Presentation Day

On this day, we spent most of the time preparing and finalizing our presentation. Things didn't go according to plan, but the presentation went well. I believe the 7 or less people who watched our presentation liked our idea of creating an online tutoring course where the alumni are the tutors. Something that didn't go according to plan was that we were unable to fully present our program. In other words, we didn't get two people to use wiziq during our presentation, even though we had pictures of people using it the previous day. We accomplished a great deal during Creativity Week. We are many steps closer to finishing our project.

Day Three

On Day Three, we scheduled to join Brenda and Rebecca in Bay City. We wanted an opportunity to test our program with students. Brenda and Rebecca told us that the younger students at the Boy's and Girl's Club down in Bay City. Susan told us that we would be using our time inefficiently if we spent two hours driving up there. So we decided to find somewhere locally to test our program. We went to Whittier Elementary and tested our program with the students there. They were first graders up to fifth graders. It was a very successful operation because we learned from the students' experience. First, they definitely like the program and used it successfully. Due to the fact the the wifi was acting up, we were only able to use our program for a limited time. So we helped them with their homework, which helped us learn another thing. Second, the younger the students are the more likely it is for them to use this program. It was a fun experience for us.

Before going to Whittier, we created a contract and a handbook for the alumni. It gave them the guidelines, tips and responsibilities of joining T.A.C.K.L.E.

Day Two

On Day 2, we had a big success.We figured out how to make the video chat work. Cesar and I were on our chinquapin account, where we decided to video chat right next to each other. I admit it was lame but the reason we did this was because we wanted to see if our camera was working. Prior to this, we went on our wiziq account to test the online tutoring course since we ran into a setback the previous day. As before, it didn't work. Once we were able to video chat on our chinquapin account, we verified that our video cams we working. We were puzzled and couldn't quite figure out why it didn't work on our wiziq account. So we decided, for some odd reason, to check wiziq without logging off of our video chat in our chinquapin account. We were surprised to find that the video chat worked on wiziq if the video cam was already in use. We finally solved one obstacle. For the remainder of the day, we worked and finished our alumni ad and Susan helped us form a group on Facebook. With the help of Bridget Anderson and Betsy Phillips (two very lovely and helpful women), we named our group Tutoring by Alumni Cultivating Knowledge, Learning and Education. T.A.C.K.L.E.

Day One

Just as planned, we explored wiziq and learned new things about using an online tutoring course. We learned how to give the students control of the lesson. Before giving the students any privileges, they start off only with audio controls, meaning they are only able to hear the teacher. There is a button that the students can push to ask for access to video, microphone and other tools. We also learned how to upload a video from youtube and how to share a screen shot. This sharing of the screen shot tool is very unique and a key tool for this website. We ran into a problem, which we were anticipating. We couldn't figure out how to get my video chat to work. We tried everything to get it to work but couldn't. We tried for hours. We went to a FAQs page where we found out our problem and still couldn't get it to work. Susan tried to help us but couldn't. Due to the fact that Francisco was gone all morning, we couldn't find time in our schedule to ask him to help us with this problem. We were also unable to create a Facebook page because we were blocked from that website. I am satisfied with the progress we made. I'm ready for day two!

Creativity Week

After much debate, we have finally figured out what exactly we plan to do for Creativity Week. Tuesday, we plan to explore wiziq and learn how to use the applications and tools on this website. Cesar and I have already created accounts for wiziq. During this first day, we plan to find out the best/worst circumstances for wiziq. We will jot down notes so that in the end, we will create a how-to manual for the students and alumni who choose to participate in this tutoring. We talk to Francisco Perez about the difficulties we come across so that we can know what to do when others come across those problems. We also plan on creating a group for Chinquapin Students and alumni on FaceBook, inviting them to create a wiziq account. We also plan on blogging more about what we did during that day. Wednesday, we will continue exploring wiziq to see if we have mastered using the website. Next we will starting a draft on our ad that we plan to send out to the Chinquapin alumni, asking them to contribute to our online tutoring. We will contact our panel members, informing them about the changes we've made to our project. We will ask for a time that is best to meet with them in this email. We will finish our final ad on Thurday and talk to Francisco about making the ad. After that we will set up our presentation for Friday. Friday, we will show our ad that we created and briefly show students how wiziq works. We will need to be using a classroom. It will be in the Fan Room.

New Ideas

Originally, we planned to create a summer program here at Chinquapin to tutor those who fail to get accepted into this school due to their prior education. Most of the time it isn't that they are dumb; instead, it is a lack of care that they are given from their teachers. it seems, nowadays most public teachers aren't concerned with whether or not the children absorb the information. I feel like I have a responsibility to lend them a hand because I know how hard it is to ask for help. I want to make the first move to show them that I really care about them. I thought the best way to do this was through the summer program. My part was to recruit the students, while Cesar was going to get student-teachers. We talked to Ray about hosting the program here at Chinquapin. He said it was a great idea and that we just needed to talk to the residence since this is their home during the summer. Initially, we had our intentions set on this program. Then, one day Susan approached me and asked me to tell her exactly what we had done so far and what we need to do. After telling her, she told me that it is more difficult that just putting an assignment together and expecting them to learn it. We had to know what knowledge they had, their weaknesses, and how to create a curriculum. We had to piece all of this together before starting the program. After talking to her, I felt that this project was more difficult than I imagined. I also felt as if this program was less reasonable to reach.

Several days later, Susan came up to me and told me that she had a new idea for our project. We scheduled a meeting and talked about tutoring online. I did research about it, so I knew what she was talking about. While researching, I noticed that there may be less comfort. I figured upfront tutoring would benefit them by being able to absorb and build a bond of trust. She brought to my attention that a upfront tutoring can be gained after a while of online tutoring. They can build comfort gradually and then meet. She talked to us about an online tutoring website called wiziq. Susan, Cesar and I now all have an account and we explored it a bit. It was really interesting. We plan on getting all the alumni to contribute at least two days or so out of the week. They would only need to spend about 2 hours tutoring. We plan on starting off with students here at Chinquapin who need the tutoring. This is a more reasonable goal and will last "perpetually." (as Susan put it)

Houston to Highlands

Cesar and I have discussed transportation issues. We came up with having the students be from Highlands Elementary in order for them to be able to provide their own transportation. This way it would be less expensive for the program. I have been trying to get in contact with Highlands Elementary to see if they are willing to recommend some students for our program. We have put some thought into the insurance policy here in Chinquapin and what risks we are taking by establishing this program. We need to talk to Ray, to get a clear idea.