One Last Time ! * :)

Senior Project has been an experience that I will remember for the rest of my life. As Mr. Abrams has said on numerous occasions, this is an opportunity that not many other kids our age will have. It is also one that I truly appreciate because not only has it taught me a lot more about the field I want to take on as my career, I’ve also learned a lot about myself. There are a few things that I wish I did a lot differently, most of which are the result of the ever so infamous “Mr. Procrastination”. I regret wasting so much time and waiting until the last minute for much of my work. This has shown me exactly what not to do in college and if I had the chance, I would take advantage of the time given me to do my work and certainly come out with a better grade for a class that I enjoyed so much. My presentation was rather exceptional. It was a lot shorter than I would have desired, though. If I could change one thing about my presentation it would be the fact that I didn’t give enough information about my career choice. A couple people came to me asking more about the field of Clinical Child Psychology. Giving more information on this topic would have added a significant amount of time into my presentation. One reason for this would be the fact that I’m so passionate about it and once I start talking about it, I can’t seem to stop. All in all, I’m not very pleased with my own actions and the work I got completed in Senior Project Seminar, but I am very pleased with the experience and the amount of knowledge learned this year. Thank you!

Mondays with Morris! * :) [11]

I got into a little bit of trouble this Monday. I spent the first part of my Monday with Morris catching up on my blogs. I got a few done and then I went outside to join Coach Morris and the track team on the track. He talked to me about procrastination and told me that maybe he was at fault for my not staying on point with my blogs. (It really isn’t his fault, though. I’ve just gotten lazy.) We eventually changed to a lighter subject, which I was very thankful for. (lol) We talked about college for a little and then discussed my presentation. I’m starting to get a bit nervous; I’m not the type to talk in front of a crowd. He tried to give me different suggestions that would keep me from talking for the entire 45 minutes. I will be using them to my advantage. I really enjoy my Mondays with Coach Morris and I know I will truly miss them once I graduate. He keeps me focused for the most and that’s something that I appreciate immensely. Thanks, Coach! :)

Whacky Wednesdays! * :) [11]

This Whacky Wednesday wasn’t the most exciting, but it wasn’t exactly boring either. As most of you may not know, the middle school students have been taking their state test this week. The fifth graders are taking their math section Thursday and Friday, so the guidance counselors had to prepare all the necessary tools for the test. This included pencils, poke-out shapes, etc. I decided to help with this. Ms. Ryan told me how much of each tool needed to go to which teacher and I put everything together. Most might think this is a waste of a sponsor trip, but it also gave me time to just talk to Ms. Ryan about my presentation, college, and prom. I actually really enjoyed myself. I think it may be because of the fact that I have a mild case of OCD and I enjoy organizing different things. Plus, the counselors really appreciated my help, and I enjoy helping people even more than that. All in all, it was a pretty “chill” sponsor visit and I enjoyed myself. :)

My Choice! * :) [10]

As you all may have noticed, I've been slacking on my blogs (and all my work for that matter) for the past two or three weeks. I've been turning work in late or not at all. I think I have a really bad case of the ever so infamous "Senior-itis", a case that has shown to be the worst laziness can get during senior year. I've become one of the many students counting down 'til the end and to be quite frank, I've stopped caring as much as I should. I'm disappointing myself and I know it's going to take a lot of hard work to get back on the ball. I haven't checked my grades at all in about a month and because I've been doing so horribly, I'm kind of afraid to. I promise to do better from here until the end. I need to just keep working on my time management and reminding myself that this can NOT happen in college. I need your help though, guys. Words of encouragement go a long way for me. :)

Mondays with Morris!* :) [9]

This Monday with Morris went extremely well. I spent my time being the track team's personal sports psychologist. Coach shared with me the difficulty that one of the throwers, Jamal, was having - he would do well throwing over a hundred feet during practice, but during an actual track meet, his abilities wouldn't show as well. It seemed as if he got nervous at the track meet. Jamal had the talent; it just didn't show when the team needed it the most. We spent the whole practice getting Jamal to focus on his throwing and trying to find different things that he may have been doing wrong. We even went as far as giving him his own personal "tattoo" (written by Coach Morris with my purple ink pen) on his arm. The tattoo was "150" and put there to remind Jamal of his goal. I also attended the track meet that Wednesday, when I returned from my sponsor visit, to be Jamal's personal motivator. I tried to keep him focused before his throw and I must have done a pretty good job because he did really well! :)

