Blog 13: Lesson 2 Reflection

Content:

1. Positive Statement

I am most proud of how much I was able to put together with my last minute topic change.

2. Questions to Consider
       a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your Lesson 2 Presentation (self-assessment)? AP

       b.     My professionalism was definitely not my strength in this presentation. I didn't feel like I engaged with the audience or made enough eye contact with the audience.

3. What worked for you in your Lesson 2? My activity. As one of the last presentations, the audience was excited to use the ipads in order to access the sites needed in my activity.

4.  (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your Lesson 2? I would have taken more time to memorize and be more comfortable with my information, so that I would have been able to present more confidently.

5. Finding Value
What do you think your answer #2 is going to be? I am not really sure what my answer #2 will be, mostly because I just found my answer #1 along with my EQ last week. I believe it may have to do with encouraging women to form small groups with other local women that assist each other in their finances. Another option is providing more educational opportunities. 

Independent Component 1

LITERAL
a. I, Sabrina Colin, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.
b. Bloom, Floyd. A. Nelson, Charles. Lazerson, Arlyne. "Brain, Mind, and Behavior: Third Edition." Worth Publishers, 2001. Print.
c. My college class at Cal Poly was every Wednesday from 6:00pm-9:50pm, beginning on October 2, 2013 and ending on December 11, 2013.

This was a psychology class that focused on how the brain works, how it is related to our mind and bevaior, and what happens when the brain is damaged or diseased.     

INTERPRETIVE 

Specifically, Week 8 strongly related to my International Business topic. Chapter 8  focused on emotions and how they affect an individual socially. In business, or inevitably in any career, stress is bound to be felt. Although, it isn't always a bad thing. Challenges and changes, which usually causes stress, provides opportunities for developing new skills and strengths. An experiment was conducting using mice, exposing them to different levels of electric shocks which represent stress. The mice that were exposed to the mild stresses were able to tolerate more stressful events than those that were not exposed. This is a good example of  qualities required in business and situations that will be faced. 

APPLIED

At the end of the semester, as a final, we were made to put together a 4 page paper based on book of our choice from a suggested list. I chose to base my paper on Soul Made Flesh: The Discovery of the Brain and how it changed the World written by Carl Zimmer. This book was based on the different ways people from all over the world viewed the mind and soul based on religions and cultures. It gave a deeper understanding of just how diverse the world really is and how important it is to be familiar with those differences, especially in International Business. 

Starting Over

  “It's painful and it's messy. But sometimes you just have to make the break and start again.”  -Tony Parsons

As January is ending,
I am beginning all over again. Finding inconveniences in my original senior project topic, I am now doing my senior project on International Business. Just thinking about it makes me panic a little bit inside. But I know it's for the best. I am going to work a lot harder than I have been and redo a lot of things     that I work so hard to complete in the first place. But I know it's for the best.

I have already started on my research and interviewed a potential mentor for my first and second interview. I learned that she is currently unemployed, but I am still meeting with my aunt who works for Nitto Tires as the director of global strategic planning. I was also considering going back to the American Red Cross and continuing my volunteering there. As a volunteer, they had me organize paperwork for shipments and transactions to other Red Cross locations in the United States. I was working with the transactions coordinator and because my aunt lives a bit far, I may be able to use her as my mentor to go more hours in. Writing this post, I realize that I am also going to have to edit some things on my blog. 

I really hope that in the end, I am happy of my final product and the extra work is worth. All I can do now is my best towards something I can be proud of as my final project at I-Poly. 

Blog 12: Third Interview Questions

“There are people who have the capacity to imagine themselves as someone else, there are people who have no such capacity (when the lack is extreme, we call them psychopaths), and there are people who have the capacity but choose not to exercise it.” 

― J.M. Coetzee

Expecting to interview a professional psychiatrist from Casa Colina Rehabilitation Center.

