Blog 24 - Last Presentation Reflection

1. Positive Statement
• What are you most proud of in your block presentation and/or your senior project? Why?
• I'm glad I was able to present in general. I sometimes loose my train of thought, but I feel like I did better than usual. I was proud that I kept it together. I think the hardest part of a presentation is starting it because once you start talking it becomes a little more comfortable. However, the fact that it's a graded assignment can be intimidating. I also thought my activity worked well today because it seemed that most of the people enjoyed it.
2. Questions to Consider
• What assessment would you give yourself on your block presentation? Use the component contract to defend that assessment.
• P. I personally think I hit all the points on the final component contract except for the EQ being displayed at all times. I completely forgot about my poster at home, but hopefully it doesn't make too much of a damage on my overall grade. Looking at the contract made me realize that I could've gone upon some of these points a lot better.
• What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project? Use the component contract to defend that assessment.
• P. I mean I loved having this experience and I enjoyed ever minute of it. I was consistent with my mentor-ship and the work that was needed towards it. Sometimes they would call me in to help in a certain event that they were hosting. I'm planning to continue to volunteer during the summer and their Hawaiian festival on June 12th and June 13th. I made the effort to be involved as much as possible; as have others. 
3. What worked for you in your senior project?
• The mentor-ship itself. When I would volunteer, it didn't feel like an obligation but a privilege.
4. If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your senior project?
• I would've gotten my essential question poster from behind the door of my room and placed it inside the car, so I wouldn't forget it like I did today. I could've taken some of the information off of a couple of slides because the slides could've been overwhelming, but I was afraid that I was going to forget to mention a fact. I should've practiced more. When I practiced at home, I went up to 35 minutes on the three answers and today I felt like I went faster than what was originally planned.
5. Finding Value
• How has the senior project been helpful to you in your future endeavors? Be specific and use examples.
• It has opened a lot of new doors. Julia, the assistant at the nature center has emailed me job offers that I can apply to and I'm sincerely grateful because she seemed to be interested in supporting me. 
• However, just having the experience is great for resumes and for myself because I've learned how to approach the public. This is a skill that a lot of jobs look for since most businesses involve some kind of interaction with people.
• I've also met a lot of new people that are in the same position as I am and others who are able to give me advice on certain opportunities later in the future.

Exit Interview

1. What is your essential question, and what are your answers? What is your best answer and why?
• How can a wildlife educator most effectively spread awareness? 
• Answers: Interaction, Current Issues, Reach-Outs
• My best answer is interaction because it's having the experience that makes it so significant. Interacting with an animal can develop a relationship. Having a relationship makes the person care more about the animal and more about the topic. This encourages them to influence others by raising awareness.
2. What process did you take to arrive at this answer?
• Volunteering at my mentor-ship and being involved in the programs has helped me develop my first answer. I think I first based it on myself because I was only interested in the topic, I wasn't concerned for it. Spending time with the animals and the staff members and developing a relationship with the facility has made me care for them. I then started researching interaction and has given me a lot f information about it's importance. 
3. What problems did you face? How did you resolve them?
• It was hard for me to research my topic because it is pretty self explanatory. However, once I had help in creating my essential question, I was able to focus my research in finding answers. I started to analyze the things I was doing at my mentor-ship with my mentor and observe the certain techniques he used when teaching the kids about the animals and the environment.
4. What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?
• Mentor-ship
• Strife, Susan and Downey, Liam. "Childhood Development ans Access to Nature." ncbi.gov. A New Direction for Environmental Inequality Research. 22 Mar. 2009. Web. 03 Dec. 2015.
• It explain the importance of the next generation and at the nature center I work with children more than I work with adults. Children linked to interaction and reach-outs because they are in need of education.
• "Wildlife Awareness and Value." targetstudy.com. Education, knowledge, and career, N.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2016. https://targetstudy.com/articles/wildlife-awareness-and-value.html
• The purpose of raising awareness is for the environment itself. We must first know why it is is so important and so valuable to us. This influenced current issues.