Whacky Wednesdays ! * :) [10]

This Whack Wednesday, I spent my time researching a little to find an activity for our Girls's Group. I know that when I was in the sixth grade, I enjoyed arts & crafts. I also enjoyed jewlery. Why not combine the two? I plan on having the girls make their own friendship bracelets. Using beads and yarn, they can make different bracelets or matching bracelets with their friends. I would also like to borrow a camera from Mr. Abrams so that I can record how well this activity goes. I hope all goes well! :)

Whacky Wednesdays! * [9]

This week, my sponsor visit was spent in Ms. Spicer's eighth grade math class. When I first came into the class, I noticed one student that looked a bit familiar. It turns out that he was our very own Larry Hill's little brother, Bryce. After sitting in the class for a little while I noticed that he isn't much like our Larry. He's a lot more talkative and very literal when someone tries to explain something to him. I got a kick out of watching him during that class. He brought me entertainment for the day. I also noticed that Ms. Spicer is a lot more strict than Mr. Bosco. She allows a lot less talking and likes for her students to stay on task and focus. She even went so far as to move a student away from his group for talking too much. Majority of Ms. Spicer's students were in the back of the room, unlike Mr. Bosco's class with most of the students in the front close to the board. I enjoyed myself whiel watching this class. At the end of the day, I made my way back to Ms. Ryan's office to discuss a substitute "Whacky Wednesday" for Spring break.

Connection ! * :) [8]

This week’s connection was made while visiting my sponsor. One girl, who is actually a part of my girls’ group, made her way to Ms. Ryan’s office with a brand new hairdo. She was a little more “fired up” than usual. I was more used to the sweet, always smiling version of her. This was something I wasn’t used to at all. She was upset about a boy that she had just ended a relationship with. Ms. Ryan actually spoke what I was thinking: her new hairstyle gave her a new level of confidence. When this was said, I thought of Jalysa. :) A person’s appearance does play a huge role in how they feel and act. I remembered Jalysa saying this in class before. Me only question to this though is “Why?”

Whacky Wedenesdays ! * :) [8]

This week's Whacky Wednesday was spent in Ms. Ryan's office. We had many visitors, some to check their grades and others just to talk to Ms. Ryan about a few things. There were two girls that came down that we a little "immature, but not in a bad way". This is how Ms. Ryan described them and after holding a full conversation with these two, I couldn’t think of any other words that would have been better. They did a little activity together (with the supervision and guidance of Ms. Ryan and me) completing sentences about themselves. For example, “something I like about myself is…” or “one thing that annoys me is…” It was really interesting. Although we were with the girls for about 30 minutes, I think we only got through completing about 3 or 4 sentences. A statement usually led to a discussion. One of these discussions stuck out to me the most though. One of the girls told us that she had a boyfriend, but after talking about him a little more, we found out that it was only a huge crush she had on him. We tried to explain to her that just because you like someone, it doesn’t make him your boyfriend. I don’t think she understood fully by the time she left, but it was worth a try on our part. All in all, I had a pretty enlightening sponsor visit this week.

