Blog 26: Senior Project Reflection

(1) Positive Statement

What are you most proud of in your 2-Hour Presentation and/or your senior project? Why?

One of the things that I am definately proud of for my senior project is my decision to choosing child life specialist as my senior project. I was really happy that I had the oppurtunity to teach other teachers and students about the unknown career of child life specialist, and the significance that they make. Overall I was pleased because my topic never once had me questin my decision and it allowed me to continuously learn more and more evryday. Along with my topic, I am really proud with my research as a whole, never in my whole life had I ever researched something so continuosly. I am satisfied at with the fact that I was focaused with my resear and was determined the most to find the best research. Even though at first reasech checks were a struggle for me, I am proud that I showed major growth,and even more happy that I have a binder full of research to always look back on.

(2) Questions to Consider

a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your 2-Hour Presentation (self-assessment)?

For my assesment for my two hour even though I am positive that I hit all of the "P" concideration points, I would give my self a "AP". Although this isn't what I would want to give myself, I feel like due to my nerves I let it get the best of me, and I feel like I could of explained a few of my slides in more depth.

b.     What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project (self-assessment)?

Overall for senior project I would give myself a "P" because although the bumps along this journey, I feel like I worked hard enough throughout the whole year to deserve this grade. All of my assignments were done and completed properly on time.

(3) What worked for you in your senior project?

Along with my research,what worked for me as for senior project was my 30 minute lesson. Being able to present a 30 minute lesson on my own was an accoplishment for me because this was one of the presentations that I was successful at. After presenting and recieving my grade I gained the confidence to continue throughout the senior year/project.

(4) (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would have you done differently to improve your senior project if you could go back in time?

If I had a time machine to go back, I would havenot procrastinated as much as I did as for completeing my powerpoint for my two hour presentation. I feel like I would have finished it weeks before, I would have had more time to perfect the way I was going to present. If I could of done that, I would have been less stressed out the day before.

(5) Finding Value

Overall the experience of senior project will always be something I will cherish. No matter how much my nerves got to me today during my presentation, at the very end once the audience applauded for me I felt one of the greatest feelings. I looked back to point when I was deciding what my topic was going to be,  times at mentorship, the ups and downs with research, the times when I got no sleeps, the time I once brokedown...all of it for this one moment. Completeing this senior project was one of the most challenging things that I had to do throughout my life. Never have I ever been committed to working on something for so long. Overall I appreciate what this project has taught me. I have personally learned how accept the fact that no matter what there is always sacarafices that you are going to have to make to get things done. I am pleased that this project allowed us to learn how to find and apply good research, this is something that I will always be able to keep in mind while in college.

Blog 25: Mentorship

Literal:


https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Arv7-kyJVfnSdE9KYXhGdHpkNEl1Qy1VU2dydENyN0E&usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Arv7-kyJVfnSdDR0OXFIQktKNnB5M0d5bTM5d0gxaUE&usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Arv7-kyJVfnSdDl1RHBnSjZULV9qOU9TTnZjVXU4UHc&usp=sharing
Mentor's name: Dalilah Calderon ...CONTACT INFO: (626) 859-4584
Interpretive:

What is the most important thing you gained from this experience?

The most important thing I gained from this experience was the ability to better the knowledge and skills that I have towards childre. For example from working hands on with the children from the daycare, I have been able to learn the needs of children in general, and how to be patient, and communicate effectlively.

Applied:

How has what you've done helped you to answer your EQ?

The hours that I have done with the daycare has helped me with answering my EQ because I was able to experience first the general needs that a child has within their life. During the hours I have done for my independent component 2, I  was able to confirm and and find the significance of play, which is part of my best answer.When I completed hours for my independent component 2, I was able to define the significance of having organized schedules to reduce the anxiety that the children had, this finding went in towards my answer: Preparation.

May 14, 2013 : What's New !?

  During most of my mentorship at the daycare I contributed by helping out three of the elementary students at Delovely daycare during homework time. From the beginning of the year I helped out one specific child named delilah who is in second grade. Overall she is a very bright kid, but has always struggled with reading and writing. As part of mentorship at the daycare, I have been tutoring her with her english. After all of the hard work we have both put in together, as of today delilah had been emitted into the Gate program (gifted & talented education). After hearing the appreciation from delilah's parents, I have realized how amazing it has been and felt to be part of this accomplishment and ofcourse my overall experience at mentorship.

Took Delilah and her friend to celebrate at Benihana restaurant for her accomplishment

Blog 24 : exit interview

(1) What is your essential question?  What is the best answer to your question and why?

