EQ

1.   Review this.  Confirm by stating "I reviewed the rule of three for writing an EQ."
Essential Question 
Once a topic is chosen, the student will develop a working essential question.  The purpose of the working essential question is to help the student build a strong foundation of research which will allow him or her to create an essential question that encourages depth and rigor in the chosen topic.  An essential question must:

• Provide a framework for studies (It calls for breadth and depth of research, Is not a yes/no question)
• Takes a stance (Allows you to argue some point, Cannot be a recitation of facts or a list)
•  Format (It is specific, The wording makes sense

I reviewed the rule of three for writing an EQ

2.  Review the following EQs and

• Tell us if it meets the rule of 3 criteria.
• Tell why it does or why it doesn't

 a.  What is the most important factor in healthy weight loss?

It does, it is specific, makes sense, and allows for research and the ability to take a side.

 b.  What is most important to securing a conviction in a criminal investigation?

no, wording is confusing

 c.  What is most important in creating a hairstyle that best satisfies a customer?

no, not specific enough when describing the customer

 d.  How can an Anesthesiologist best treat chronic pain?

no, doesn't say what the chronic pain is from or when it is located on the body.
3.  Based on your review of the rule of 3 and your experience with assessing four EQs, please write another draft EQ for your senior project.

What is the most important factor for a computer programmer to consider when creating a program designed to teach children?

Research and Working EQ

1.  What is your working EQ?

What, as a computer programmer, is the most important factor to consider when creating a program for a client?

2.  What is a possible answer to your working EQ? Please write the answer in thesis format.  

Ease of use. If a customer has limited computer knowledge, they need to still be able to use the program.

Efficiency. A program needs to be able to do its task using the lowest resources possible and as directly as possible.

3.  What is the most important source you have used that has helped you come up with an answer to your working EQ? 

My mentor.

4.  Who is your mentor, or where are you volunteering, and how does what you are doing relate to your working EQ?

My mentor is Richard Hartlein, and I am working with State Collection Services. I am going over reports and programs created using a facs system and seeing how they are executed. It allows me to actually create programs for people with the help of my mentor and see what factors we need to consider.

Independent Component 1 Approval

Please review the component contract at page 12 of the senior project packet.  Clickhere!  The independent component 1 is an opportunity for you to add a dimension of creativity and/or an additional outlet for research.  The goal of the component is for you to explore your topic in more depth with this component.  On February 7, 2014, you will be turning in the following to your blog to prove completion of this component:

·       Log of hours on an digital spreadsheet (with total number of hours included)

·       Evidence of the 30 hours of work (e.g. transcript, essays, tests, art work, photographs) as digital artifacts

·       LIA

 The senior team expects that your log will be on the right hand side of your blog with your WB and mentorship log.   In addition to this,  we expect that you will be able to prove the total 30 hours of work by submitting evidence to the blog by the due date.  For this blog post and approval, please answer the following questions.

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

I plan to do various programming on my own time, learning the visual basic language and making my own programs also I will be joining the programming section of FIRST robotics.

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

I will post pictures of what I'm creating as I go and post descrptions on the blog, as well as logging my hours and a summary for the log

3.  And explain how what you will be doing will help you explore your topic in more depth.

It will give me a change to program for the sake of learning, and also, in the iPoly fashion, learn through problem based learning with FIRST.

4.  Post a log on the right hand side of your blog near your mentorship log and call it the independent component 1 log.

Done.

Your answers to the questions should be supported with details and examples for the senior team to understand what you plan to do.   Once we review your Blog Post 7, your house teacher will discuss with you the approval of your plan.  If it is approved, please start working on it.  If it is not approved, your house teacher will explain why.  It is your job to address the concerns so you can get your component approved. 

9/29/13

For the last week or so, I have been working on learning a programming language called Visual Basic. So far I have programmed a simple Hello World program and 2 If, Then Statements. I'm really enjoying learning this language and the possibilities with it. I have watched 6 of 26 videos for learning the basics of visual basic. Hopefully by the end of next month I will be about half way through learning visual basic, although there is always more to learn. I will post some pictures of the code I have been working on so far, and a part my mentor helped write.

Program: Hello World

Program: Decisions

Program in Progress: League

Second Interview Questions

The purpose of the second interview is justify your mentor as an expert in the field.  Thus, you will be asking at least 5 questions about their background and/or the background of the organization or company where they work.

1.  Who is your mentor and where do they work?

Richard Hartlein
Works from home, but works for the company State Collection Services, Inc.

2.  What five questions will ask them about their background?

How long have you been a Computer Programmer?
What are some of the biggest jobs you have handled as a programmer?
What inspired you to become a programmer?
What companies have you worked for?
Who had the biggest influence on encouraging you to follow this path?

Blog 5 Project Reflection and Working EQ

So far, you have: completed your summer mentorship, started doing some research, maybe completed the interview and hopefully found a mentor.

Using what you have done so far, answer the following 5 questions (be specific and use examples)

The Pentagon: 
(1) Positive Statement: What positive thing happen as a result of what you have completed so far?

I have learned a lot about 2 different careers, aluminum casting, and computer programming, and i'm sure now that I do not want to do the first. Also, I have realized just how big a job learning programming languages can be.

(2) EQ Content:  Pick a piece of research or your interview.  How has it helped you improve your understanding of your topic?

My First source gave me a great overview about programming as a whole and how it works. I also now understand certain pieces of vocabulary such as syntax and semantics. Now that I understand much more about what the commands do, I have gained a lot of understanding  about how computers work as a whole.

(3) What has worked for you so far in the senior project?

