Blog 11 - Lesson 1 Reflection

1. What are you most proud of in your lesson, and why?

• What I'm most proud of in my lesson is my hook activity, with my phonology cards.  I had a very hard time finding one and the one that I ended up  using engaged the audience a lot more than I had expected. 

2. What assessment would you give yourself on your lesson? Explain why you earned that grade using evidence from the component contract.

• I would give myself a P. I believe I earned a P because I made time, I spoke clearly and loudly, I cited 3 different articles, I used quotes from my mentor from interview 2, I believe my content flowed nicely with each other, and I spoke out to the class , making eye contact and making a connection with my audience for a majority of the time. 

3. If you could go back, what would you change about your lesson?  How can you use that knowledge to give a better Lesson 2?

• If I could go back I would make sure to have practiced presenting a lot more than I had. So that I didn't have to refer to my notes so often and so that I could stay making a connection with my audience more than I had. Also, I would be prepared with more props. I will use this knowledge for lesson 2 by practicing my presentation so many more times. Also, I will use  props, like charts or toys, so that the audience stays more interested and can be a little more involved. Like if I were to pass around the  toys and they could hold them in their hands or I had them do an activity with the toys. 

Blog 10 - Interview 2 Reflection

1. Please explain how you are spending your mentorship time (Is it at a workplace or somewhere else?  Are you shadowing?  Are you able to do tasks that are meaningfully related to the topic?  If so, what?  Are there other people who are experts in the location?  Etc...)

• I have been shadowing and occasionally playing with the kids. I task I do is passed them a toy that a therapist than asks them to name. Recently I have been holding up flash cards so that the kids can read off too. I plan to me more interactive with the kids in the future once my mentor and I start setting milestones for ourselves. 

2. How did you find your mentor?  How did you convince this person to help you?   

• My mentor is my grandma and I live with her. She was definitely very accessible. She was open to mentoring me since in her eyes she'd love if I was a part of the family business too.

3. How would you rate your comfort level with your mentor at this point in your relationship?  How does this relate to the time you've spent so far at mentorship/with this person?

• I feel very comfortable with my mentor. She knows who I am and I know who she is so we're not expecting anything out of the ordinary from each other.

4. What went well in this interview?  Why do you think so?  What do you still need to improve?  How do you know?  How will you go about it?

• My mentor didn't feel weird about the fact she was being interviewed and recorded, she just talked. The answers felt real and something she would always say, instead of them being strained and awkward. I still need to improve on finding more questions to ask. I have to think of more specific questions that are geared in whatever area I want to start concentrating on in Speech-Therapy. 

Blog 9 - Advisory Prep 3

1. State whether or not you currently have a mentor, and what the status of your interview is with that person (I have completed the interview, I have scheduled the interview, I have not scheduled the interview, etc).

• I currently have a mentor, her name is Sara Romo Miranda. My mentor interview is scheduled for 26 October 2015. 

2. At this point, your research is probably guiding your studies toward more specific areas within your topic.  Name the area or two you find most promising and explain your reasons.   

• The area I find most promising would probably have to be speech-language pathology with toddlers ages 0 - 3. Mainly because thats the age range my mentor works with, but also because I'm finding a lot more research on toddler specific therapy. Also, with toddlers there is a more prominent parent involvement aspect that provides me with more information for my research checks and final presentation.  

3. What kinds of sources do you think will help you in the next month to gain more research depth?  Where will you go to get them?

• My 2 main sources for the next month would most likely be ASHA, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, and the database on the Cal Poly Pomona Library website. Both of the sources I can access online and since my mentor has an account on the ASHA website, there aren't many restrictions on the articles and inflammation that I can obtain. 

4. Write down a possible EQ.  Please don't worry about wording other than ensuring that it provides the option for multiple correct answers.  At this point, the senior team is most interested in understanding your thought process.

• What is the most effective way to provide speech-language pathology to a toddler to ensure that they are achieving the goals that were set at the beginning of the, before the start of the therapy sessions?

Blog 8 - Independent Component 1 Proposal

1.  Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.

• I didn't know what I was going to do but I've decided to do 30 extra hours of mentorship. 

2.  Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.

• I will be taking notes and typing out those notes into my log. I will also take pictures and videos. 

3.  Explain how what you will be doing will help you explore your topic in more depth.

• This will help me watch speech therapist in action and experience real sessions with clients of all ages. 

4.  Update your Senior Project Hours log.

Blog 7 - Second Interview Preparation

1.  Who is your mentor and where do they work?  If their workplace does not reflect their expertise, what makes them an expert?

• My mentor is Sara Romo Miranda. She is a speech therapist with her own private practice. She is a SLPA, a speech-language pathologist, not an SLPA , speech-language pathologist assistant. Since she's a SLP, it means thats she has her Masters degree in her field. In my grandma's case, its her Masters degree in Sciences and Communicative disorders. 