Mondays with Morris ! * :) [8]

My Monday with Morris was relatively short this week. We didn’t talk about too much. We did have a little brainstorming on some more ideas for my presentations and he gave me some words of encouragement for staying focused on my research paper. I really need to work on my procrastination and he knows that and he’s helping me with it. He told me something that many people have been telling me: “Waiting until the last minute for things won’t work at all in college.” For more reasons that you may think, being a failure in college scares me to death. I will continue to work on being more time manageable and less of a procrastinator and hope to be successful in this. :)

Presentation Plans ! * :) [3/4]

As we all know, our presentations start in a couple months and it's time to start settling down on our plans for them. This is something that I haven't exactly done as much as I should have. I do have a couple ideas in mind though. With the subject that I have, it will be hard to present my project without lecturing the audience the entire time. I plan on showing videos and giving handouts to keep the audience's attention during the presentation. My mentor, Coach Morris, actually gave me the idea for before I actually start my presentation though. He thought that I should have the group do some brain teasers or look at a couple visual illusions. These are all a part of psychology and will definitely be attention-grabbers to give my presentation a great start. I will surely be doing a lot more brainstorming for more ideas. I'm sure my presentation will go really well! :)

Whacky Wednesdays! / Connection! * :) [7]

This week's trip to the middle school was definitely one to remember. I started off in Ms. Ryan's office. We talked about my presentation and paper, then we had a couple visits. The first was with Cody and my good friend Jeff. Ms. Ryan likes for these two to come in at the same time because they are total opposites. Cody is very negative and anti-social. Jeff is friendly and, as I learned in one of my previous visits, used to have trouble with making friends. Ms. Ryan had them do an activity on paper. The paper had the alphabet and for each letter, they had to name something that they liked about themselves. Our next visitors were Sam and Andrew. They've been having trouble with a bully. They asked Ms. Ryan to speak to the boy for them. Afterwards, Sam showed us his new hobby, oragami! His class started this, and every crane he makes is $2 for the disaster in Japan. (I was wondering why the high school doesn't do something like this. I'll get more information on this soon.) Around 2:15, Ms. Ryan and I made our way to the cafeteria for our Girls' Group. Ms. Ryan planned a "Circle of Friends" activity, but it got cut short when Mr. Strong came for a visit. He was taking pictures for a bulletin that he sends to all of the teachers. This bulletin lets them know what's going on around the middle school and gives them ideas on new things to start. The girls also did their skits for him. They were both about PEER PRESSURE and FITTING IN. I made this a huge connection to my research paper. The skits showed a girl wanting to be a part of the cooler group of girls, so when the group told her to do different things, like steal lunch money and punch someone in the face, she listened in order for them to accept her. In the end, the group completely neglected anything she did and didn't let her be a part of the group. All in all, I think this was one of the more interesting sponsor visits.

Mondays with Morris ! * :) [7]

This Monday was pretty cool. I sat with Coach Morris during track practice, as always. I helped to hand out the uniforms for the track team. We discussed my research paper which I really need to work on a lot more. I think it's a good idea to get it done ahead of time, so I won't have torush through it in the end. After that, we discussed the huge scene that happened on Friday afternoon. I had the "pleasure" of being a part of the whole thing. One of his throwers was a huge part of the conflict, so he told me that he would talk to him. The meeting finished with our discussing the track team and the scrimmage they're having tomorrow. I think it was a productive and motivational mentor meeting. :)

Whacky Wednesdays! * :) [6]

This Whacky Wednesday was pretty cool. I spent most of the time in Ms. Ryan's office. Mr. Gadson stopped in and the three of us had a nice chat. He gave me some great suggestions on making my decision for college. He definitely contributed to my choosing to go to Rutgers University in Newark in the fall. I was really stressed about the summer program at the school and how it was commuter. I didn't know if I was going to be able to make it there everyday, but he gave me some insight on how I shouldn't stress too much about that part. His help is greatly appreciated. I also got to visit with the Girls Group again. Their skits are all finished and they will be performing them in front of the fifth graders on Friday. I'm really excited to get back and hear how all of that went! :)

Mondays with Morris ! * :) [6]

I had yet another successful "Monday with Morris". This week we talked about Mr. Anthony Wellington and the things I learned from sitting in his presentation. Morris is actually the one who got Mr. Wellington to come. He found out that our own Ron Thompson was a bass player and thought this would be a nice opportunity for him and his project. I thought this was very thoughtful of Coach Morris. Morris and I also discussed my starting the research paper. He told me to look up more newspaper articles to help me along the way. We ended our meeting watching the javelin throwers. He told me how they might not have the javelin part this year if they can't get throwers over 100 feet. I hope that works out, but I'm sure the throwers will improve. :)

