Senior Project Reflection

1. What I am most proud of about my senior project is that I now have much information and better idea of what I will be getting myself into once I start my career as a psychologist.

2a. I personally think I deserve a CR, because after looking at my presentation after I was done I saw that I could have had more sources throughout my presentation and talked more about the research that I have done. I also should have talked more for each of my answers.

2b. On my overall senior project I would give myself at least a P, because I completed and turned in all the interviews, blogs, research counts, etc. on time so I have nothing missing even though a lot of times I had to force more time into my day because I was so busy to be able to complete everything that was required.

3. What worked for me in my senior project were my independent components, which were Peer Mediation. This worked for me because it was almost directly related to how a psychologist has to be with their patients, and I really like that I was able to do this because it was during school so I  didn't have to cram more work outside of school into my already busy schedule.

4. I don't think the Towers really helped much, if at all, because we already had our articles/research in our WB so we could always refer back to that if we needed to, and honestly, I think it was a waste of paper/ink.

5. Like I said, I now have much more information about what type of work a psychologist does, and thanks to my 3rd and 4th interview, Mrs. Tocco, she gave me an insight to the type of work I'll be doing once I become a psychologist based on her experiences and from what she has told me.

Revised 2 Hr Presentation

Revised 2 hr Lesson Plan

2-Hr Presentation

2 Hr Lesson Plan

Service Learning

Log of Hours

       Throughout service learning, I worked along side with Jo with Mrs. Ortega as our supervisor, and in the beginning of service learning our focus was to create lesson plans and presentations so that we can go present them to Golden Springs Elementary School. The first lesson we created was on bullying (I couldn't pout the power point on here, so if you want to see it just tell me and I'll show you); we chose this as a topic to present to the students because not only were they having trouble with this issue at the time, but because it also ties in with psychology. Bullying is something that is common for a psychologist to be approached for among children, as well as teenagers, and for a psychologist to be successful then they need to be able to know how to approach these cases. In the Bullying presentation we let the students tell us what they though was considered as bullying, then we gave them examples of what is considered bullying, we showed them the differences in bullying between boys and girls, and we gave them suggestions on what to do if they were being bullied. We also handed out some bullying pamphlets I created that has links about bullying so if they ever want to learn more.

        As a follow-up lesson we chose to do the lesson on Conflict. For this lesson we didn't have a power point, we explained to them what types of approaches to conflict there were, and we handed them a worksheet with the explanations so they can have them as well and on the back we gave them a sheet where they can see for themselves what they tend to do when confronted with a conflict :

                                       

We also read to them a few scenarios of conflicts and the students say which type of conflict they thought was used. A few examples of some types up scenarios we read:

After we finished presenting to all the fifth grade classes, we put our focus to coming up with a video that showed an introduction to conflict. We came up with the whole script ourselves:   (click here for script) the video is still being edited, but will most likely be put online once it's done.

             The most important thing I gained from my service learning is that, while we were presenting to the students at Golden Springs Elementary, it gave me the opportunity to observe how children in particular react when meeting someone new that is put in place of their teacher. For example, we went in and stated teaching and presenting to them, something which normally their own teacher would do, I got to see how each child reacted to us being their and how their reaction matched their personality. For a psychologist, it's important to see what kind of personality a person has immediately because then they can change their approach to them, and the initial approach to a patient is excruciatingly important because this helps establish a sense of trust and comfort-ability between psychologist and patient. Having a successful initial approach helps bring a more successful recovery for the patient, which in turn implies that the psychologist was successful as well. 

            During a few of the conflict presentations, a couple of the students asked for advice on what is best for them to do to resolve a conflict, and by using the information that I've learned while creating the lesson both me and Jo were able to answer them. 

 

Room Creativity

Activity for Answer 2:
Ink Blot:
For this activity I plan to show pictures of ink blots like those used in psychology sessions, I'll show them on the projector and I'll have the groups come up with what they think the picture is, and based on that they'll come up with which part of the brain came up with that emotion. For example, if someone saw a picture of a monster, monsters are associated with fear, and fear is associated with the Amygdala part of the brain. We'll all talk as a group about what and why they think they saw what they did.

Room:
Because I'm going to talk about the brain, I'll have pictures of brains and the specific parts that I'll talk about around the room. Other than that I'm going to 'Try' to make the room as calm looking as possible because it's very important to have a calm environment while in therapy.

