Blog 21: Independent Component 2

Literal

(a) I, Roxana Castaneda, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.

(b) Source:

Mentorship at Footprints Child Care Center with Dr. Elizabeth A. Carr

(c) Log of Hours (Towards the bottom of the spreadsheet)

(d) The thirty hours I did were done at my mentorship at a daycare in West Covina. I went there twice a week for three hours everyday. During those three hours, I would feed the children some snacks after the toddlers' nap time was over, and we would spend most of the day outside after snacks, if the weather was nice. On days it was raining, or too hot, we would be inside and watch a movie, draw some pictures, or play with toys or blocks. 

Interpretive

During those thirty hours, I was able to put my findings from my research into action. I could put the tips I read about controlling the behavior of a child into action and I gained a lot of patience in the process. Working with children is tough, especially since they're so energetic and a bit unpredictable  so it was good to have some information stored in the back of my mind from research to adapt to different kinds of situations with the children. 

Evidence:

• Summaries of what I did everyday
• Photos from the daycare
• More photos

Applied

The experience gained from going to my mentorship twice a week has been very valuable. Not only did it help provide more evidence for all three of my answers, but it left me with very sweet memories of the children there. For my first answer of using communication techniques to get closer to a child, it helped provide a place in which to practice those techniques. For my second and third answers of having a proper child-to-staff ratio and following sanitary regulations, I was able to see those things in action. Seeing the daycare with one teacher for every eight children and washing their hands before handling food and after changing diapers, it was great to see how my answers were reinforced in that setting. 

Playtime

Toddler Time

Blog 15: Independent Component 2 Approval

(1) Write a description of what you plan on doing for your independent study component.

I plan on doing more service learning at my mentorship in West Covina. 

(2) Describe in detail how you think your plan will meet the 30 hours work requirement.

I already go there two times a week for 3 hours everyday, making it a total of 6 hours a week. I can easily get 30 hours done in 5 weeks if I continue following this plan.

(3) How does your independent study component relate to your working EQ?  

I think doing hands-on learning at my mentorship is the best way to help build my second and third answers. Volunteering at an actual daycare can give me first-hand experience at the do's and don't's of daycare.

Blog 14: Independent Component 1

Literal

(a) I, Roxana Castaneda, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.

(b) Dr. Elizabeth Carr

Footprints Child Care Center

(626) 917-0959

(c) Log of Hours (IC hours are at the bottom)

(d) I went to my mentorship for 6 hours every week. I looked after the children that went their by either making their snacks, playing with them, looking after them on the playground, or doing some arts and crafts with them.

Interpretive

Here are some blog posts I made about some of the things we did at the FCCC:

Art

Playtime

I also wrote a summary of what I did everyday on my IC log.

Applied

Going to a place and actually putting your research into practice can help you learn even more than with just your research. It's like doing an experiment, you can't just do a little bit of research and call it a day, you should go out and put your theories into practice and test it out. So going to my mentorship helped me broaden my knowledge of how kids act around adults and around other children, and how they respond to new people being introduced into their world. I've learned that some children can be very shy and won't even try to approach me because they're not really very trusting of you yet, but once they warm up to you, it's a really great feeling.

Art time!

Some artwork on the wall.

Talking instead of drawing!

Hard at work.

From the FCCC

Blog 10: Senior Project Update

(1) What are you currently doing in your independent component? 

I have found the CPR/First AID class I want to take, it costs a bit of money, but I think it'll be fun. The class is on Saturdays, so I'll probably go and do it in a few weeks. I've contacted the people for the  BASIC program, but they haven't really gotten back to me, so I plan on calling them soon.

(2) What is a recent piece of research that have you reviewed you would say was significant in helping you understand where to go next in your senior project? 

I think the teachers at the Day care I volunteer at are a great help in giving insight on these to research. Basically, my experience during my volunteer hours are research to me, and if I ever need to go into depth with something, I go online and search it. For example, a while ago we were having a lot of trouble with the kids not listening to us and going off doing their own thing - we still sometimes have this problem - so I went online and looked for ways to help them calm down and listen to the teachers - and it did help a bit.

(3) Provide evidence from your independent component or the piece of research as something you recently did.  

I have some photos from my volunteer service, but not from my actual independent component. A good piece of research concerning how to deal with problematic children from article 32 on my WB. It said that the best way to deal with misbehaving children is to either ignore their bad behavior, because if you don't pay attention to it, then they will eventually stop. Another way is to use a time-out method. This method shows them that what they are doing is unacceptable and will not be allowed. But you must always warn them before, and if they don't stop, then you proceed to put them in time-out in a uninteresting place that will not distract the child.

Blog 7: Independent Component 1 Plan Approval

(1) Write a description of what you plan on doing for your independent study component.

I plan on taking a CPR and First AID class for infants and children, which will only take about 6 of the 30 hours. So for the other 24 hours, I plan to contact my local community center who currently has a "Parent and Me Fun Time" program and ask them if it would be possible for me to sit in and watch, or if I could volunteer there by doing any odd jobs. I also want to contact an after school program called BASIC, that watches over children before and after school.

(2) Describe in detail how you think your plan will meet the 30 hours work requirement.

Well, the CPR and First AID class will take about 6 hours. For the Parent and Me class, they have a session   from December to January, and they meet every Friday for about an hour everyday. So that would be about 4 hours. The BASIC program has a session in December and another in January, each a week long. Both sessions are also during Winter Break, so if I volunteer all days from 6 am to 6 pm, I will get 12 hours in one day, but that could easily be split up into days of 4-6 hours, and I will get the other 20 hours in about 5 days.

(3) How does your independent study component relate to your working EQ?  

It relates to my working EQ because it will help me see different environments in which children grow up in, and how those environments affect them. It'll show me how different people react to a child's behavior and how to reprimand them or encourage them correctly.