate to information as they take turns answering questions. Jigsaw learning is great for students to take individual accountability of their work because their 'home team' relies on them to have productive conversation within their 'expert group' so everyone can be properly informed on the subject. This guarantees every student plays a valuable role. For example, when learning a

I use a variety of reading strategies when reading a piece of text. Mainly, I highlight main ideas, words, or phrases that stand out to me. Next, I underline other important details for reference. I double underlined important characters/people involved, and I circled a statement that held significant meaning to me. I make a lot of connections, hence the thought-bubbles, to my own experiences, other texts, and the real world. In this case, noting 'individuals outside the Native American community' so that means they're not natives/indigenous. I previously heard the word 'transient' also in reference to the homeless, so I had questioned if that was true. When the text mentioned ignoring reforms/crossing borders, my mind went to a project that was shared with me of a 5th grade class, in which they printed all the treaties that had been broken and in big, red letters wrote 'HONOR THE TREATY'. The terms 'broken system' and 'power gap' came into m