Independent Component 2

Independent Comp. 2 Calendar

I Griselda Solis affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work. Throughout 2nd semester, I have been going to my elective which is Peer Mediation, and we have been working on mediation; mediations are what we do whenever two people are having some type of conflict but can't resolve it themselves. What we as mediators do is have both people tell their part of the story and throughout the mediation attempt to come up with an agreement that both parties will be happy with. This relates to my senior project because these mediations are very similar to what a psychologist does, they try to help their patients with their problems and just with a psychologist, whoever we mediate and whatever is said during the mediation is completely confidential. And in psychology confidentiality is a very important factor because if confidentiality is broken then that psychologist will lose their license.
During Peer Mediation we have simulations of mediations, so we get into groups and we 'mediate' each other with made up scenarios, this gives us practice for whenever we would have an actual mediation.
Aside from my elective, I also have been taking notes on books or movies that have to deal with psychology, for example one book I have read is called Why Gender Matters by Leonard Sax. This book was really helpful for me because it explained how females and males are different in every aspect, like in the brain, how we hear things, see things, etc. and this is something that is very important to know for anyone that wishes to be a psychologist because this better helps them treat their patients; which also helps them become more successful.

BOOK: Girls Against Girls (Notes)

BOOK: Why Gender Matters (A few notes)

Our personal overview of Peer Mediation:

Helping 2013

I interviewed Edwin Rubio on April 25, at 12:40 pm.

First "tip" or suggestion I gave was when doing his interviews next year try to get them all recorded, first ask the  interviewee if it's ok with them, then record it.

1. What ideas do you have for your senior project and why?
- Edwin: I have ideas to get my computer, like computer projects.
   ME: What types of computer projects?
   Edwin: Like Binary and inside software

Feedback:
  Ok, when working with computers, try to find something specific; so don't just say 'computers.' If you know a specific type of software then you can work from that. This also helps when you're writing out your EQ

2. What do you plan to do to complete the 10 hours of service learning which is due prior to senior year starting?
-  Edwin: I have a friend that works with computers and he fixes computers and he said he was going to help me do it, so I'm going to work with him.
   ME: When do you plan on starting?
    Edwin: I already asked him and he said that whenever I can I''l just give him a call.
   
Feedback:
 Oh ok that's great, just try to start as soon as possible, so as soon as you can. And if it's possible with whoever works there and with your friend, try to make sure, or to establish if it's ok for you to do your service learning there for the additional 50 hours. And it's great that you already have a place where you can start, because that is something that some people have trouble finding, or they'll think they have a place where they can do their 50 hours but after a while it's not what they needed or it doesn't help them, so they need to keep looking and sometimes it's really hard to find someone that will agree. And if you let a lot of time pass without working on your hours, then it will be really hard to catch up on your hours.

3. What do you hope to see or to expect to see when watching the class of 2012 present their two hour presentations?
- Edwin: Umm, I just want to see something about computers or robotics.
   ME: What about presenting wise? Like ideas you might see during the presentation that you think you can use.
   Edwin: Umm, activities and things like that to interact with them and show what I'm doing and not just give like a two hour talk

Feedback:
It's a good idea to look for things like that and for an activity especially for the two hour. Throughout the year we have a 5 minute presentation, we have a 20 minute, and then the 2 hour, plus other presentations in between' and for me it's been kind of hard to find an activity because I'm doing psychology and it's hard finding a good activity with that. So try write down anything that you think can work with or help you with your presentation.

4. What questions do you have about senior project?
-  Edwin: One thing I was thinking about, and you kind of already answered it, was do I have to keep talking to the people for the whole two hours or can I do activities and other things?
   ME: Oh no, you don't have to be talking for the whole two hours, for the two hour presentation you have to make 30 minutes of talk time, if you don't make the 30 minutes talk time then you'll have to re-do your presentation and you run the risk of not walking at graduation. The rest of the time can be taken up with your activities. There's also a talk time expectation for you 20 minute presentation.
    Me: Do you have any other questions about the projects we have, or anything else?
    Edwin: Well I just had a question about the projects that are already in there like to see if there was someone else doing something like what I wanted to get an idea.
     ME: In our class?
     Edwin: Yeah                                Feedback Also
     ME: Hmm, I can't think of someone right now, but actually if you give me your email, and if I do find someone that has something similar to yours then I'll email it to you and if I find any information that I think can help you then I'll send it to you. And also another thing, any research that you do, or if your doing research on it right now, keep it and save the link because that research can help you with your research checks that we have. So you're going to be doing weekly research on you topic, and any information that you're getting now, can help you with the number of required articles that you have to have.