My essential question is : "What is the most significant contribution of child life services to a hospitalized child's health?". After researching this past year about child life specialist I found that the most significant contributions are preparation, and support, The most significant contribution of the services to a hospitalized child's health is PLAY IN THE HOSPITAL. This contribution is the best answer to my essential question because although preparation and support  benefit a child's  mental and physical health, play in the hospital is more benficial because it benefits not only physical and mental health but the children gain a variety of social skills aswell,  all at once . 

 

(2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?

After commiting to the topic of child life specialist I began to more about the general idea of what child life specialist are. I became exposed to the foundation of the carreer aspects and achievments that the child life services take part of. After fully understanding the background of child life service, I became passionate with the idea of finding the right essential question that will help others recognize the child life occupation. Thus I came up with the eq "What is the most significant contribution of child life services to a hospitalized child's health?". I began most of my research online to find the potenial aswers to that question. Although alot of research articles had alot of supporting facts, I found my first answer: npreparation, and best answer: play in the hospital, bolded in a book called "emotional care of hospitalized children". After receiving two of my aswers, I noticed that I had a pattern. I found that the most significant contibutions that i found happen in the begining and middle of a child's hospitalization. After that finding, I was determined to find something significant that the specialist do toward's the end of hospitalization.While looking at the pediatric site of Maryland university children's hospital, I found my last answer: support, which concluded my pattern in the way that I expected.

 

 

(3) What problems did you face?  How did you resolve them?

For one mentorship was hard to find, then when I did a "trial" mentorship at the city of hope hospital, I felt as if what I was doing wasn't as relatable to my topic as I hoped it would be. I didnt have an oppurtunity to even be by kids, so I felt mentorship there was not effective enough for me. A few weeks after I got the okay to complete hours at a daycare. This issue was definately resolved because I was actually now going to be able to be hands on with the children there, and have the oppurtunity to learn from that experience.

A second problem that I faced had to do with research. Alkot of research was online, but when it came to finding books about child life specialist , alot were very outdated. I then resolved the issue by changing my focaus to the needs and care of hospitalized children. Since child life specialist deal with hospitalized children for a living, the book I found " emotional needs of hospitalized hcildren" talked alot on specialist.

 

(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?

 

My 1st most significant source would be my mento JoAnn Namm (specialist at city of hope) because although my other mentor Gina Day Padre Vaughn was a big help as well, JoAnn not only gave me the output of great interviews, but she allowed me to witness the child life services at work . From the experiences that she has let me be part of, I have gained knowledge from the aspect and point of view of real child life specialist like her. In addition JoAnn was who introduced me to my second mentor, who has also been a great help.

My 2nd source is the book "Emotional care of hospitalized children". This book was the one I checked out at the cal poly libary, til this day I am really glad I checked out that book because it made it easy for me this year because I was able to find two of my asnwers to my EQ in there in bolded letters. The book not only discussed the basic needs of the children, but explained in detail about the contributions specialist make for the children.

 

(5) What is your product and why?

So far My product is that I gained The ability to be a much more understaning person in general &learn how to communicate with children effctively. From working hours at my mentorship (Delovely daycare) I have been much exposed to a variety of people of different ages. Each person and child has their own needs and personality. At first adapting to others needs vs mine was a challenge. From the experiences that I have been able to have, I have been able to be much more understanding of others ways, and forms of communication.

Blog 23 : 2014 interview

So today, just when lunch started I had the oppurtunity to meet as well as interview a student from Ipoly's class of 2014.

1) Who I had the chance to interview was a girl in South house named Symphony Moreno.

2) Me: "What ideas do you have for you senior project and why" ?

Symphony: "What I am looking into is straight up Photography, maybe even forensic photography."

Me: "Really, thats sounds really intersting. Im pretty sure that this girl named nicole Diaz in my senior class has either one of those topics, so if anything I'm sure she wouldn't mind giving you a few tips or other information about photography related things."


Me: "Is there any specific reason why you are interested in those topics" ?

Symphony: " Well first of all I really enjoy the aspects of photos and photgraphy in general. Til this day I still concider photography as a type of carreer path for me to take on someday in the future. Also if I am going to achieve photography as a carreer, I think it would be useful to have the knowledge and experience."

3) Me: "What do you plan to do for your summer 10 hr mentorship experience" ?

