April--Poetry Month

Here is the poem that I read in front of the class:

A poem is a little path


That leads you through the trees.




It takes you to the cliffs and shores,



To anywhere you please



Follow it and trust your way



With mind and heart as one,



And when the journey's over,



You'll find you've just begun.



- Charles Gbigna



I chose this poem because it is short and sweet and it has a happy connotation. Reciting poems helps us develop a nice tone of voice that keeps people's attention and helps your words stay interesting. I thought it would be very easy for me to get up in front of our small class, but it wasn't as easy for me to get into.

Friday Trip :)

On Friday, April 24, Sam and I went to see her students from Bancroft perform at Haddonfield High School in their show, "Celebrating Our Calender Year". It was adorable and impressive. I underestimated the students' abilities a little at first. The two kids that hosted the show were great, just like the hosts at our talent shows, they told jokes and asked trivia questions, along with getting the audience excited for the next act taking the stage. With a little help from a teacher, they did a wonderful job!

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to meet the students and teacher of the class she visits, but I watched them perform their skit for July, which celebrated the 4th of July and included dancing to the song, "Yankee Doodle Dandy". They were full of energy and hilarious. Watching this performance showed me that children with mental and/or physical disabilities are more capable to do things than I originally thought.

In Class Project Preparation

In Senior Project we have been doing this activity that helps with public speaking. I know that it is scary for many of us to get on stage in front of everyone for forty minutes, including myself. For this activity, someone opens the dictionary to a random page and picks a random word for someone else to talk about for a minute. This helps you develop some of the skills of a good public speaker that is able get up in front of anywhere and talk about anything on the spot. One of the things that I noticed that I need to improve is my habit of saying "um". I need to be able to think on my toes and keep talking so that the audience stays interested.

Yay!

Tomorrow I am going to take a trip with Sam to Bancroft for their play and I am very excited. Technically going there does pertain to physical therapy because many of the students there have disabilities. It should be a very fun and interesting experience.

Vick and Paul Meeting

On Tuesday, Vick and Paul visited us to discuss procedures of our presentation. They handed out a packet that was from a student's presentation and together we picked out the important parts and the details that we that it was missing. When we do our presentation, we must make our own packet to hand out to our evaluators. The evaluators consist of two senior project students, a mentor of one of the students, and a community member. When the student is done presenting, they will sit down with the evaluators for about twenty minutes to get feedback on their presentation. They encouraged us to invite our family, friends, neighbors, etc. to watch us preform and also tissues!

School #4

Yesterday I went to School # 4 like I always do on Wednesdays. I arrived a little earlier than I usually do, so I got to be there for the end of Judy's session with a little boy, Justice. He just had surgery and had a pump put in his stomach, so he wasn't allowed to be on his stomach or side. This limited the activities that could be done with him. She had him laying on his back with objects dangling above him and he reached for them and pushed them. After his time was up, we went over to Jesus. We walked all the way down the hallway with him while he kicked or threw the ball. It seems that he walks better with a little support from Judy rather than using the walker. Then for the last session of the day, we worked with William. Since he was the end of the year testing, Judy brought in a game that he likes playing for all of us to play. Unfortunately, the game wouldn't work, so Judy just had him throwing objects into a basket and then kicking a soccer ball into a goal she set up. After he left, she told me that she probably will discontinue his therapy next year, because he is at the point where he is getting older and he would rather socialize and where he is kind of embarrassed of his therapy. Plus, he has improved a lot over the years and he will always be a little uncoordinated. I would imagine that Judy is upset about this being her last year working with William, because she has been seeing him since he has been in school.

Letter to Ms. Carroll

Dear Mrs. Carroll,

Now that the year is quickly wrapping up, I am excited for the greatest part of the Senior Project, the presentation, to come into play. In class we have discussed ideas with students and Mr. Abrams to come up with a clever project to present. For the last couple of months, I have been visiting Judy Hunter, the physical therapist at school #4. We came up with the idea to create a collection of model devices used for physical therapy patients. I will have a whole group of different technologies and newly discovered devices to show and teach the audience.

By completing this project, I will have learned many new techniques for helping physical therapy patients. I will study and research these products closely so that I will know how they work and how to construct them out of clay. I think my sponsor will be happy to help me with this project. My mentor, Mr. Snyder will also be there to help me along the way and keep me on track. I know this will take plenty of work and commitment and something that I worry about is not having enough time to get it completed on time. The month of May will be very busy for most seniors, with senior trip, college decisions, prom, and this presentation. There is no question that I will get it done, but I know that I must stay focused on it.

Project Brainstorming. . .

Now that I have finished my research and turned it in, which feels like a hugh weight has been lifted from my shoulders, I have to move on to creating the actual product. Mr. Abrams and I brainstormed some ideas for the project yesterday. I like the one idea we talked about, making a diaramma of a bunch of model devices used for physical therapy made out of clay. I like the idea of presenting and being able to hold up and show them a physical object that I created. I dont know what I would actually make, but I have some good ideas. I will have to do major research to find the different devices made for different injuries. I will also talk with my sponsor and get tips from her share ideas. Another good suggestion from Mr. Abrams was to compare the gadets that were used a long time ago to the kinds of technologies that are used now and also make models of them.

Some of the questions I am wondering about are:

* Will the models look professional enough to display for my presentation?

* Would I make models of prostetic limbs or things like braces or both?

* What materials will I need and how much of each?

* Where will I get the information I need in order to do the project?

* How I can be completely prepared for this presentation, so that I will not be extremely nervous in front of the judges?

School #4 Visit

Yesterday, me and Sam visited school 4 and again it was great being with the little kids. When I first got there, Judy was finishing up working with Jesus. She was rolling the ball to him and having him roll it back to her, then it was time for his lunch, so she helped him walk to the table. Then, it was off to her last student of the day, William, who is in the process of the end of the year test. The test is to help Judy determine if he will continue therapy again next year, and if so, how often or how much he will need it. There are several different sections of the test and he was on the second to last one. This section tested balancing. It included standing on one foot with his eyes open then again with his eyes closed, walking in a straight line, and balancing on a small platform. Judy timed him while I recorded the times and points for each activity. The points range from one to four; four being the best and one being the worst depending on the time he lasted. When he finished all of the activities I added up the points and wrote his score on the front of the test where the scores for the other sections are listed and will be added to determine his overall score at the end. After he went back to class, Judy told me how William has improved since last year. Last year he had a lot of trouble with balancing on one foot and he couldn't hold that position for very long at all, but this he could hold it for ten seconds. Next week, when I visit again, he will be finishing the last part of the test. She predicts that this will be the most challenging part for him to do, which has to do with coordination. I am curious to see how he does.