Monthly Post

Well this month was a busy one for the kids at my mentorship because of the big show that was supposed to happen on December 20th but because of all the things that have to get done in the month school wise it was pushed back to January the 10th! Which means more time to rehearse but also much more stress for the teachers who now have prepare for another week of "hell". We call it hell week because of the back to back dress rehearsals the kids will have and all day rehearsal so yes that means starting from about 10 am to 6 pm with breaks to do school work in between. I won't be able to attend all rehearsal of course, but i get to help the younger kids back stage and watch over them during the show madness! That's going to be my main responsibility and I'm very excited to see all the kids so proud and excited during the show, I'll post the dates and times when I know them, right now they're up in the air. But mentorship has been going very well so far.

Monthly Post

At my mentorship the students perform twice a year and the Christmas show is coming up! So the rehearsals have become more frequent and more rigorous. I used to participate in these because I went to this school, obviously, so its very exciting watching them progress everyday! So far they have learned all the songs for the show, but next comes dividing up the solos(parts of songs sung by one individual). What's the most exciting is I get to help decide who gets what solo. This deliberation won't take place for about another two weeks, but it will be a difficult process. I think this helps a child; showing them that they won't get everything they want whether it's a solo in a song or a job when you're older, but that life will go on, and it is not the end of the world. It's not the best part obviously, but its a process! The best part will be watching them succeed on stage, which will be different for me because I'm not usually backstage, but its a nice change. Can't wait till then. I'll post the show dates, times, and prices if anyone wants to attend!

Blog 9: EQ

1.   I reviewed the rule of three for writing an EQ.

2.
 a.  What is the most important factor in healthy weight loss?
Yes, it has a framework and can have a lot of research to different ways it can be done. You could argue a point either way, and the wording makes sense.
 b.  What is most important to securing a conviction in a criminal investigation?
Yes, the answer can be answered in different categories
 c.  What is most important in creating a hairstyle that best satisfies a customer?
No, because this doesn't take a stance, and you can't argue a point of personal opinion to each person.
 d.  How can an Anesthesiologist best treat chronic pain?
No, because it doesn't follow the second rule. It simply calls for a short brief answer, and could only be answered in the same type of way each time. Also the wording may be wrong, I associate Anesthesiologists with a different area of expertise.

3. How can music instruction help increase a child's personal potential into adulthood?

Monthly Post

The book NurtureShock by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman helped me a lot in my research because it gave techniques and thinks that parents and teachers should use with their kids. It also gave experiments that showed proof of what they did and how effective it was in helping a child learn at a more appropriate speed for them, and with the most advantages to them. It was all together just a good read; I would recommend i to anyone even if you don't have kids or teach, its a cool insight to a child's mind.

Blog 8: Research and Working EQ

1. My working EQ is how can music instruction best be used to increase personal potential into adulthood?

2. Teachers who use positive reinforcement, but always making the children feel like they can do better will have the best outcome not only in their classes but also in the child's future. 

3. The best source for my working EQ answer has been watching the children myself but also from the book "Your Child's Strengths: Discover Them, Develop Them, Use Them" by Jenifer M. Fox. She talks about the reverse power of praise, what works and what doesn't when praising a child when their good at something.

4. I'm working with young kids from age 5 to 14 and this helps me answer my EQ by seeing them flourish in their singing classes, in their personal encounters, and how they feel about themselves as they become better or have difficulties with solo and choir songs. 

Blog 7: independent Component 1 Approval

1. For my thirty hours I plan to work under my mentor. I am going to help with choir and solo voice classes just like in  my mentorship, but also work with children in dance classes to see how that helps to boost children's self esteem and how they thrive in academics. The facility I'm working with has an upcoming show so I will be helping with rehearsals and back stage during the chaos of a theater production. 

2. I will show evidence by having videos, pictures, and explanations of the what I did in these classes. Also I will show how rehearsals go when working with children and how the big production in the audience turns out. I will also try to interview the children and see what they feel with the pressure of performing and how classes equip them. 

3. This will help me explore my topic in more depth by showing how the solo voice and choir classes the children take are applied in performance situations. This will also give me a look into how kids feel when performing and if this helps with their confidence and ability to express themselves, since my EQ goes into the psychological and educational aspect of the arts. 

Monthly Post

In my mentorship I work with kids, last week I watched and assisted a Choir one class with children who were five through eight. Before they started singing the normal warm up songs, Mr. Billy (the teacher) had them sing songs off a chart with sounds so they can properly pronounce things.
He had one volunteer read the sound, one read the title, one read the song lyrics, and then they all sang the song together when i turned on the music. This was very encouraging for the kids because they felt as though they had taught and led the class with the song.
For example a sound would be "ake" a student might say "ace" and they would be corrected then another student would say the sound correctly and the class would repeat, and even though some got it wrong they got a chance to correct themselves afterwards.
It was nice working with the kids and seeing how happy they were to be able to sing the song correctly because they first learned the sounds. Though all the kids did not want to participate at the beginning by the end of the year all of the students will have mastered these sounds and songs, and will happily repeat them.

Blog 6: Second Interview

My mentor is Mr. Billy Rugh and he works at Creative Planet School of the Arts (CPSOA) .

1. How extensive is your experience working with children in voice classes?

2. What are some differences between working with children and working with adults?

3. For what reasons did you decide to create the school CPSOA?
4. How do you keep yourself up to date with the musical world in order to teach properly?

