kacis-capstone-journey

[kacis-capstone-journey]

Hi everyone! Thank you for joining me on my capstone journey! And congratulations to everyone that finished their projects/practicums! <33

[kacis-capstone-journey]

Tumblr Update #8

These last two weeks have been a whirlwind of me wrapping up the project. Most of the time has been spent refining my website and having meetings with Sharla in order to improve it. I am still attending the volunteer program, but the children that I’ve been working with this past semester have been absent. However, I have enough work from them to produce a final presentation of my project and the work I have done over the semester! I even got one more new kid, and I was able to display their work as well. As for the next two weeks, there is nothing coming up concerning the project since we are at the end.

There have been a few hiccups throughout the past two weeks. I have been needing a lot of editing on my website. Thankfully the content was all there, it was just about cleaning it up and finding the best way to format everything. Meeting with Sharla definitely helped as there were some content changes as well. My deliverables can be seen when they are published!

As for my timeline, I am just about done. My website just needs a final review and possibly small minor touch-ups and then it will be good to publish!

[kacis-capstone-journey]

Tumblr Update #7

For the past two weeks I have been working with the kids and getting them to develop poems. They each have at least 1-2 poems at this time. I have also been working on designing the website and adding my observations to the website. I have also been adding pictures and doing a lot of aesthetic changes to the website. For the last two weeks, I plan to help the children either create at least one more poem or help them revise their preexisting poems. I also plan to finalize the website by scanning and translating their work onto it. Right now there are not any big hurdles. I am back on track, although it feels like I’m cutting it close, but I know I can finish on time. At this time, I do not have any deliverables that I can share since I need to crop and make sure the work I’m scanning from the kids do not contain any information that can reveal their identities. I am on track on my timeline. While originally I had hoped to be done with my capstone a week early, I am still on track to finish right on time!

[kacis-capstone-journey]

Tumblr Update #6

In the past two weeks I was unable to work with the children due to their spring break and their own unavailability. However, in the meantime I have mapped out my website and created the template I want to use. All that’s left is to scan their work and display it properly. 

In the next two weeks, I hope to continue working with them and getting finalized drafts. There will be a lot of changes to the tutoring program I am working with, so I am hoping to work with even more children. I am hoping the transition will be smooth. So far the hurdles and hiccups I’ve faced is the lack of working with them for the past two weeks. It has technically pushed me back, and this is not something I was hoping to rush as I want to give the children adequate time to produce quality work. However, I’m planning to see how the changes in the program go and see where to go from there. 

I have no deliverables to share at this time. Currently, I am behind on the timeline due to the small setback, but it is not devastating to my project, just not what I hoped for. However, I’m going to keep on working to make sure I get this capstone out!

[kacis-capstone-journey]

Tumblr Update #5

I have continued working with the kids these past two weeks. Now, we are focusing on different forms and structures of poetry. I want them to become familiar with these, so by the time they are drafting their own poetry, they will be able to have these structures to fall back on if needed. In the next two weeks, I plan to continue working with them on the lessons I have built. I also plan to work towards finalizing my website. I will have to scan/digitize their work in order to post it. I want to give myself time to play around with it and see what works best.

As for hiccups/hurdles/AHA moments, I have had one recently. I had a new kid join us recently, and I had to work with them to try and catch them up. During this time I assigned independent work with the kids who I have consistently worked with so far. However, without my guidance, it didn’t quite go as I had hoped. I need to come up with a better way to organize the lesson plans and accommodate the kids who will join me later. Having them learn at different rates is not ideal, but it is also not impossible. After dealing with this hurdle for the first time last Friday, I have a better idea of how to handle it.

At this time, there isn’t much visual progress to show. However, I am on-track on my timeline!

[kacis-capstone-journey]

Tumblr Update #4

These past two weeks have been dedicated to continuing to develop lesson plans for the children I work with. I try to keep it simple and flexible in the event things need to be modified. Last Friday I was able to work with the kids for the first time. I believe it went well! They were really receptive to it, and they were excited to work with me (which was relieving). We went over figures of speech together. The ones who were familiar with them, breezed through it, and the ones who were not familiar with it, were still able to grasp the lesson. No one was visibly struggling as far as I’m aware, and their work reflects their understanding. 

For the next two weeks, I am hoping to continue working with the kids. By this week, I will be able to see the information they were able to retain and adapt from there. Every week I plan to review what we went over last, but I’m hoping they will continue to internalize the information! 

There’s no major hiccups or hurdles at this time, but the amount of children I work with each week will likely vary since I’m working with the ones who do not have homework for that week. I think keeping the lesson plans flexible is key to this. I also think reviewing what we went over last time will also be helpful, and when the students work on writing activities, I can catch up the others who might have missed a lesson.

Lastly, there are no deliverable drafts to share at this time. I’m on track for my timeline, and I hope to stay that way.

[kacis-capstone-journey]

Tumblr Update #3

These past two weeks I have been working on developing my lesson plans. The kids from the enrichment program I work with have been sick for the past two weeks. In the meantime, I have been working on developing my lesson plans and creating their notebook journals that they will be using. I plan to get started with working with them for the next two weeks and finalizing my website using Squarespace. There are a lot of website templates to choose from, so I am going to be very intentional with what I choose in the end.

As for hiccups, hurdles, and AHA moments, the main hurdles I have is the consistency of the children’s attendance. Since it is something that I cannot control, I have to be flexible with the time it gives me. I plan to work around that by working on the website and continuing the lesson plan finalizations when we cannot work together. That is the main hurdle I am facing.

The deliverables I have to share right now are my lesson plans. Everything in them is printed and pasted into the journals the kids will be using when I work with them. I plan to use them to structure my time with the children and keep as an agenda as well. Lastly, I am still pretty much on time for my timeline. While I wanted to work with them a bit sooner, it is not a detrimental setback as I have used the time wisely to polish and work on other aspects of my project.

[kacis-capstone-journey]

Progress Update #2

These past two weeks have been the jumpstart to my project. Most of my time these past weeks have been solidifying my project idea and plans. More of the logistic goals were met during this time, such as gaining a physical record of permission from my pastor to work with my church’s enrichment program. I have also worked on brainstorming lesson plans and activities to do with the children. There is a lot to be done, but I have some solid ideas of what to do with them. I am excited to work with them more personally and see what they come up with!

As for what will happen within the next two weeks, I will be solidifying my lesson plan and begin using them. I plan to adjust the lessons as I go, but I want to start working with the children as soon as possible. So I plan to start. I also plan to look more into creating a website. At this time, I am unsure if coding my own website would be better (e.g. html) or if it is better for me to go through a service (e.g. Squarespace or Wix). I am also looking for more specific poetry examples to read with the children, so I am researching for some that I think they will enjoy.

At this time, the only deliverable draft I have is my brainstorming notes for the lesson plans and activities I have. I plan to post my finalized lesson plans by the time I make my next Tumblr post update. Lastly, I am on track for my timeline, so I plan to continue working hard and staying on track!

[kacis-capstone-journey]

Hi everyone! Welcome to my introduction video. I am looking forward to a great semester with everyone!