Blog 22 - Independent Component 2

1. Statement
• "I, Julissa Ortiz, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 36:55 hours of work."
2. Source
• My mentor, Max Lucero, helped me with my independent component. He is the one who teaches the kids about the environment and the different types of wildlife animals. I was able to help the children with their worksheets and if Max was busy, the students would approach me. I would take out animals and show them to the kids while he talked about its unique features. I just helped in whatever I can.
3. Independent Component 2 Log
• Updated
4. Completed
• I was able to help the kids grasp a better understanding of the information based on the animals and nature. I created a sort of bond with the children and it was nice to see how many kids are interested in learning about the environment. A lot of these children are very intelligent and are always filled with curiosity. 
5. Component's significance and how it demonstrates 30 hours of work
• Almost ever Tuesday and Saturday, I would volunteer for at least 7 hours. Throughout those 7 hours, I cleaned, presented, and then helped setup for the junior ranger program. Once the program started, I spent all my time with the kids to help them in what they needed. After the kids left, we would clean up the area and put the tables and chairs away.
• Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7oS0IM1WlI&edit=vd 
6. How did the component help you answer your EQ? 
• My essential question is how can a wildlife educator most effectively spread awareness? This component was a huge help because I was able to put myself in a position of wildlife educator. This way I was able to identify, for myself, the key techniques to spreading awareness. 

Blog 21 - Interview 4 Reflection

1. What is the most important thing I learned from the interview?  

• I learned how passionate and dedicated people are when they find something that they love doing. She helped me understand how important this is and how to get others to care about it the same way she does. She knows a lot of information about these animals and she's able to answer all of the public's questions in an knowledgeable way. 

2.  How will what I learned affect my final lesson?

• She has been in this field for 25 years. She has worked with them for most of her life and I've learned a lot in all fields that I can hopefully incorporate in my final lesson. For example, the certain activities that I can do for my lesson and new information regarding how these animals end up in these facilities. 

Blog 20 - Fourth Interview Questions

1. Who do you plan to interview? What is this person's area of expertise?

• Even though it didn't work out last time, I still want to try to get a hold of a worker from the Big Bear Alpine Zoo. This zoo doesn't just display the animals for education, but also has another section where they are rehabilitating them as well. 
• More specifically, I would like to interview Summer McElroy because she is the lead animal keeper. Since she interacts with the animals all the time, she will most likely understand the importance of increasing awareness.

2. Post 20 open-ended questions you want to ask an expert in the field concerning your senior project. Your focus should be finding answers to your EQ.

• What would you consider to be the most important factor in the role that you play in the Alpine Zoo?
• Why did you choose to go into this field?
• Any experiences with prior animals that influenced you?
• In what ways would you try to encourage the public to participate in certain environmental issues?
• What are some of the factors that are necessary to care for the animal.
• What made you care for animals?
• Zoo's are used for educational purposes, however they are also used for entertainment. What is your opinion?
• Is there some sort of goal that you work towards while working at this organization?
• Do you think raising awareness is important?
• If so why?
• What are some of the most effective methods or techniques that can be used to raise awareness?
• Interaction? Experiences? Issues? Activities? Reach-outs?
• What made you become aware?
• Have you ever taught a group of adults or children?
• In what ways do you think the public learns?
• Interaction?
• What would you say is the most important topic to educate them with?
• What activities did you find the most effective and fun for the children?
• How do you make them care?
• Is it difficult?
• Why are wildlife educators important?
• How can a wildlife educator most effectively spread awareness?
• Why does there have to be animal rehabilitation facilities?
• What are some of the main reasons that animals end up in organizations like the zoo or the nature centers?
• Has this job experience impacted your life in any way?
• Do you think other people can have similar experiences and have the same effect?
• If yes, what types of experiences?
• What age group do you think is the most important to educate?
• Or all? And if so why?
• Knowing about all the environmental issues happening around the world, what are some of the methods that can be used to prevent them?
• What is important to you?
• How do you prevent zoochosis? (a psychological condition of animals kept in circuses and zoos)

Blog 19 - Third Answer

1. Essential Question

• How can a wildlife educator most effectively raise awareness?

2. Answer Three

• A wildlife educator can most effectively spread awareness by organizing reach-outs at public events and schools.

3. Three details to support the answer.

• This helps attract a variety of people. Usually nature centers draw in people who are already interested in the environment. This way, people can develop an interest and tend to want to learn more about the topic.
• Reach-outs can also influence people to volunteer and help out in programs that focus on benefiting the environment for the people and the animals.
• It will also educate the public. This can encourage them to participate in activities and events that will demonstrate care for the environment. This encouragement can spread from person to person.

4. Research sources that support details and answers.

• "Bring the Classroom Outside." projectwild.org. How to think, What not to think, N.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.
• "Wildlife Educator." greencareer.biz. Green Career Guide, N.d. Web. 28 Jan. 2016.

5. Concluding Sentence

• Reach-outs are important to raising awareness because it doesn't just target those people who are already interested in the environment, but those who disregard the issues and its importance. It can encourage them to volunteer and can develop an interest towards it.

Blog 18 - Answer 2

1.  What is your EQ?

• How can a wildlife educator most effectively spread awareness?