Anthony Wellington - My Choice ! * :) [6]

Today, our class had the privilege of travelling to the Band Room for a presentation by Mr. Anthony Wellington, "bass extraordinaire" as Mr. Pollock describes. There were a lot more than just the students from our class present. Mr. Wellington told the group that he liked to be spontaneous with his music. He tries to think of different sounds right on the spot and think outside the box of just a bass player. He tried something for the first time right there in front of our group; he played reggae on his bass guitar. It was something he had never done before. While there, he gave a little more than just a show. He actually gave us a little advice that I never heard before. When it comes to having a back-up plan in choosing a career, he says to "just forget about that". He never had something to fall back on, but because he was so passionate about his music, he felt like he didn't need that. Mr. Wellington knows for sure that he's passionate for his music because, he says, if God himself told him music wouldn't get him anywhere, he would still go through with it. This is his definition of passion. He makes/made a lot of sacrafices for his passion, too. He gave up a lot of time to play. A college girlfriend reminded him that he used to practice playing his bass guitar for 5-8 hours per day. He said time was what he sacraficed the most in life. I left this visit to the band room with a lot more than I thought I would have. I would also like to check out some of the books Mr. Wellington recommended with "Conversations with God" being at the top of that list. I thank Mr. Wellington for taking time out of his busy schedule to come visit us and shower us with his extraordinary talent! :)

Connection ! * :) [5]

My connection was actually made while visiting my sponsor. While observing the students, I made a connection to my project. There was one student in particular who stuck out the most to me. Her name was Victoria. I noticed that she understood the work a little more than the rest of the class and took the opportunity to help her classmates (when Ms. Beckman asked her to do so). There were a few times in particular though that she would hold her tongue if she knew the answer. I would catch her looking around to see if anyone else knew the answer first. This showed me that my thesis statement holds true. Peers have a huge influence on the actions of kids this age. Think about it! :)

Whacky Wednesdays! * :) [5]

This visit may not have been the most exciting, but it was productive. My sponosr had to prepare for a faculty meeting, so I only saw her for about 10 minutes when I first arrived at the middle school. With this time, I took the oppurtunity to sit in on Ms. Beckman's fitfth grade Math Essentials. The students were working on adding fractions. While observing, I noticed that many of them had the problem of multiplying when they should be adding. It was also a struggle for them to find common denominators for the fractions. It's interesting seeing that they couldn't grasp the basics of math.
The teaching skills are also different in this class. Ms. Beckman chose to stay more focused than Mr. Bosco. I think the fact that it is much easier for a fifth grader's mind to wander than an eighth grader's mind.
I wasn't as entertained this week at the middle school, but I will say that it was a nice time. Hopefully next week will be much better! :)

Mondays with Morris! * :) [5]

I had yet another successful "Monday with Morris". We stood outside during his practice with the throwers for field. While watching the javelin throwers, we discussed the articles a little more and my blog. He told me about checking it, but he hadn't seen any new posts. I told him that we only had to do four per week. Also, we discussed my sponsor visits a little more and how much I enjoy visiting the middle school every week. Before meeting with me, he was in a meeting for the Special Ed teachers. He told me about how durring March and April each school year the teachers have to work with the students with learning disabilties and meet with their parents about their work. They use all the information and create Individual Educational Programs for each child. I thought this was extremely interesting. It's actually what I want to take up as a career. I enjoy looking at the different ways people think and working with children who have mental disabilities is a passion of mine. I will be talking more on this subject with Coach Morris. We talked about my paper and finding more sources. In my opinion, it was a very accomplished meeting! :)

Video! * :) - My Choice[4]

This video doesn't really connect to my project, but to Psychology as a whole. It is often believed that "there is safety in numbers". This is not entirely true. A man lays on the sidewalk, in just regular clothes, groaning for help. Next a woman takes his spot on the sidewalk. Lastly, the same man changes into a suit and lays on the sidewalk. I think it's pretty interesting how people react (or don't react) to the situation. Also, the comments under the actual YouTube video are kind of shocking. Some people have no sympathy and others, like myself, are pretty ashamed of the human race as a whole. Watch and see what happens!