Answer 3

EQ: What is most important to become a successful licensed psychologist?

3rd Answer: Employing more psychologist in a private owned business. By having more colleagues in a business they can help each other whenever a problem appears.


1. If a psychologist hasn't dealt with a certain kind of case and is having trouble with a patient, they can ask another psychologist that has had a case like it for advice on how to proceed.

2. More psychologists means more patients can be treated, which means there's a greater chance of economic success.

3. If one psychologist has to leave for whatever reason, or takes a vacation, there will be others to continue working instead of putting everything on hold.


Source: Psychologytoday.com - Walking the teamwork tightrope

Answer 2

• EQ: What is most important to be a successful licensed psychologist?
• Answer 2: Another important factor that will help a person become a successful psychologist is understanding how the human brain works when referring to human emotions. By understanding more about how the brain processes information, a psychologist may be able to better help a patient by providing treatment that will work more effectively with each individual. Also, knowing information about the brain may benefit a psychologist by understanding how each portion of the brain deals with different forms of emotion; such as fear, or depression, etc. 
• Evidence:
• The article, The Brain, Feelings, and Health  from the Library of Congress states studies that have been looking into the brain and seeing which portions are involved with different forms of emotion, such as fear. "Joseph LeDoux of New York University described his studies that have elucidated the role of the amygdala in the fear response." 

• If a psychologist knows exactly what type of emotion the patient needs work with, fear for example, then the right treatment can be given. For example if a patient has a fear for snakes, a treatment called Systematic Desensitization can be given. With this treatment, the patient will start off by talking about snakes, then looking at pictures, playing with toy snakes, and finally handling a live snake.   - From the article "The Psychology of Fear: Understanding the Dynamics of Fear Response"

• Another function of the brain is to store and retrieve information, and because many patients subconsciously choose to 'forget' certain parts of information such as certain details from a traumatic event; a psychologist can attempt to figure out what was the reason that caused the patient to force information to their short-term memory, therefore forgetting it. By knowing that the short-term and long-term memory have different functions then the psychologist may attempt to bring the information from the short-term memory (STM), to the long-term memory (LTM) throughout many sessions so that the patient can remember more about the event.  - Article on STM and LTM- "Remember This: Memory and the Brain" 

The Product

As of March, my product is that I am now able to help people solve their problems in a more effective manner. For example, during my independent component, peer mediation, learned how to properly identify what a person’s Needs are, by Needs I mean whether Safety, Understanding, Sustenance, etc. and by identifying what Need a person might need, this helps to move closer to a solution to their problem. From the research I have done, I have learned how to read people’s expressions even more; for example, if someone is having a horrible day and is really distracted but they don’t physically show how they are feeling, just by listening to their tone when they talk, or noticing certain gestures that they might not even notice they are doing, most of the time I can tell what type of problem that person is having. If that person or people would want my help, then I can now give them better advice as to how they should approach certain conflicts.

Fourth Interview Questions

1. How much of the human brain do you think a psychologist should know about?

2. In your opinion, what are a few things a person should do when starting a career in psychology? 

3.In your experience, does a person's Intelligence Type (ex. Spatial, Linguistic, Musical, Logical-Mathematical, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Naturalist) reflect on the type of problem he/she is facing? Why or why not?

4. When can a psychologist say that a patient has fully recovered, or improved, from the situation they were in?

5. Have you ever had patients in the middle of your sessions would quit? Or just not agree to go on? 

6. What type of therapy do you think is best to use with a child who feels as if it's their responsibility to care for their younger siblings, and keeps to him/her self?

7. How beneficial would it be to know about how the brain works, and how a person retrieves information?

8. If a psychologist is not able to connect with a patient, what can a psychologist do in order to gain it? Or does the patient get another psychologist?

9. When someone barely becomes a psychologist, is there someone to look over them and make sure they do everything they can to help the patient?

