Blog 22: Senior Project Reflection

Content:

(1) Positive Statement

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

I am most proud of being able to interact with the audience. I felt like I really engaged the audience and I felt like everyone was ACTUALLY paying attention. It felt good to know that they were paying attention, it made me feel like I was respected, and that in itself is a great feeling. I really loved how the class was attentive and cooperative.


(2) Questions to Consider

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

(AE)      I would give myself an AE

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

(P)        I would give myself a P

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

I felt that the things that worked for me include maintaining a log, consistent research checks, and blog posts. All these things helped me stay concentrated and kind of guided me to keep myself attentive and poised for success. 


(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?

I believe that having my essential question that I ended the year with, I wish I could have had that essential question since the beginning of the year because in the beginning I had an entirely different essential question and I had to make a lot of work up due to the fact of switching my essential question, so I wish I could have gone back and picked my FINAL essential question since the beginning.

(5) Finding Value

How has the senior project been helpful to you in your future endeavors?   Be specific and use examples.

Senior Project has worked wonders for me and my future endeavors. For example through my senior project, I met my mentor Karla Vallejo Rodriguez whom is an amazing individual and is a marriage and family therapist whom took me under her wing and showed me the ropes. It has been an unbelievable experience being able to work with somebody who is in my desired field of work. All the experience with her only reinforced my desire to pursue that career of therapy. I now have a valuable connection with somebody who works in my desired career field and I know that now my range of possibilities has opened because my mentor Karla can one day help me get a job, or reference me to her other therapist friends. Senior project has also given me plenty of volunteer hours which I may now put in my resume as volunteer experience. All in all it was a pain in the butt, but a very valuable experience and I have no regrets. I loved everything, and I am confident to pursue my career now.

Blog 16: Advisory Meeting #2

Content:

EQ: What is the best way a therapist can help an adolescent cope with stress?

Answer 2: The capability to use relaxation skills is the very foundation of coping with stress.

3 Details to support:

• The type of relaxation that really makes a difference in dealing with anxiety is the regular, daily practice of some form of deep relaxation. Deep relaxation refers to a distinct physiological state that is the exact opposite of the way your body reacts under stress or during a panic attack. Regular practice of deep relaxation for 20 to 30 minutes on a daily basis can create relaxation for your entire life if you keep doing it daily. After weeks of doing it daily, you will then begin to feel more relaxed all the time.
• Deep relaxation, among other relaxation skills not only will prevent stress but also increase energy level and productivity. It will also assist your concentration and memory. Regular relaxation skills tend to increase your ability to focus and keeps you from stressing out.
• Relaxation skills will also increase self confidence and reduce blame towards yourself. This is because stress and self criticism usually are paired up. The relaxation and muscle tension will make you feel confident and more able to be aware of your own feelings.

Concluding Sentence: When dealing with stress as an adolescent there are many different ways for somebody to cope. A possible tactic is to use relaxation skills as the foundation to cope with stress. Relaxation skills will allow you to exercise daily for 20-30 minutes which will lead to phenomenal relaxation results that will allow for the adolescent to feel the complete opposite of stressed out all at the same time as the relaxation skills also increase energy level, productivity, memory, self confidence, and awareness of feelings which are all positive traits to possess which will no doubt assist and adolescent cope with stress.

-Answer and supporting evidence were based off my mentor (Karla Rodriguez) and informational packets that she gave me regarding the different aspects and treatments of stress.

Blog 13: Lesson 2 Reflection

Content:

1. Positive Statement
What are you most proud of in your Lesson 2 Presentation and why?
Personally I'm really proud of myself because I feel like I did a great job. I gave myself an extra pat on the back because I went first out of all the presentations and demonstrated my knowledge on my subject well. I'm most proud of being first and doing a good job, because often people that go on the 2nd day get more time to edit their presentations but I went first and I feel like I did really well. I'm also proud of how people got into my activity and demonstrated their knowledge of what I had just taught them, it made me feel good like if I did a good job as a presenter. 

2. Questions to Consider
       a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your Lesson 2 Presentation (self-assessment)?
I would personally give myself a P+ or an AE-

       b.     Explain why you deserve that grade using evidence from the Lesson 2 component contract.
I think I deserve a P+ or an AE- because I met all the P requirements from the lesson 2 component contract and I also fill like I did most of those requirements super efficiently and I believe I deserve more than just a "P" so I think a P+ or an AE- should be appropriate. For example, I always made contact and I engaged the audience, I spoke emotionally and I really got into my presentation and I felt so connected to the audience when I spoke. Another aspect in which I believe I did really well is my activity. The whole class got into my activity and when I asked 2 groups to present, their answers were phenomenal and definitely demonstrated their knowledge of my topic which means that I must have done a pretty good job at presenting my topic and EQ. In conclusion, I would be ever so grateful to receive a P+ or an AE-.  

3. What worked for you in your Lesson 2?
As I mentioned earlier, I believe my engagement with the audience really worked. I felt connected to them as if I had their full attention. I also believe that when I interacted with the audience with my sponge activity and activity that both went really well because I had 100% participation and everyone seemed so into contributing to the overall activity that was at hand. It was really rewarding to see people engaged in my activities and it felt even better when they demonstrated their knowledge of the subject that I had barely taught them. 

4.  (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your Lesson 2?
I'm not too sure what I would have done differently, to be honest I'm pretty confident in the presentation that I completed. I feel like I did well and I don't think I would really change anything too serious. If anything I think I would just fix those one or two times when I talked and didn't stop for a breath and that led to me taking an unwanted stop in the middle of the sentence I was stating. So yeah, nothing too serious I would change.

5. Finding Value
What do you think your answer #2 is going to be?
I've actually been lucky enough to be able to come up with two more answers already with the help of my mentor. One of my other potential answers is "Teaching relaxation skills" to the adolescent which is basically strategies and activities that can be taught in order to help control stress levels. The other potential answer is "Teaching identification and expression" to the adolescent and this is because sometimes stress is caused because people can't express themselves and everything gets clustered inside and that leads to more stress. My #2 answer will be one of those 2.