Whacky Wednesdays! * :) [4]

My fourth field trip to the middle school was one to remember. I had the chance to sit in an eighth grade math class (Mr. Bosco's Algebra class to be exact). Mr. Bosco is still as sarcastic as he was when I was one of his students in the seventh grade. He jokes a lot in his class, but the students respect him and pay attention when the time is needed. While sitting in his class for a little while I was reminded of something said in my psychology class. Math teachers tend to be a lot neater than, let's say, an English teacher. Mr. Bosco's class was extremely neat when I had him as a teacher and is still that way now. People who like math like everything to have its specific place. This is definitely true, even for me. There's also another thing that might be a bit obvious; most eight graders are a lot more mature than the fifth graders that I'm used to interacting with at the middle school. There were a select few that haven't gotten that maturity boost yet, though. They would have their random outburts or try to start things with the other students. I could also see that these kids may still struggle with making friends. They were in the back of the class (opposite corners from each other), kind of isolated from the other students. I may sit in another class next week and I'm really excited for that. At the end of my visit, I went and sat with the intersting girls group. This week the easily distracted girls met and they actually finished their skit for the mot part. They just need to work on being serious about it and letting things flow. They tend to make it too obvious when the lines are switching from person to person.

Mondays with Morris! * :) [4]

This week my Monday with Morris went extremely well. I stayed with him for about two hours after school. We discussed the articles he gave me on Friday and how I felt aboout them. He also shared with me some stories about his son and daughter. I told him about my younger brother and sister. I also told him that I thought it was interesting how children the same age are a lot alike. The fifth graders I talk with at the middle school have a lot in common with my younger brother who is also in the fifth grade. As time went on, we began to talk about my senior year (graduation, the trip, and prom). When the topic of college came up, he started telling me about the many former students that he continues to keep in contact with. I'm sure I will be on that list when the fall comes. Before I left, he told me to stay focused on my work and that I shouldn't wait until the last minute to begin this research paper. I will definitely keep those tips in mind. :)

Mondays with Morris! * :) [3(part ii)]

My Monday with Morris got transferred to a "Friday" with Morris this week. It went pretty well. We discussed my research paper thesis and the way my sponsor visits have been going. He' glad that I'm enjoying myself at the middle school. Morris also found two articles that I could possibly use in my research paper. Both articles were about absent fathers and their effect on their daughters lives. I found it interesting that a child's life is even effected when the parent isn't there at all. The absence of a father can determine a lot in the daughters life, from what kind of guys she dates to how well she does on a math test to whether or not she decides to go to college. Ater looking over thse articles, we also discussed my grades and the rest of my classes. It turned out that a Friday with Morris was just as poductive as any Monday. :)

Whacky Wednesdays! * :) [3]

I had another very successful trip to the middle school today. At the beginning of my visit, Ms. Ryan brought it to my attention that the students at the middle school don't have many opportunities to meet kids that they have anything in common with and make new friends. When I heard this, I told Ms. Ryan that we don't have that problem here at the high school very often because of our many clubs, sports, and activities. I felt kind of bad for the middle shoolers, so Ms. Ryan and I started to come up with a bunch of different clubs and activities that could possibly be beneficial for the students at the middle school, as well as something they would be interested in doing. After our brainstorming, I got the chance to make a new friend. A fifth grader, named Sam, came to Ms. Ryan's office. He isn't like my other friends, Nate and Jeff, when it comes to making conversation, but Ms. Ryan tells me that he does have trouble with his maturity. He often does things in class to annoy his classmates. He doesn't do too well with group work, so using the fact that I have a younger brother in the same grade, I gave Sam a list of different topics that I was pretty sure other fifth graders might be interested in talking about. I'm thinking for my next visit I'd like to sit in a classroom of one of my former teachers (possibly Mr. Bosco, since he was my favorite) and doing some more observing of the kids.