10. When a patient has their first session, what are their reactions? How do they act?

11. How different do you think it is when working with children, teens, or adults?

12. Over the years, do you think there have been more, or fewer amounts of people in need of your help?

13. What would be an example of a mistake a psychologist can do that may cause their license to be taken away?

14. If a person can't concentrate properly during a therapy session, what can the psychologist do to help them?

15. When is it necessary to involve friends or family in a person's sessions?

16. About how many clients do you have per week? 

17. How can a psychologist gain more clients?

18. What other possible jobs can a person get with the skills they gain when becoming a psychologist?

19. What difficulties have you faced throughout your career? 

20. Can you think of any articles or books that may be able to help me understand more about psychology? 

Independent Component 2 Plan Approval

1. For my independent component, I plan on continuing with my elective, which is Peer Mediation. Also, anytime I read a book or watch a movie that has to do with psychology I take notes on it.
2. This plan should meet the 30 hours of work requirement because we have elective twice a week and for at least one hour. It also met the requirement for last semester, also any activities that we may have during peer mediation outside of elective time will help me meet this requirement. And since I'll also be taking separate notes outside of the regular research checks this should help me as well.
3. This relates to my EQ because by learning more and more about how to help people manage or fix their problems, this helps make any psychologist more successful and it makes their patients believe in their psychologist so that way they can come back whenever they need to.

Independent Component 1

I Griselda, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.
During the time in which I am in Peer Mediation, I have learned how to deal with and approach the different types of human emotion in a safe and non-violent manner. I also learned how to deal with either one person, or with a group of people that are having a problem and help them resolve that problem in a way so that all members in the group are satisfied with the outcome. For example these are a few of the techniques that are used to help solve a problem:

Each day we learn different ways that we can help other people either by resolving a conflict or by doing simulations. This helps me with my senior project because it helps me understand more and better ways of being able to helping and treat patients in the future. I can also always refer back to the worksheets that I get whenever I may be confused about something.

My grade in Peer Mediation:

Calendars with log of hours: 

Independent Comp. Calendar 2011

Independent Comp. Calendar 2012

Presentation 2 Rough Draft

Rough Draft

Answer 1

   One way to be successful licensed psychologist to have a lot of patience with your patients, because of the fact that a lot of people have trouble expressing what they are feeling especially when it's with someone they are not familiar with. Not only that, but because if a psychologist does not have patience or shows any sign that they are getting impatient, then the their patient will get uncomfortable, therefore causing them not to trust that particular psychologist and will most likely leave that psychologist and go to another psychologist, so this can also be a matter of economic success or failure.
According to Allaboutpsychology.net, "Patience and care are not optional. Those who desire to fully pursue psychology careers will need to call on patience on a daily basis."   With this, a psychologist can be able to help a person find a healthy balance between their emotions.

Service Learning

Starting on Tuesday, the 17th, I will be going to Golden Springs Elementary School to present to the 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. The principle of the school is Alan Pantanini. The number for the schools' main office is:

 (909) 397- 4596 

So far I have been working with Mrs. Ortega in the preparation process and we have been meeting at least twice a week and coming up with ideas for lessons for the days that we will present to the elementary.

So far we have been preparing a presentation, starting with Bullying, which explains what a child should do if he/she is being bullied, the effects of someone being bullied, etc. and along with that presentation we have filmed students that are talking about their personal experiences or struggles with bullying from the past and made a video for that presentation. We have also been coming up with follow-up lessons, for example our next lesson will be on Conflicts and what different types of conflicts there are, which also ties in with Bullying.

I have worked 19.5 hours so far

ESLR's

1. I'm focusing on the Effective Communicator and Effective Citizen.

2.  For Effective Communicator, I will be presenting more than once to elementary students as part of my service learning, and will be so far I have done one practice presentation during my elective to Peer Mediation. For Effective Citizen I will have to know how to talk to the elementary students and know the proper way to get their attention.

3. This will help me by giving me more practice in presenting before the final 2 hour presentations come. Also it will give me better communication skills for when I have a job and will be able to establish a good working environment.  

Third Interview Questions

1. What is most important to be a successful licensed psychologist?
2. What do you consider to be a successful psychologist?
3. What characteristics in a psychologist are necessary in order to connect with patients?
4. When, if ever, is it necessary to consult with other psychologists about a patient?
5. Can patients contact you 24/7? Or do you set a time limit in order to be contacted?
6. What additional courses would be beneficial to take when becoming a psychologist?
7. What physical cues do patients give that lets you know there's something untrue about what they said? Or that lets you know there's a bigger problem than what is presented?
8. Is it better to have your own private business? Or to work with other psychologists?  Why?
9. What range of income is considered to be a success?
10. Does your work consume all of your time? Or are you still able to maintain a social life?
11. Is there anything you dislike about your career? Why or why not?