1. What most influences whether a psychopath is beneficial or detrimental to society?
2. How can genetics influence how a psychopath grows up in society?
3. What is your opinion on the nature vs. nurture debate in relation to psychopaths?
4. If we had a successful psychopath, what do you believe could trigger that person to become dangerous?
5. Supposing that psychopaths are created based on nature(genetics), what are the chances of one or both parents also having psychopathic traits? Chances of one or both parents not having psychopathic traits?
6. If a psychopath is most commonly labeled as dangerous, how is it that certain people seem to function safely in society and qualify as a psychopath?
7. Supposing that psychopaths are created based on nurture(environment), what are some situations in which it would result in this outcome?
8. Can you share an experience in which a you encountered someone with a mental or personality disorder? Did they developed the disorder from genetics or their environment
9. For my final senior presentation, it is required that I have two activities that get the audience involved and continues to educate them on my topic. Do you have any examples of activities I could use in my presentation?
10. My senior topic is psychopathy. Are there any professionals that you can refer me to in order to gain more information on my topic?

Blog 11: Mentorship 10 Hours Check

"Nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced." -Albert Einstein 

1. It still is not my stable mentorship, but I did not want to waste my time. I decided to contact my aunt who works with the L.A.P.D. and asked her if I could sit in on a few courts sessions she needed to attend. There are not many that are available for me to go to because they are private or on weekday mornings.
2.   Irma Velazquez 
3.   15 hours, not including my summer hours. Including my summer hours, 26 hours 20 minutes. 
4.   I went to court with my aunt. It is not directly tied with my topic, in some aspect it is important for me to learn the official process of the law once criminals, including psychopaths, are brought to justice.

Blog 10: Senior Project: The Holiday

"Laziness may appear attractive, but work gives satisfaction." -Anne Frank

1.  Over winter break, I was somewhat resourceful. To be honest, not as resourceful as I would have liked, though. I did, however, contact several people that I was referred to by my second interviewee, Felicia Thomas. Most of them were fellow professors in the psychology department. I also made a trip to Barnes and Noble and buy some rather interesting books based on my topic. They were more specific to certain cases and criminals, but it gave a fun intrigue to an otherwise academic read, which is why I chose to purchase them and barrow them from the library.

2.  The most important thing I learned was that psychology is a very hard topic to gain hours for. I may have contacted several people, but very few replied, and even less were able to give me any information that was of use to me. I understand that it was around the holidays, but I am still pushing to find more contacts. I also learned that although we are doing research for our project, it is vital to find a way to make it interesting for yourself. How else do you expect for someone to sit and listen during your presentation if you don't even have interest in what you are saying.

3.  I believe I would interview Laurie Roades, a psychology professor at Cal Poly. She has contacted me over break and given me various referrals and still continues to check in to see if I have made progress. I plan on meeting with her to see if I can do some mentorship hours with her. 

Books on my topic I actually like reading:

It's That Time of Year

“In youth we learn; in age we understand.”
-Marie Von Ebner-Eschenbach 

Earlier this month I completed my independent component #1. For my independent component, I registered for a type of psychology class that was recommended for my topic. I thought because I had enjoyed my previous Young Scholar classes, that this one would not be an exception, but it was. Even though the class was only one a week, which is what intrigued me, it was about 4 hours long each night. It was difficult to stay focused for that long, especially when your professor is explaining everything as if we are all already psychology majors. I was very dissatisfied with the class and the lack of knowledge I gained in the the end. 

For part of our final grade, we had to choose a book from a list provided by the professor and complete a 3-6 page book review. I chose a novel titled

 Soul Made Flesh: The Discovery of the Brain and how it changed the World written by Carl Zimmer. I am going to be honest, it was definitely not one of my favorite books to read, even if it partially helped me with some ideas on my topic. I feel that one of my academic strengths is essays, so that probably explains why I didn't completely fail the class. I also found that some remembered facts from the small Psychology in freshman year came in handy during Week 9, Exam 3, and our Final Exam, which also included an essay. Over all, I did not enjoy my Psychology class and I believe my final grade reflects that.

With that said: Happy New Year!