1. What college did you go to , and for how many years?

1. Do you have your undergraduate degree in anything? 

1. How long was he process to open you own speech clonic?

1. Did you need another degree to open the clinic?

1. How long has your clinic been open and what kind of struggles have you encountered that you weren't expecting? 

2. What five questions will you ask them about their background?

Blog 6 - Advisory Prep

1. What has worked well for you concerning senior project this year? What has made it a positive experience for you?

• When I started my senior project with my grandmother as my mentor, I was worried I was going to grow quite weary of her. It has actually turned out to be quite the opposite, I look forward to watching my grandmother work, and by extension, I look forward to watching her other SLPA's do their jobs as well. Working with someone so near and dear to my heart has been more of a positive experience than I was expecting going into this project.

2.What are you finding difficult concerning senior project? How can you adapt to make that portion work better for you? How might the senior team help?

• What I'm finding difficult concerning my senior project is finding an essential question. Im not sure how I can adapt to make that portion work better for me? I suppose just doing more and more research would do. I'm also not sure what the senior team might do to help. I'm not even sure what direction I want to take my essential question nor am I aware of what are of Speech-Language Pathology I should focus in on. 

Blog 5 - Interview 1 Reflection

1. I learned that every speech therapist, whether they work in a clinical setting, a school setting, or  a home setting, has a specific standard of work and even in that, no speech therapist performs them the same. There is no correct way to help a child learn especially because every lesson plan is crafted specifically for that child. In reality, everything depends on the client.
2. I don't regret interviewing David or the way that the interview went. If I were to change anything, it would jus the of course to interview someone different. As in, instead of interviewing a SLPA in a clinical setting, like David, I'd interview a SLPA in a hospital setting because they're two completely different work environments and they work with completely different clients. 
3. During this interview, David didn't specifically give me specific contacts but he did recall an introductory book on Speech Pathology that he would get me the name of sometimes after the interview.
4. Since I haven't received the book yet, I can't give an accurate description but I feel that since David used it at the beginning of his journey into Speech Pathology, that it could be very beneficial to me. I'll make sure to get back to you on that.
5. What makes my interviewee qualified to help me is the fact that he as an SLPA works under my mentor, Sara Miranda, who's an SLP. Sara Miranda has a Master's Degree in Sciences and Communicative Disorders which makes her an expert in her field and for David to be under her wing makes him also on his way to becoming an expert in his field. David has been working 2 years at My World Speech Therapy and plans to go back to school for his Masters degree in one year.

Blog 4 - House Advisory Prep 1

What I hope to accomplish through my senior project topic is to discover whether Speech-Language Pathology should be a career path that I seriously consider to pursue. My mother and grandmother are both speech therapist and my grandma is the owner of a Speech-Language Pathology business. This being said,  if I were to go into speech therapy, it would be very easy for me to get a job and make a living. At this point in my life though, I can't see myself every being in the communicative disorder field, and definitely not Speech-Language Pathology. So, like I stated above, I would like to see if, by me dedicating a year of my life to Speech-Language Pathology, it could be a serious career choice in the future.

Blog 3 - First Interview Preparation

1. Who do you plan to interview? Why? 

• I plan to interview Speech-Language Pathologist Veronica Guitron. I plan to interview Veronica because she is a licensed Speech Therapist which means she has to be an expert in her field . I deem her an expert in her field  because in order to get your Speech-Language Pathology license you much have a master's degree from one of 300+ accredited programs. 

2. Five additional questions.

1. What made you interested in becoming a Speech-Language Pathologist? 

1. Did you know from a young age that this was the career you were going to end up with?

1. Had you not gone to school for Speech-Language Pathology, what would you have gone to school for? 

1. Could you see yourself going to school longer to get a higher degree in your field? 

1. Do you eventually want to be an owner of your own private practice ?

Blog 2 - Summer Mentorship

(me and mentor/grandma/sara romo miranda)

1. List the contact name, phone number, and organization of the person with whom you volunteered.

      

Name: Sara Romo Miranda Phone Number: (626)419-8627 Organization: My World Speech Therapy 

2. What qualified this person as an expert in your topic choice?     

• What qualifies Mrs. Miranda as an expert in my topic choice is the fact that she went to college for 7 years and has a Masters Degree in science in the field of Speech and Language Pathology. She also owns a speech therapy business,  My World Speech Therapy, that she's run for 8 years. 

• The most important thing I learned from this experience is that every speech therapist has their own way of being with the client and making sure the client is progressing. There is no "correct" way to help a client hit their mile stones. I also realized that while all these children have speech problems, their is still a wide range of struggle they could be going through.  No two children are alike as well as the treatment they are receiving. I think it's the most important because it shows me that if I did ever decide to pursue speech therapy, when I get to working with clients it is still possible to put my own twist into it. I can still make relationships with the children in my own way and I get to decide what I think will help them the most. I think the freedom to make your own choice is important when choosing a career. 