2.  What is your first answer? (In complete thesis statement format)

• A wildlife educator can most effectively spread awareness by interacting with the environment and the animals themselves.

3.  What is your second answer? (In complete thesis statement format)

• A wildlife educator can most effectively spread awareness by realizing the current issues and the effects on the animals and their environment.

4.  List three reasons your answer is true with a real-world application for each.

• When someone realizes what other people go through or have had the same experience, they tend to sympathize for the situation. An example of this might be hunger. If someone realizes that there are large percentages of starving children in Africa and if they can relate to those children, they tend to spread awareness in order to help improve the issue.

• If this issue is affecting them in a negative way, they will want to tell others so they can improve upon it and reduce the negative outcomes. An example of this can be water conservation. However, people aren’t reacting to it because they don’t realize it’s impact until it’s physically and directly affecting them.

• Actual experiences can have a huge effect on a person. If an animal that they are really attached to gets hurt or dies because of the issues around the world, they’ll definitely try in some way to raise awareness and improve upon the issue. Sometimes we only realize the problem when it’s too late.

5.  What printed source best supports your answer?

• When I interviewed my mentor he said that the way that he started to get involved in the environment was through his job. However, he first started caring for it by interacting with the animals, but he was also put in a position where he experienced damaging situations. When he was in a different program, he’d get calls to pick up animals that were injured due to human activity.

6.  What other source supports your answer?

• Reid, Sarah. "11 Wildlife Experiences That Could Vanish In Your Lifetime." cnn.com. Wildlife experiences, 16 Apr. 2015. Web. 18 Feb. 2016.

7.  Tie this together with a concluding thought.

• When we experience something that has a huge impact on us, we tend to defend it as much as possible and have others help in the movement.

Blog 17 - Interview 3 Reflection

1. What is the most important thing I learned from the interview?

• I learned that I've been only focusing on ways to educate the public and have them interact with the environment, that I didn't notice why they are even moving away from it in the first place. Throughout the interview my mentor also helped me realize that finding ways to raise awareness is not necessarily the most difficult, but trying to make them care about it is.

2. How has your approach to interviewing changed over the course of your senior project?

• The very first interviews that I've conducted didn't really seem to get me the information that I wanted. I feel like part of the problem were the questions that I had made. Maybe they weren't structured right and it carried the conversation into a different direction. However, I'm really proud of the way this interview came out because I knew the kind of information I was looking for. It's fun to talk to people who are passionate about the same thing that you are. 

Blog 16 - Independent Component 2 Approval

1. Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.

• Starting around the end of February, the nature center holds a junior ranger program for kids ages 7 to 12. I was thinking about volunteering Saturdays and staying longer to help my mentor with the program. This program basically educates the children about the environment. The functions of different plants, how to distinguish the dangerous animals from the safe ones, the difference between  mammals, birds, fishes, reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates, and information in general.

2. Describe how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.

• To demonstrate that I've worked for more than 30 hours, I'd take a picture each day to show the activities that we do with the kids. Then I'll put them together and make a slideshow.

3. Explain how this component will help you explore your topic in more depth.

• My topic is wildlife care and awareness. Educating the public is a form of awareness. Having first hand experience about my topic can definitely help me observe the different techniques used to educate the kids. This will hopefully give me an understanding of the methods used to get the kids to interact and acknowledge the environment. 

4. Post a log in your Senior Project Hours link and label it "Independent Component 2" log.

• Link 

Independent Component 1

• Literal
• I, Julissa Ortiz, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work."
• My mentor Max Lucero and the San Dimas Nature Center staff has helped me complete my independent component.
• Link
• I've decided to do extra hours. I originally was going to do the presentations that I do with the public, but it does not meet the full 30 hours. However, this February, my mentor is starting the junior ranger program. That takes several days during the week and can work for my independent component 2.
• Interpretive

• I usually volunteer every Saturday, unless something comes up with my family. Each Saturday, I usually stay for seven hours. Spending more time at the nature center has helped me become more familiar with my essential question. I am constantly experiencing my answers, but I still have trouble figuring out what they are.
• Applied
• This component has given me more experiences with the animals and nature itself. My topic is basically everything that the nature center is revolved around. Since I did more hours, I was able to become more familiar with the everyday schedules and I began to learn more about the animals. Each Saturday, all the volunteers do presentations. We need to know most of the information so that we are able to answer the public's questions.

Lesson 2 Reflection

1. What are you most proud of in your Lesson 2 Presentation and why?

• I was proud that I was able to go into depth of my answer. When I first thought about it, I was worried that I might not be able to cover much of the answer because I thought it was self-explanatory. However, there was key factors to my answer that I've experienced through my mentor ship. I enjoyed seeing it come together.

