More work

Although Christmas break is basically here, I will still be doing things for my senior project. I have talked to my mentor and will be doing some more shadowing over the break. Also, I will have to take a quick prep class in order to shadow in the hospital. I still need to contact the Greenville Hospital for a grant as well. Overall, I really have much to do for my project, and I really am looking forward to shadowing over break.

Making the Call

Although, I had sent out my email almost 2 weeks ago, I never got a response. So I decided to call Spartanburg Regional Hospital and talk to Stacey Dulin who is in charge of the grants. Unfortunately, Spartanburg Regional Hospital does not do grants anymore and of course I got no grant. However, that is ok because I am going to send an email to the Greenville Hospital and maybe get grant from them instead.

Letterbombed!

Over the past week I have typed up a letter which I will then email to the Spartanburg Regional Foundation. This will go directly to the region of the hospital that is specialized in dealing with grants and fundraising for schools, because my letter discusses a proposed grant for the hospital. Hopefully, they will apply for the grant, which would be about $350, which would help me raise money for the hundreds of dollars that are required for myself to purchase the new anatomy models.In addition, I have also started the editing process to my research paper, which will be done soon and I will have the paper portion of my senior project done and over with.

Time off from the Research Paper.

Over the course of the past week I have not worked too much on my research paper, which was nice considering all the time I put into it last week. However, In english class we have worked on things that will help us with the paper. We have actually been diagraming sentences a lot, which is a very good thing. Not only will it help us write better sentences, it will also help us get even more familiar with the English language. In general, we should have the papers back soon and with all the sentence diagraming, I will really be able to revise my research paper to a greater extent.

Finally Finishing the First Draft!

Over the course of the past week I had to turn my outline into a rough draft. It took a lot of time and it was hard to be able to finish it on time, but I was able to do it. I looked over my research in my outline I found that it was in fact very helpful. In the end I had about ten and a half pages and a citation page. I am now just really excited that the first draft is done and that we will start revising our rough drafts soon.

Outlining for the Paper

Well over the course of the pat week I have really organized the 80 or more notecards I have. I organized them into different groups and started to form them into topics. I also with these cards formed a working outline, which has helped me significantly. Now this upcoming weekend I will begin a sentence outline with this working outline and it will form everything in sentence form. Overall, I do have to say with writing two different outlines that I think it will really help me on the research paper and it really helps organize all my data and thoughts I have collected.

Continuing the Research

This past week I have continued my research and I am almost done with the research too. I also have a thesis as well, which is the following paragraph. Due to different learning styles, schools need to implement an early educational philosophy that allows each child to absorb information in a way that brings out their individual strengths and also enhances their learning capabilities. Charlotte Mason is one of these philosophers and following this program, as well as incorporating a strong hands-on approach to engage students natural sense of curiosity of how things work, will instill a sense enthusiasm one can carry on throughout adulthood. Overall, my thesis insures what I will discuss in my research paper, and tomorrow in English will start our outline for the paper.

Researching My Topic

Lately I have been collecting resources for my research paper. I have around 8 sources and actually a majority of the sources are books. I have gone to the library and have ordered books from college libraries. Along with the research I have been putting the information I gain from reading these sources and putting them on index cards. Overall, I have found numerous resources and need to have about one hundred source cards by next friday, by then I should have enough card because the sources I have are very resourceful and accurate.

Time off at the Retreat

This past week the whole senior class went on a retreat at Windy Gap. It was really fun! There was so much to do. It was really relaxing to take a break from school and focus on the beauty of nature and on a stronger relationship with God. It also caused me to form a better relationship between my friends and classmates. This trip also really affected one of my biggest fears. Since I was little I have had a deathly fear of heights. However, to cure this fear I will go on high rides at theme parks and go up in tall structures and buildings. Well, during the trip there is giant swing which is about 100 feet up in the air and after doing it, I loved it. I also, had to do a ropes course that was up in trees about 50 feet in the air. This fear of mine was really tested during the trip, but It has helped me cooperate with my fear of heights better than ever. Along with the trip this week I had gathered more resources for my research paper. I changed my topic a little as well. I now am doing it on how the Charlotte Mason philosophy should be incorporated in teaching to help students with the different learning styles they all have. I now have about 6 or sources on this material, and I am quite confident that I can write about 8-12 pages out of this information. Overall, I really had fun at the retreat and am preparing myself to write the research paper, which is due in about a month.

The Beginning of the Paper

This week we had to write a thesis to begin our opening argument for the research paper. However, I did not do to well on my, but I decided to jump right back on the horse and write a new one that night. Now I have a more presentable argument and feel much more confident in my answer. I also found some research on my new argument. In addition to writing a thesis I edited my proposal as well, with the suggestions the board gave me.

Presenting my Project

This week I presented my project idea to the Oakbrook Board. I was really nervous about the proposal all week. However, it went very well. I was not nervous at all during the proposal. I also thought I would be asked a lot questions. To my surprise the proposal turned out to be more suggestions than questions. The board really helped me shape my overall idea of my project. They helped me especially with the fundraising portion. Before I call a company they told me that I should make a script. I did not think of that before, but I thought that was a great Idea and will really help me. My project overall was approved and this made me very happy. I will begin the shadowing portion of my project maybe next weekend and I will soon call the educational department at Spartangburg Regional.

Making my first calls.

I have come in contact with an education department at the Spartanburg Regional Hospital and will call them soon. They hand out grants to different schools for education purposes, and I have their phone number and will call them soon. I also did my mock proposal during senior project this last week. It made me feel more confident and it really helped. I am now not as nervous because once I started talking about my project in front of my classmates it made me feel way more comfortable. It is like what the book, Do Hard Things had said about teenagers being nervous about something hard and once they did it they felt relieved. The mock proposal better prepared me and it really helped.

Senior Project Beginning

I have finished my senior project proposal, and it has explained the overall picture of my featured project. In addition, I got my parent/guardian form signed by my parents and they strongly encourage my project plan. As well as the parent form, my mentor agreement form has been signed by my mentor, Mr. Timothy Odell, who also strongly encourages my idea.

My Senior Project

My senior project idea is to raise money for new anatomy models for the science room. Our science room has old, outdated models and I realized we need some new models. Doctors and just about any profession in the medical field use models to explain to patients their injuries. It makes it a whole lot easier to visualize what is happening compared to being told what is happening. Most people learn better visually so I would like to take the chance to get models for kids at Oakbrook to learn human Anatomy much easier. It would show kids first hand where certain organs are, what they look like, and what the inside of a human really looks like. For the research portion of the project I would shadow a Physicians Assistant at the Spartanburg Regional Hospital. Then to get the money for the models I would call and send letters to companies that the PA Im shadowing knows. Also, my dad works for a company that is in the medical field and I can send a letter to his company and ask for money or talk to his boss. Overall I want new models at Oakbrook to encourage better hands on learning, so kids understand science more thoroughly.