Blog 11: Lesson 1 Reflection

1. What are you most proud of in your lesson, and why?I'm proud of how the lesson went in general. I felt I was able to present my information about my topic in an entertaining manner for the audience and I felt that it was engaging to the audience for most of the time. I felt my research did show throughout my presentation and that that was well communicated.
 
2. What assessment would you give yourself on your lesson? Explain why you earned that grade using evidence from the component contract.
I feel I would deserve an P on my lesson, I feel I met all of the requirements needed to earn an P and that I could have done better but I did the best I could.


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?
Looking back I think I could have used my prop more (my holster) and I feel that I should have given a better explanation as to why I chose to mention the source that I did. Other than that I feel that the I have very little I would change about my presentation. By knowing all that I would use that for my lesson 2 by going more into depth on sources that I have and why I chose them.

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...)

Doing mentorship with my mentor consists of ride alongs which can last from eight to ten hours. (Technically you can have different officers depending on the time you go on the ride along meaning I will not only have one mentor.)

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

I found this mentor through mutual friends and was able to contact them through that. I convinced them to be my mentor by asking nicely if they would be willing to be my mentor. Other mentors I currently have I met because of my families various connections to law enforcement.

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?

My mentor and I are fairly new to each other and it is a bit uncomfortable but still comfortable at the same time. This does not really relate to time spent with them because during ride alongs there is very little talking.

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?

The interview went well from my point of view. I felt that the answers that were given were very precise and honest. I felt that it was a little rushed because at the time of the interview we had a very little time to talk because of scheduling differences. To change that I will try to do it at a time when we both have more time to talk.

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. I have to schedule my interview with him however I am planning on calling him soon to see when he would be free to do the interview.

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 investigative part of police work has been really fascinating from what I have researched. I read the Californian guidelines on how to investigate a sexual assault crime and how to preserve and collect evidence and it was just interesting to read.
Another part that I've found interesting is the history of certain police departments like LAPD. Also things like what has happened to certain officers, I am planning very soon to read a book called The Red Dot Club, which is about officers that have been shot and their stories.

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?
I'm planning to keep looking at both the history and investigative part of police work to help decide which of the two parts of the subject I would like to further look into. 

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.
How has the history of policing shaped the way it is now?
Or
Why is investigating crimes important in police work?

 

 

 

Blog 8: Independent Component 1 Proposal

 

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

I plan to work on constructing an investigation from the mock trial from the information given to me. I planned on writing reports on the crimes the mock trial was based on (The trial of the Big Bad Wolf). I planned on staging a crime scene from the information in the packet we received. I also planned on going over the report from the mock trail and the one that I will write. I plan on making the evidence rather than buying it as well.

 

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

I plan on taking as many pictures as possible. I will log in hours and log any research I do for the component. I plan on making the evidence and detailing how long it took me to do so in my log. I will be relying solely on pictures logs I make for the evidence I did the project.

 

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

This component will be looking into the investigative side of law enforcement. It looks at the process of the an investigation, how it must be documented and how reports must be written. It also looks at how much detail I can go into when constructing this investigation.

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 Deputy Daley, he currently works at the Walnut Sheriff Station.

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

1. How long have you been in law enforcement and have you worked in different departments?
2. Has the work environment changed from when you first started?
3. How has the job changed since you first started?
4. What has the experience been like in general?
5. Where did you train and for how long?
   

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?  

So far nothing about Senior Project has been extremely positive or negative. Most of it so far is going through the motions trying to see what does and does not work for me when it comes to the work for the 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?

At the current moment nothing is extremely difficult. I have most of how I am going to do my hours figured out, like how I will have to do them on the weekends because the only time I can meet with my mentor is during the morning from about 6am - 2pm which when my mentor is on shift at the Sheriff's station in Walnut. At this point in time I do not think the senior team can help with this particular situation since it is not a large concern of mine.

Blog 5 - Interview 1 Reflection

1. What is the most important thing I learned from the interview?  Is there anything I would do differently for other interviews?  
I learned that having a setting where the interviewee is comfortable is a definite thing to make sure of. The more comfortable the person you are interviewing is the more likely they will be able to better answer your questions. I found that both interviews went well and I got a lot of useful information from both of the people I interviewed. 