"My Choice" Blog [3] - Relieving My Stress

Everyone has different ways to relieve stress. I have a few ways to do this myself. One way is to simply write all my thoughts in a journal. This is a way to help release all of my feelings and say what I want, how I want. Another way I do this is by taking a nap. It refreshes my mind and I wake up not as worried about whatever I was having a problem with. The most effective stress-reliever for me though is music. When I listen to music, I let my mind go into another world. I like to listen to music with a slow tempo to kind of calm my nerves. It makes me relax and forget about the stress I once had. This is one thing that always helps no matter what I'm stressing about. I usually only use the other techniques when I don't have music to listen to. Taking a nap is normally just my last resort.

Mondays with Morris! * :) [3]

My "Monday with Morris" got rescheduled to a Friday this week. We only spoke briefly today, during the fire drill. We spoke about the topic of my research paper. He likes the idea of the influence that younger kids' friends have on them. On Friday, we'll look up more information on that and get a little more brainstorming done. This will give me a great start for my paper. :)

Whacky Wednesdays! * :) [FT3]

This Wednesday, February 23, 2011, I went on my third trip to the middle school. When I first got there, Jeff was called down by Ms. Ryan and ran some errands for her. After that, Mrs. Lee, who was Ms. Mosinsky when I was in her gym class, allowed me to sit in the gym and watch her class for the beginning of her last gym class of the day. I wanted to see the children interact with each other on a more “laid back” environment. I didn’t get the chance to actually see them participating in the activity because they were so talkative. I did see though that the students were very easily distracted by each other and once one started talking, the rest of them joined in. It became a bit annoying, but I remembered going through the same exact thing with my classmates. I almost wanted to apologize to the teachers for the many times that I joined in on these unnecessary conversations during times when the class could’ve been doing something more productive. The teachers were, and still are, very patient. My patience is definitely one thing that I will need to work on when working with children. Around 2:15, I made my way to the Middle School cafeteria with the second group of “Leading Ladies”. This group of girls, like the first group, was working on a skit for the fifth graders. Their theme was “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” It took Group Two, as I like to call them, a little longer than the first group to get their ideas flowing. They got sidetracked more than once and their topics often led to other topics and started new conversations. They took the entire half an hour to reach a unanimous decision to just one idea. Ms. Ryan is going to try to have a teacher agree to letting me sit in one of their classes next Wednesday and observe. I’m looking forward to this visit and I’m very excited to see what happens next.

"Aha!" Moment [1]

My "Aha!" moment for the week actually happened while visiting with my sponsor. I got the chance to see two "socially uneducated" children interact with each other. The first child, Nathan, was having a melt-down from being picked on that day. He didn't really know how to control his temper, so him having the chance to leave the class was actually a good idea. Ms. Ryan then called another student, by the name of Jeffery, to the guidance office. I was told that Jeff, as the counselors called him, recently started working with Ms. Ryan on his interaction with his peers. When he first came into the office, Ms. Ryan followed my name by, "and what do you say when you meet new people?" He turned to me and said, as if rehearsed, "Hello. How are you?" I thought it was pretty interesting that a fifth grader had to be taught things like that. Ms. Ryan explained to me that Jeff was an only child and didn't have the chance to spend time with other children much. I realized that this may be a major factor in the behavior of children. Jeff then went out to spend a little time with Nathan. They played a game of Connect Four. Ms. Ryan and I sat close by to make sure everything went smoothly. I could tell that Ms. Ryan was doing a pretty amazing job working with the two of them because there wasn't a silent moment at all during the entire game. I liked to see that the two boys were working on their listening skills as well as "conversation starters".

Whacky Wednesdays! * :) [1]

As you can see, I've decided to name my Sponsor Visits/Field Trips as "Wacky Wednesdays". Yesterday afternoon, I left the school around 1 pm to have my first field trip to the Middle School. When I first got to Ms. Ryan's office, I thought that I would only be sitting in her office the whole time, watching her do paper work and check grades. Come to find out, the trip wasn't like that at all. A few students came down to the office to check their grades, a couple of whom gave numerous explanations and excuses for little to no homework done in certain classes. I believe that my first trip to the Middle School was a great success.