• My senior project is going to be speech and language pathology. Mentorship didn't really help decide my senior project though. I chose this topic because my grandma and my mom are both speech therapist and my grandma owns her own speed therapy business so it's a very important part of my life that iv'e never really given to much attention. I decided that devoting a school year of my life to it would help show my appreciation for the craft as well as help me decide if I wanted to join the business eventually. What summer mentorship did help with was show me that speech therapy is not completely boring and that there are a lot of things to learn , so I would be okay dedicating my senior year to it. 

3. List three questions for further exploration now that you've completed your summer hours.   

Question 1: Is it much different, more complicated maybe,  working with a 3-4 year old compared to working with a 12-14 year old?

Question 2: Do you think being a speech therapist makes it more stressful being a parent because there is a constant need to make sure your child is meeting the standard that you've been taught your child, at whatever age they are,  must be meeting?

Question 3: Is it more comfortable working at a child's home, the main office, or at a school/hospital? 

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

5. What is your senior project topic going to be?  How did mentorship help you make your decision?  Please explain.

Blog 1 - Senior Final Lesson / Interview Reflection

1.  What three lessons were most helpful for you to see and why?

1.  Veterinary Medicine by Jessica Castillo. This presentation was helpful to me because I might want to pursue veterinary medicine as my senior project so it gave me a small insight of what I would be signing myself up for if I did decide to embark on the journey of veterinary medicine. It also helped me realize that my activity didn't have to be academic and boring, it could be a cute little 'pretend to be a vet' play sort of thing.  

1. Criminal Law by Givanti Chatapal. Givanti seemed very passionate about her subject. She was very well informed and rarely ever looked at her power point, except to make reference to it for her audience's sake. It help me to see that it would be my best bet to pick something that I'm excited and ready to learn about. Also, her debate activity was really engaging and was extremely relevant to her topic so it felt like that might have gotten us to pay more attention after. So I should try and find an enthralling and blood-pumping activity as well. 

1. Wildlife Rehabilitation by Alyssa Jurkevics. This presentation, or lack there of, was really helpful in showing me what not to do. She didn't show up to her presentation and it is literally the most important aspect of our senior year. Its essentially what our entire senior year leads up to and she flubbed it. I should not do that and I should be prepared and confident in myself to pull through with what I need to do. 

1.  One thing that I learned about senior project in interviews that will help me get off to a good start is choosing a topic that I'm prepared to pursue. A lot of people talked about having to get a new mentor because their previous one was flaky as heck. There was also the complaint of the topic losing its flair and being forced to do and learn about something that you honestly couldn't care less about. There's also the fear of not having adequate information to fulfill research checks as well as not enough information to talk about for half an hour. I should just pick a topic that I'm bursting to learn about, that there is constantly something being learned about regarding the topic, and that I feel secure in committing an entire year of my life living IN this topic. 

1. Veterinary medicine: Ive always loved animals and learning about the care and keeping of them. Ive always personally felt that animals are much better than people, morally and emotionally , and it would be great to so if this is something I would want to do for the rest of my life. 

1. Zoology: The same reasoning as veterinary medicine expect now I get to do it with more exotic animals. Monkeys are pretty amazing. 

1. Architecture: I enjoy learning more hands on and what could be more hands on than building something with your own actual hands. Also, I think that there is more than meets the eye to architecture and I would like to see if thats true. Another thing is that, buildings are pretty cool. Yes, you have your standard four walls and one ceiling but then you have the really beautiful stuff like the Sydney Opera House and St.Basil's Cathedral in Moscow. 

1. Speech and langage pathology: My grandma is a speech and language pathologist, as is my mom, my aunt works at the same business and is contemplating getting the same degree and then, my uncle's past girlfriend was getting a degree in something else but decided to transfer over and become a speech therapist when she met my grandma and mom and went to visit their business for a couple weeks. I would just want to see what all the fuss is about. I also think that people deserve to be able to speak and its pretty cool that people come to you when they think that their child is never going to say a word and BAM!, you get their kid talking. 

1. Im just going to decide to answer this question based off of doing my project on speech and language pathology. Maybe, "What is the most effective plan of action to get a child to their expected level of speech?"

1. Not to sound super unprepared or anything but, honestly , at this exact point in my life. At 1:55 AM on Wednesday the 3rd of June, I have had so much going on lately that I haven't really come up with any plans to find summer mentorship. I have the LA ZOO 30  minutes away, my grandma and mom are speech therapist and my grandma owns her own business, my uncle is an engineer and is working side-by-side architects, daily, at his job, and there is an animal clinic not more than 5 minutes away from my home. Im not entirely in the dark about mentorship, I know where I cold go to find them, but I haven't really come up with a way to pursue these mentors. Im going to though, don't you worry. I have everything under control. 

2. List one thing that you learned about senior project in interviews that will help you get off to a good start. 

3. What topic(s) are you considering, and why?  

4. What E.Q do you think might be interesting to consider in guiding a project like this? 

5. What are some ideas you have about finding summer mentorship?