5. What experience do you personally have in choir and/or solo voice?

Blog 5: Project Reflection and Working EQ

The Pentagon:

1. A positive outcome from what I have done so far for my senior project is the closer relationship I have made with my mentor, like how open he was speaking to me and helping me get many more people to talk to and experiences I wouldn't have even thought about being beneficial for my project (like going to choir rehearsals and recording studios). Also the things I have learned from my research, some things I knew before but others have enlightened me, such as how many damaging techniques there are and how easy it is to fall into them. 

2. My interview helped me realize how important the arts, singing specifically, are in a persons life and how uplifting it can be, the research also backed this up by saying how important choir and working in groups is for young children to build up confidence, the ability to open to different people, and to speak publicly comfortably.

3. My mentorship has really worked well for me in the senior project, I feel like I have a solid mentor who is capable of helping me out a lot with this whole project; he also understands it's school related, and because he is a principal, he is taking my questions and my need for help very seriously which I am so thankful for.

4. The research has worked but it's been one of the harder things for me, because finding credible sources and good information has been hard, but hopefully I will get better.

5. The potential questions I want to study is, Is singing important for a child's development and does it work into adulthood? 

For my mentorship I am going to attend choir and solo voice classes at Creative Planet School of the Arts and in the end if my mentor thinks I have learned enough he plans on letting me teach a class possibly.

Mentorship

Boomwhackers
Over the summer I worked with a few different groups of students but this was the oldest group of students(about 12-14) I had the pleasure of taking choir classes with and helping. This is a short video of an activity we had to do with the boomwhackers, its the song "That's What Makes You Beautiful" and we had about ten minutes to practice before this.
The students at Creative Planet, where I mentored, are very talented in singing, dancing, acting, and drawing and they can really take anything you throw at them, even making music. This is a small part of what I did over the summer; it is just a fun part of the choir class I participated in.

Blog 4: Interview Preparation

1. I plan on interviewing my mentor Billy Rugh (Mr. Billy)  because he has been teaching voice for almost a decade, and he has also been a part of a choir so he has experience as both a vocalist and a vocal teacher. He's actually taught me since I was in second grade so I know him personally. 

(Mr.Billy is on the left)

2. 

• Voice is a difficult class to teach, how do you manage all the different voices you are given?
• What is the most important part of a vocal class?
• In coaching a singer or class (good or bad) what is important to emphasis in a lesson?
• Does experience being in both the teacher and student roles help you teach a class?

Blog 3: Topic Choice and Semester 1 ESLR Goals

1. My topic is singing.

2. In each component of the ESLRs I want to grow differently and I feel by the end of the year I can accomplish these goals.
In being a better iPoly Citizen I want to of course complete my community service hours which I believe I already have for the 200 hours, but in the senior project mentorship I'm hoping to do more, and go over the 60 hours. Also I will try my hardest to miss less school and stay healthy so my attendance and participation won't go down; both of these things will help me be a better iPoly Citizen. 
To grow as an effective Learner this year I want to utilize my teachers advice and help as much as I possibly can, I also want to participate fully in all academics and projects, but specifically in model assembly because it has had my interest since sophomore year.
I feel I need to focus on becoming an Effective User of Technology because I'm not that good at using different applications and things that I should probably know about. I will try to ask people for help as much as possible to make sure that when I use technology in my presentations it will be the proper format and work correctly.  
As for growing as an effective communicator I'm very excited and interested in the different events and committees we have to/get to participate in during senior year. The opportunities offered to us to help others in these committees really interests me, I'm looking forward to signing up and participating to my fullest in this aspect of senior year.

Blog 2: Mentorship

1. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Al75YAaQjJ1kdGtfLXF1VW1DTmhqU205NG9nbFhZUkE&usp=sharing

2. Billy Rugh
(626) 856-1710

3. What questions were raised because of the 10 hour experience?
- Does vocal training in a child help or harm their voice for the future?
- Is solo voice more helpful to vocal range than choral singing?
-Is it helpful for children to participate in voice?

4. What is the most important thing you gained from this experience?
The most important thing I gained from this experience was to watch the teachers work with and warm up the children. I never really knew how to properly warm up my voice before singing without a teacher's help but I got to see and record teachers as they did this.

5.How did what you did help you choose a topic?
This mentor ship helped me choose my topic of singing because it showed me how interesting and how much i wonder about the vocal chords and singing in general. I took classes in choir and in solo voice and they both interested me even though they are different in nature. Choir singing interested me in how the blend of certain notes work together and make perfect harmony, and solo voice caught my interest by how the vocal range in different for everyone and how you an stretch your vocal range and get past breaks in your voice.

Blog 1: 2013 2-Hour Presentation Reflection

1. The presentations I saw were:
Hair Styling - Ana
Marine Biology - Elijah
All Star Cheerleading - Priscilla
Early Childhood Development - Perla
Foster Care - Victoria
Physical Therapy - Elizabeth
System Analysis - Brent
Photography - Austin
Special Olympics - Logan
Theoretical physics - Hannah
Homeless youth - Angel
Graphic Design - Stephany

2. The only questions I had from the presentations were:
What do the students mean by product? And is this explained so we now how to get to said product?

3. The most important part of the 2 hour presentations, after seeing a few that didn't do well in this aspect,  would be the three answers to the essential question and being able to elaborate on the answers.

4. For my senior project I'm thinking about doing singing, I haven't decided whether it will be solo voice or choral singing but I could go either way. I've done this for a long time and I really enjoy not only participating but also instructing singing so I feel it will be a good senior project.