Mondays with Morris! * :) [1]

I've decided to label my mentor meetings as "Mondays with Morris" and number them that way. I had the priviledge of having my very first graded weeting with him yesterday. We discussed how to centralize my topic for not only my project, but my research paper as well. He didn't have much time, so we didn't get to pick one topic, but we didn't come up with a list of ideas that are all common, the influence that different factors have on children. I've decided that this will also be the topic of m entire project and also what I will keep in mind when working with the children at the middle school. I think my project is off to a pretty good start so far.

Introducing Me! * :)

Good evening, everyone! My name is Quashelle Paige and here I will give you a little "run down" of my senior project. First, I'd like to introduce my mother, Cat. Next in line is my mentor, Coach Sheldon Morris. He's a teacher here at Lindenwold High School and the coach of a field event in the Spring. Last, but certainly not least, is my sponsor, Ms. Megan Ryan. She's a guidance counselor at Lindenwold Middle School. For my senior project, I've chosen the topic of Child Psychology. I'd like to study the behavior of children and the many ways their relationships with others are effected by that behavior. We're also required to do a 5-6 page research paper, on which I will describe the influence of friends and parents on the behavior of younger children. I'm sure I will learn a lot from this project and I hope that I will have fun in the process. I wish to see most of you again in May when I have my finished product. Thank you! :)

I'm Sponsored! * :)

At the start of Senior Project, I imagined myself being able to spend the majority of my time in an actual office of a Child Psychologist. I found a potential sponsor and with the help of my mentor, made the call. Unfortunately, we didn’t get in touch with him. We left a message and a week later he called back. By that time, I already had another sponsor confirmed. Ms. Megan Ryan, a Guidance Counselor at Lindenwold Middle School, offered to be my sponsor. After giving it some thought, I realized that this opportunity would be better than spending time in an office. I decided that Ms. Ryan would have to be the best choice. My first meeting with Ms. Ryan went extremely well. I told her more about the Senior Project program and discussed with her details of the “Kick Off Event.” With her as my sponsor, I will be able to study different groups of children and how they interact with each other. This is one thing that I love thinking about. The behavior of children is one thing that I know a Middle School Guidance Counselor, like Ms. Ryan, will know a lot about. I thank her for approving and am looking forward to working with her over the next few months.

Quarterly - Dante's Inferno

Dante’s Inferno is a very interesting poem, composed of extremely descriptive cantos, telling a story of a man’s journey through the nine different levels of hell. In this story, the reader meets people from every period of time and learns the different reasons for each person “earning” their spot in the forsaken place called Hell. The various sins described in this story all deserve different consequences. For example, the people who allowed lust, known in this story as “the flesh”, ruin their lives are carried around recklessly by the wind. The consequences given are nowhere near merciful.

          While reading this poem though, I realized that it can be used for self-improvement. Being a Christian (Baptist) personally, I don’t think of hell in this manner. A person who believes this poem though might watch what they say and do, not only to themselves but to others as well. The people in Canto V, who let their lust get the best of them, took down the ones who participated. This includes the lady, Francesca, who slept with her brother-in-law. The brother-in-law was being punished right along with her. The believing reader might “play it safe” and make sure not to let “the flesh” play a role in their decision making process.

          In hell, there is also a place for the individuals who commit the sin of “avarice and extravagance”, as Dante calls it. These people spend excessive amounts of money with no particularly good cause. Their punishment is to push boulders back and forth in a circle. Once they reach one side, they turn around and go the other way. A reader might think about spending their money wisely after this part of the canto. Dante goes on to tell about the individuals who “submit to anger.” These people are kept in a river of muck, called Styx, and are continuously fighting each other.

          With these many different sins in mind, one might decide to do a self-reflection. Creating a better life based on Dante’s Inferno might be the way to go.