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

• P

    b. Explain why you deserve that grade using evidence from the Lesson 2 component contract.

• I believe I met all of the P consideration requirements. The only thing that I'm not so sure about is the time. However, I think I did good overall and I was really proud about the outcome of my activity.

3. What worked for you in your Lesson 2?

• I think the information that I collected was able to support my answer one well. I really enjoyed my activity because I wanted to demonstrate the difference of having a connection with an animal at oppose to not having one. Interacting with them is what raises awareness. If I had more time, I would've had them share out loud with the groups.

4.What didn't work? If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your Lesson 2?

• I personally think that the way I presented could've been better. I would sometimes stumble with my words and wouldn't be able to express myself the way I wanted to. I could've cut out a slide or two from my power-point to make more room for the activity. 

5. What do you think your answer #2 is going to be?

• I originally thought about education and interaction, but education wouldn't work because it's basically my essential question. Maybe organizing an event or festival that solely focuses on raising awareness.

Blog 14 - Interview 3 Preparation

EQ: How can a wildlife educator most effectively spread awareness?

1. Who do you plan to interview? What is this person's area of expertise?

• My goal is to hopefully get a worker from the Big Bear Alpine Zoo. They have a section of animals that are taken care of and used for educational purposes, as well as another section where they are rehabilitating others.
• If the scheduling of the appointment doesn't seem to function, I'll interview my mentor. Since I've switched mentors three times, I think at some point or another I should officially interview him to get an insight of his opinions about certain topics.

2. Verify that you have called your interviewee to schedule an interview. What is the date and time of the interview?

• I do not currently have a set time and date for my interview, but I am waiting on an email that hopefully will be responded to soon.

3. Phrase an open-ended question that will help you find research resources that would help to answer the EQ. 

• Do you have any articles or a book that you've come across that may be a good resource for this topic?
• Is there a specific author or organization that you read and have found valuable?
• Relating to Wildlife Care and Awareness

4. Phrase an open-ended question that will help you think about other useful activities you might do to help you answer the EQ.

• What is your daily goal when working in this organization? 
• Have you ever taught a group of kids about the types of animals at your center?
• If so what activities did you conduct and have found to be the most fun and effective for the children?
• Are there any other activities that you recommend?

5. Phrase two open-ended questions that help you to understand your interviewee's perspective on an aspect of your EQ.

• What techniques or methods do you believe are one of the most effective when spreading awareness?
• Do you believe that teaching the public is important? Why or why not?
• How can a wildlife educator most effectively spread awareness?
• My essential question (so I can get feedback)

Blog 13 - 10 Hour Mentorship Check-In

1. Where are you doing your mentorship?

• San Dimas Canyon Nature Center

2. Who is your contact? What makes this person an expert?

• Max. He has been employed at the nature center for more than five years. He knows almost everything about every animal at the nature center and is the teacher for the junior ranger programs that are held throughout the year. He's passionate about what he does and is interested in continuing to work with animals.

3. How many hours have you done during the school year?

• 65

4. Succinctly summarize what you did, how well you and your mentor worked together, and how you plan to complete the remaining hours.

• If I volunteer during the week, I usually clean out the cages and feed the animals. Sometimes I interact with some of them so they aren't confined in one area. If there's a good amount of people, we take out one or two animals to show the kids. On Saturdays, I usually do the same thing. However, we do go down to the park and invite the public to the free presentations at 1. I think my mentor and I work pretty well with each other. He's not always at the nature center, but he's willing to help when I need anything. I've already completed my hours, but I will continue to volunteer because I enjoy helping out. I want to try volunteering at other nature centers to see what they might do differently.

Blog 12 - Holiday Project Update

1. It is important to consistently work on your senior project, whether it is break or we are in school. What did you do over the break with your senior project?

• During the break, I wrapped up my independent component and I continued to volunteer. I also learned that there are other seniors volunteering at the nature center for a similar project and may help to contribute ideas.

2. What was the most important thing you learned from what you did and why? What was the source of what you learned?

• I realized that I really like to interact with people. I love seeing their face expressions when we hold the reptiles. We walk around them within the museum and the kids are amazed. At times they share their own stories when they have experienced something with the animals at our nature center. These presentations is what I look forward to the most because it makes me learn new things about different animals so I can share them with the public.

3. Your third interview will be a 10 question interview related to possible answers for your EQ. Who do you plan to talk to and why?

• My actual mentor. I've switched mentors at least three times, but he is very knowledgeable about the animals and is always the man to go to when one needs help. He has several years of experience in this profession. I'm curious to know how he came to this field and how he became so passionate about it.