2. Did I get additional resources and contacts?  What is the most useful?  Why?
One of the people I interviewed suggested a few movies and books to look into like The Red Dot Club for instance. He also suggested looking at books and sources that are written by actual police officers rather than people that have never been a police officer. 


3. What makes my interviewee qualified to help me? 
Both of my interviewees were officers. One from LADOT (Los Angeles Department of Transportation) which are the police officers that are known to direct traffic and have been referred to as "Meter Maids". The other interviewee has been a LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department) officer for about 29 years and has worked in many divisions in LAPD.

Blog 4: House Advisory Prep

What I am hoping to accomplish through my senior project is learning what it's like to work for certain departments of Law Enforcement and how it may differ for certain cities or even for certain states. I am also hoping to find out what the actual job is like rather than the romanticized version of law enforcement that usually portrayed in movies and television (in shows such as Blue Bloods for example). I am hoping to have a better understanding of how law enforcement works and if it is something I want to go into after college and if so what branch of law enforcement.

Blog 3 - First Interview Preparation

1.  Who do you plan to interview?  Why?
I plan to interview a police officer from the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) that is a friend of the family. I plan to interview him because I'm curious about what its like to work at his department and what its like for him to be a police officer that works in Los Angeles.

2. Five questions will be assigned to all seniors to ask.  What additional questions do you plan to ask? 

1. What caused you to want to be a police officer?
2. Where did you do your training for the job?
3. What has the experience been like so far?
4. Do you have a favorite moment or thing about the job? If so what is it?
5. Is there a physical toll on your body from this job?  If so what?
6. Have you had any surgery for injuries that you've gotten from this job? Is so then how many?

Blog 2 - Summer Mentorship

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

Jennifer Gump, (626) 203 - 9414, The South Hills Church of Christ.

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

I considered changing my topic to have something to do with working with children. Mrs. Gump was the organizer for a VBS event taking place at the South Hills Church of Christ. Mrs. Gump has worked with the children in at the church for about 17 years and has always been involved with planning and carrying out events for the children. 

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

1.  How can literature be revised to be more understandable for a certain age group?
2.  How do you keep children entertained in today's society when they are so use to having technology to entertain them? 
3.  How do you plan an event to teach and entertain children at the same time?

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

I learned about planning an event and making sure that the children understood what they were learning and how to revise material to help it be more accessible to the children so that the information did not go over their heads. I also learned planning such an event can be very stressful if people are constantly panicking about everything being done on time and it can drive people crazy.

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

I am still not quite sure what I want my project to be at this moment in time. I am still considering doing something with children like working with the church. However I am still also considering doing my project on police work, in fact I am leaning more towards police work because I have more resources when it comes to this topic in particular. I have ruled out the possible topic for the military because I feel that I would not have as many resources as I would for the police work topic.

Blog 1 – Senior Final Lesson/Interview Reflection

1.  What three lessons were most helpful for you to see, and why?
The three lessons that were most helpful for me to see were Independent Film Making,  Preschool Special Education, and Make-Up Artistry. Here is my reason for each. In Independent Film Making the presenter was excited and new a lot about their topic and had a lot of resource and was just in general excited about their topic. That also goes for Preschool Special Education, the presenter not only loved the topic but genuinely wanted to teach about why the topic was important to them and why it should be important to others. Finally for Make-Up Artistry the presenter had her ups and downs however you could tell she was interested in the topic. The three lessons all had a interest in their topic and were all well versed in the topic to where they could speak about it with confidence. That shows me that when I do my Senior Project to be interested in my topic, to where I can have the same excitement that those presenters had when they presented their topic.

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

One thing that I learned about the senior project in the interviews is that getting an early start on what I want to go for my senior project and starting to slowly start working on it over the summer can help lessen the stress of the senior project as well as be better prepared for it.

 

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

At the moment I am considering two topics which are: Police work and Military work.

 

4. What EQ do you think might be interesting to consider in guiding a project like this?(Please don't worry about any sort of formula...we want this question to come from your genuine interest).

Why is police work so important in today's society?

What is the best way one can prepare yourself for basic military training?

 

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

Some mentorship for police work my father knows one of the deputies at the sheriff station in Walnut. I have actually already gone on a ride along to see what it would be like to mentorship at the sheriff station.

For military work I was planning on helping the Military Explorers Headquarters to start up and help with certain things with training and organizing.