Finding a possible mentor and staying on top of contact with them and making sure they don't forget about me wanting them to be my mentor.

(4) What hasn't worked so far?  

Finding a mentor in the medical field was extremely challenging and in the end I changed topics because of it.Also I find that its not so much the unwilling people as the fact they have to clear it with their boss and that doesn't go quite so well.

(5) Finding Value:  

•  What is a potential question you would like to study this year?  (working EQ)
•  What do you plan to do for mentorship?  If you haven't found a mentor yet, then discuss where you are currently looking and who you are talking to to find it.  

What, as a computer programmer, is the most important factor to consider when creating a program for a client?

I plan to work with my mentor and learn to program myself. I'm currently trying to have Richard Hartlein be my mentor, and we are just waiting for it to hopefully clear with his boss.

August

 This August has been a pretty long month, filled with all the complications of starting school again. I have now found out that I am going to be at school till 4:30 pm EVERY SINGLE WEEKDAY. That is going to be really hard to figure out how to schedule around. Not to mention due to my last minute mentor change, I still have even more work to do. Lately in preparation for my programming mentorship, and just because I like to, I've been playing around on ubuntu server. So far I have a VPN, and SSH server running, and a few other various programs such as webmin, which is used to manage the previously mentioned servers. I have started the Interview with my mentor, and found out a few of the programming languages that we will be using, such as cache, and I am familiar with not a single one. Once the mentorship begins, I hope to learn a great deal of the language. He also showed me an extremely cool website where the take the song 99 bottles of beer on the wall, and write a program to type it in over 1500 programming languages. it has to be one of the coolest things ive seen. (http://www.99-bottles-of-beer.net/).

Blog 4: Interview Preparation

Content:

1.  Who do you plan to interview?  Why?

I plan to interview Richard Hartlein because he is my mentor and an expert in the programming field.

2.  You have to ask 5 questions.  What additional questions do you plan to ask?  Ask open-ended questions.  What are open-ended questions? Click here! If that doesn't help, try this one.  Click here!

I plan to ask: 
What level of education is needed to succeed in this field?
What is the job market like?
What ROP programs do you recommend?
What ways can I practice my programming skills?
What programming skills are worth practicing and what aren't?

Blog 3: Topic Choice and Semester 1 ESLR Goals

1.  List your topic here: 

IT or Nursing 

2.  What do you plan to do this year to show growth in each of the ESLRs?  Be specific and use an example.  Examples can come from senior project, model assembly, core, and/or participation in senior class, ASB or other organizations on campus (clubs etc).

Effective Learner: I plan to use class time much more efficiently to finish classwork and homework, that way I have time to work on other things such as the AP calculus course and applications for college. 

Effective Communicator: I plan to stop having as many outbursts during class and listen more during lectures. Also I plan to be less hyper, so i can be more professional. 

Effective User of Technology: I plan to learn more about information gathering techniques such as the cal poly database and my local library. Also I plan to use my knowledge of technology to create an engaging senior presentation.

Effective Ipoly Citizen: I will make a point to be late as little as possible and minimize trips to the bathroom during class out of respect for the teachers, and to maximize my learning at Ipoly. Also I will do my best to give every senior that I work with a fresh slate and not judge them by past performance.

Summer Mentorship Component

Literal:  

1. (Know) Log of specific hours with a total and a description of your duties

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aibi1noNRs3wdHl2OVBBVUhGVzc3alg2X0hwMVdrWUE&usp=sharing





2. Contact Name & Number

Gordon Borneman
(909) 986-0410


3. (Need to know) What questions were raised because of the 10 hours of experience?  List them.     

About how long does it take to make a casting?
What steps other than the molding  and pouring go into the creation of the casting?
How many people contribute to each casting?


Interpretive:

4. What is the most important thing you gained from this experience? Why?

A better understanding of what it means to work hard. Because i always thought that working hard on school and desk work was hard, but there are jobs that require you to work much harder both physically and mentally, and that sometimes, schooling isn't enough. It takes real life experience to teach certain topics such as problem solving.


Applied:

   
5. How did what you did help you choose a topic?  Please explain.

What I did with Alumalloy was just a topic that i was interested in, due to some of the cool parts they make like airplane parts or missile parts, but I doubt that I will pursue it as my senior topic, because it isn't quite as interesting as i believed it to be.

2013 2-Hour Presentation Reflections

Literal: 

1.  (Know) What presentations did you see?  Name the topic and the person's first name.

I saw: Jorge E   Electronic Dance Music,  Jessica B   Making an Album, Marilyn G   OBGYN, Dominic Z  All Star Cheerleading (Safety), Nicholas G   Automotive Repair, Alyssa S   Yoga, Ariana K   Machine Programming, Emma S   Yearbook, Ricardo M   Drifting, Darlene D   Cancer Survivors, Daniel L   Car Audio, Cheryl W   Veterinarian Oncology, and Mr. Hedman's AMAZING two hour presentation.

2.  (Need to know) What questions do you have that haven't been answered about the project? 

How much does each part of the presentation count for? For example, is making time 20% of the grade or 50%? is professionalism 10% or 70%? Also, when do we find out who is grading our presentation? And do the activities have a time that they need to reach?

Interpretive:

3. What has the most important part of the senior project based on what you are seeing in the 2-hour presentations?

I believe the most important part of the senior project is really learing the technical aspects of what you are studying so that you can easily make time. Also, it really looks professional when you can answer any question that is presented to you.

Applied:

4. What topic are you considering doing and why?

I am considering doing some kind of Nursing because that is the career that I would like to shoot for in the future.