Meeting

April 20, 2011, Cesar and I will be attending the Chinquapin Alumni Association Meeting. Cesar and I have a 5 to 10 minute presentation ready for the Alumni. We hope that a lot of the Alumni are interested in our project and want to contribute. We will be taking the contracts we made during creativity to week to have them look at them and help us modify them. We still don't have a set place for our presentation, we are currently still looking. We may just do it at the next Chinquapin Alumni Association Meeting with their permission.

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. 

End of Semester

I feel the progress of my senior project has been pretty successful. I don't feel stressed about what will happen in the near future. I haven't come across an issue that will set me back a couple of paces. The people that we have come in contact with have given us great input of Cesar's and my status/ progress.  The thing that I am really looking forward to is Creativity Week. During that week, Cesar and I plan to visit Whittier Elementary School to observe and interview students and teachers. The purpose of this is to get a face-to-face experience and knowledge on how "teaching" operates so that we can analyze this with Mr. Welcome Wilson who is a University of Houston board member. This summer program that Cesar and I plan to put together will be the "new" way learning/teaching. After listening to several teachers here at school, we have come to a consensus that the current "making children 'memorize' information" just doesn't quite cut it anymore. This is time for revolution in learning/teaching. The Panel Members that we plan to invite are:

Betsy Phillips- Betsy Phillips works for Chinquapin. We tend you use Betsy Phillips' occupation to our advantage. She works with advertising which we plan to ask her to help us advertise our summer program. I am hoping that she'll evaluate how creative our summer program's advertisement was.

Laura Acosta- Laura Acosta she works in HISD. She has recommended several students for us to internview. We want her to help us do research. I am hoping she'll evaluate how creative the summer program is.

Frank Duffy- Frank Duffy works for the Penny for Peace and will help us analyze the actions of students. He'll be our financial adviser. I am hoping he'll evaluate how effective our presentation is.

Dana Lipinsky- Dana Lipinsky is Cesar's mentor how is a board member. She'll help us by getting the word out to the board. She also works with communications and keeping relations with companies. She'll advise us on how to get our points across more effectively. I am hoping she'll evaluate how organized we are.

Rob Christy- Rob Christy is my mentor who is also a board member. Due to the fact that we need a board member to be a part of our panel, I wanted to ask him. I am hoping that he'll evaluate how effective our presentation was.

Molly Socha- Molly Socha is a teacher at Chinquapin who has background with programs that counsel and tutor younger children. I want her to help us with constructing our summer program and be our adviser. I want her to evaluate how well we constructed our program.

Welcome Wilson- Welcome Wilson is a board member of the University of Houston and will help us analyze the teaching/learning method of the teachers and students. He'll help us put together a outline of our observations. I am hoping he'll evaluate our overall project.

Knowing this, I feel like we are on the right track. The main thing we need to do is to stay committed and determine to make our summer program the best we can make it. Wish us luck!

Narrowed Down

I think I've pretty much narrowed down my project. It wasn't easy but with the help of some people I did it. I want to create a Chinquapin summer program where students will volunteer to tutor and counsel other kids throughout the U.S. It will be like a Big Brother, Big Sister program for where the Chinquapin students will be the "Big Brothers/Sisters. After talking to Lorena about my project, she informed me that Kathy Heinzerling was one of the main people who coordinated Breakthough and that I should talk to her about giving me advice on where to start on this project.

A Tutoring Partnership

I initially wanted to create a facility where disadvantaged children could come to get tutored and counseled. Now, Susan has brought to my attention that creating a facility would be a different path to this project. It would seem as if my focus was creating the facility so instead I am going to find a way to make a partnership with an existing organization. I'm thinking about making this partnership with a high school. I'm not quite sure which high school exactly but I am going to narrow it down to a high school that I believe is in major need of guidance academically and emotionally. I realize that it is difficult to concentrate on anything if you are stressing. While I was attending public schools I was exposed to an extreme lack of care from the teachers compared to Chinquapin. I realize that life here at Chinquapin is a lot easier because we are have a great bond with the teachers. Because of this bond, we are guided in to academic and emotional relief, in some sense. I want other students who are willing to give it their all to have the same benefits.