Symphony: "As of now I'm not really sure what I will be able to do, but so far I've been researching places online that I might be able to go to, and also I have been trying to get in contact with this one forensic photographer, as well as contacting a police station to see if things will be possible for me there"

4) Me: "What do you hope to see or expect while watching the 2013 2hr presentations" ?

Symphony: "To be honest I am not really sure, becaus e the whole senior project idea is still new to me and also too because everyone has a different topic. If anything I hope to be able to see a topic similar to the one I will chosing".

5) Me: "Is there any questions that you have that I could answer relating the senior project or senior year" ?

Symphony: "Is the senior project hard" ? .."And if so, how brutal is it" ?

Me: " Honestly senior project isn't difficult, as long as you pace your self correctly. Depending on your topic, things that could be difficult along the way are finding mentorship, people to interview, and maybe even the science fair. But in general the senior project may be stressful, but it is not hard to complete overall. It's all about being able to manage your time well so that you can get everything done on time, and about not giving up. As long as you try your best and manage your time in wise ways, senior year should be fun."

Blog 22 : 3 column

3 column logic chart

Blog 21: Independent Component 2

LITERAL
(a) Statement saying: “I, Alicia Rangel , affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.”
b) Sources: DeLovely Daycare.. CONTACT INFO: (626) 859-4584

Inspirational article: "helping your child cope with hospitalization" Scott Baker

(c) Provide a digital spreadsheet (aka log of the 30 hours)
hours on the blog post below...
http://loveandhellokitty.blogspot.com/2013/04/independent-component-2-additional-30.html

d) Explanation of what you completed.  

What I completed for my independent component two is an additional set of 30 hours of mentorship. To achieve this, my purpose of this component was to create a variety of daily schedules for the children at the daycare to follow throughout the day. The general process that I followed to complete my component was...

1) Observe the daily routine at DeLovely daycare.

 * This included making a list of the normal activites done and the approximate time that was spent doing them

2) Evaluate the Needs and Basic of the children.

* Some examples would be homework time, snack, study hall..ect

3) Think of new activities, timing, and organization.

* New activities were discovered with the help of JoAnn Namm (mentor /childlife specialist) and inspirational online sites like DLTK'S crafts for kids : http://www.dltk-kids.com/top10.htm

4) Create a variety of new schedules

* The new routines were typed up on a word document, printed out, and had to first be approved by the daycare.

5) Follow through with the routine.

* After approval, the routines were set and were posted up to notify the children how their daily schedule would be for that day. 

6) Get the routines going!

* since I was the one to create the routine , I enforced the schedule daily while  I was there.

INTERPRETIVE



"Jason during X-box time 4/12"



Schedule #1  
2:00-3:00 pm Homework time

3:00-3:15 pm Snack time

3:15-4:15 pm Play time (outdoors)

4:15-5:00 pm Study hall

5:00-7:00 pm Movie time

total hours per day : 5
dates used: 4/8,4/11
days (2) x hours (5)= 10 total hours for schedule #1


Schedule #2 (fun friday)
2:00-3:00 pm Arts and crafts

3:00-3:30 pm T.V. time

3:30-5:00 pm  Out door activity

5:00-5:15 pm Snack time

5:15-7:00 pm X-box/ Wii time

total hours per day : 5
dates used: 4/5,4/12
days (2) x hours (5)= 10 total hours for schedule #2

Schedule #3 
2:00-3:00 pm Homework time

3:00-3:30 pm Board games

3:30-3:45 pm Snack time

3:45-4:00 pm Songs of the day

4:00-5:00 pm Outdoor games

5:00-7:00 pm Relax/T.V. time

total hours per day : 5
dates used: 4/15,4/17
days (2) x hours (5)= 10 total hours for schedule #3



"During out door play 4/8"



APPLIED

This component helped me with the process of answering my essential question because it focused specifically  on one of my answers, which is preperation. After reading one of my articles "helping your child cope with hospitalization" by Scott Baker, I learned one of the most  important aspects of preparation in general. Scott Baker included the fact that making a schedule is helpful for a hospitalized child. For a child, having a daily schedule or sets of routines can help them ease types of anxiety.As for hospitalized children in specific, it is helpful to have a routine, child life specialist are the ones who can help a child and family set up a schedule. The schedules is a factor to a successful child's coping. I was able to able my reasearch to real life. When I created the schedules, I had planned to see some type of result(s). After The schedules were followed through I noticed what a change in organization can do. I was able to relate and agree with Scott Baker on his words applying to the significance of routines. Overall I am satisfied that I was able to test my research and verify that what my research stated is generally true.