"Closing the Achievement Gap With Baby Talk"

It has been proven that children will succeed better in school and in life if they're talked to more at a young age. A graduate student by the name of Betty Hart, who works at a preschool decided to do an experiment following and analyzing 40 different families of all different ethnic backgrounds and economic situations. They followed these families for the first three years of their children's lives. The experiment started in 1983 and every month, trained observers went and recorded the families who were willing to participate.These observers catalog every bit of conversation the families had. The tapes took 10 years to decipher and duplicate to be fed into a computer for analysis. It turned out that the quality of the speech was not the major factor, but it was the quantity. "According to their research, the average child in a welfare home heard about 600 words an hour while a child in a professional home heard 2,100." With this information, programs have sprung up all over the country created to teach low-income parents how to talk to their children from birth. They provide coaching sessions when the mothers aren't sent to the pediatrician, recorded playing with their children, and told how to improve this. A researcher at the Brookings institute by the name of Russ Whitehurst says, "If that's not followed with good stimulation in school with continued positive parent interactions, if that experience is not built on, it's not likely to have an enduring effect,"

While reading/listening to this article, I learned a lot about parenting and talking to children. I always believed that what was said to a child mattered more than how much is said to a child. I also didn't know that this talking should start right after birth. Most people use "baby talk" when talking to infants. I would live to be a part of one of the programs, teaching mothers how to talk to their baby and contributing to a baby's success in life. This whole article was very interesting to me and I would love to learn more about it.

A link to the website is on my link list as "Baby Talk :)"
Also, my picture wouldn't work. I did try to put one up though. :(

Corbis Images :)

I found this picture on the second link given to us by the amazing Mr. Abrams. On the website, there's a section called "Urban Living". The artist took pictures of random things in the city that showed how the attitudes of the people living there is different and creates a better society. Under this picture, there was a caption: "They missed the ice-cream truck, but found another way to cool off." Most kids now a days, well the ones that live in my apartment complex, always get discouraged when they miss the ice-cream truck. They often just go back inside. These kids found another way to keep themselves cool and have fun at the same time. Stay open-minded, people. Don't let the little things affect your mood.

Playing A Lot is Actually A Good Thing :)

This article, on the link list as "Playing Around", described the importance of children's play. Now a days, children are growing up just learning. It's actually very good for them to use their imagination. Games that require them to create things, dressing up, and playing with other children at the playground are all activities that allow the children to create their own world, not entirely ruled by adults. This is what they need.With teaching kids how to do certain things, like what exactly a board game piece is for, they lose their imagination and the ability to use their own minds creatively.

More on Dante's Inferno (Cantos 1+2)

This image is from the very beginning of Canto 1. Dante has gone astray, onto a path "in a gloomy wood." This is described in the first two lines of his Inferno. It is also the First Circle of Hell, Limbo. Limbo is a place of solitude and sorrow without torment.

Here Dante is with the leopard on the hill. The leopard wouldn't let him pass to travel up the hill, but continuously made him turn to travel back down.

After the leopard, Dante is greeted by a lion. He's even more afraid at this time than he was with the leopard.

Dante is next met by a "grim she-wolf" that is "roaring with hunger." As Dante started to run away, down the hill, "someone appeared - one who seemed nearly to fade..." This "someone" went by the name of Virgil and was sent by Beatrice, Dante's lost love, to guide Dante on a journey.

This image just shows Dante following Virgil through the woods. This begins their journey with Virgil as the guide.

The Mind of a Child :)

I thought this video was really interesting. The little boy didn't understand that even though the water was in a different glass, it was still the same amount of water. I would love to do experiments like these for a living. It's really interesting. Just watch.

Dante's Inferno

Dante Alighieri

with Virgil (the angel that leads him through Hell)

watching the souls dwell in Hell

the second level of Hell



More on Dante's Inferno

Kids Must Make Friends :)

I found the following article in the New York Times. This article tells how important it is for young children, mostly in elementary school, to make friends. If they're too shy, they become social outcasts and later turn to a depression stage. The friend doesn't have to be very close, either. The article, obviously goes into more detail about it. I thought it was very interesting.

Children's Friendships