Math Club: New Tutor Session!!!

As i previously noted, I wanted to set up a Friday after school session every week. I have received permission and approval to do so.

I will have an after school tutor session for students in the St. Bernadette 5th grade math club every Friday. The session goes from 3 to 4pm. This session is a chance for students to review past material to ensure a concrete understanding, work on homework, and get help. Also this session is also used to challenged already advanced students who have a great grasp of the math material already taught.

I am running and tutoring the students myself. The first tutor session started on Dec. 10th.

This program will run all year long. I am super excited to help these kids out!

My milestone dates are every Friday until the end of the year.

First Session and Competition

So last Thursday I was able to go into the 5th grade math club at my previous school and help tutor the kids. Mostly the kids were reviewing for the competition on the 4th of Dec.  I was in math club when I was in fifth grade and sixth grade so I gave them advice and pointers on the competition! It was very fun helping out and I plan to come in again once a week for the next couples weeks before break and a couple weeks after break.

I attended their competition yesterday at Newport HS. It was a long and challenging day for the kids. But it was a great experience and fun as well!

I still see a good few of the kids struggling with just basic concepts such as the area of a triangle. And some kids don't really have a good understanding of the material and their parents are not willing to step up and take time to help them. So I offered to teach a tutor session on my own after school on fridays for those kids who need the help. I'm currently still trying to work that out.

Changes and Updates...

So I have decided to cancel the can tab drive that I originally proposed for. I thought about the time frame given and I don't believe it will be enough time to really get everything organized and collected, especially with the upcoming Christmas break. Unfortunately I was looking forward to this project but the time and breaks don't make it the best time to do the project.

As for the new project that I want to do, I would like to go help and tutor students during math club at my previous school. Lately, I have heard that students are struggling with some of the new math material being taught so I offered to come in and give a helping hand. Math club is taught during the mornings every tuesday and thrusday. Unfortunately, it conflicts with my band class at HHS. So I am hoping to talk with my band director to work out a few days where I could go tutor at math club instead of coming into band. Also, the math club has a competition coming up the 4th of December and I am planning to tag a long and help with anything they need. I was in math club once and I think it would be really fun to help the new math club students out! My mentor for this project will be Giao T.

Helping:
I have helped out with one project already, which was the road clean up. the next two projects I am planning to help out with are Tyler's volunteer day at the library and Jennifer's get together.

Proposal for Lead Project #2

Project:

For this project, I am planning to hold a can tab donation collection. With these tabs, I can turn it in to organizations such as the Ronald McDonald House Charities to help children and families out. They will turn the tabs into a recycling center, which will weigh the tabs and decide on the worth. I am going to have students turn in can tabs from pop cans or any other type of cans that contain tabs after they are used. This not only helps raise money for charity without direct money donation, but helps recycle the tabs as well.

Executive Summary:

Do you want to give to charity without having to donate money directly? Well now you could do that by donating pop can tabs. The can tabs that are donated will be sent to an organization such as the Ronald McDonald House Charities, who will receive money depending on the weight of the tabs collected. I will be holding a can tab drive to collect these can tabs to donate to charity. All around our community, many families are in need and are not fortunate like us. We could help them a little at a time and it could go a long way. Just take a second to pop off the tab and drop it in the jar. It’s simple enough. I do expect students to contribute because I normally see students drink cans with tabs on them. Although I don’t expect a whole lot of can tabs, I believe it is worth it. The drive will be held for about five to six weeks. This project will require no need for any funding, just tabs. It is an easy way to recycle and help the community out.

Need:

Throughout the world and in our own communities, children and families don't receive the help they need. Many families struggle to make it through the day with enough food to eat or perhaps a shelter over their heads. Charities work towards helping these unfortunate people but the economy is hard and funding is low. This project does not require money to be directly donated but just to take time to pull of the tabs and donate those instead. Just a little bit at a time could go a long way. We can help these families by donating these can tabs. This would help benefit our community and help recycle can tabs as well.

Objective:

I expect there to be a reasonable amount of tabs donated because I see students drink from pop cans sometimes. I don't expect a whole bunch because pop is not something that students should regularly drink. And some students would forget as well. Although I might not get a whole bunch, I'm also collecting from other sources as well so this project would be expanded outside of this school.
I plan to have at least half a jar at the end of about a month. That is a short term goal of mine. Also I'd like to get as many students involved as I can. Longterm though, I'd like to continue the collection on the side. I think it's a great easy program that could help the community without needing to donate direct money.

Method:

I have researched on a possible recipient of the donations and there are different options. So far I am thinking of donation to Ronald McDonald House Charities who helps children and their families. I am deciding on how I am going to approach the school with this collection. I know I can’t have collection jars in every single classroom so I think I will have jars in a few classrooms of each grade. Also, I would like to have one in the office. I will also make posters and flyers to hang up around the school to inform people. I know from my past project that not too many people read flyers so I am going to try to announce it somehow. I’ll check in with the jars about every week and a half. At the end I would like to somehow continue the collection just on the side.

Problems I see include people just not caring and deciding not to contribute. Also, people would just be too lazy to pop off the tab. I am addressing those problems by perhaps having an incentive? I know school has spirit points and I perhaps would talk to the teacher about awarding spirit points to the class with the most tab donations. Or I would just keep reminders and make big posters so it is noticeable.

Evaluation:

To judge when I feel this project is successful is quite difficult because there is no set amount of money that will be donated depending on weight. Personally, I don’t think that many people drink a lot of pop, but I will feel this project is successful when I have a full jar of tabs. Success is hard to measure in this case but I think every little bit counts so it would not hurt to try. Depending on how many tabs are donated, I’ll have to see when to end the project. I would still like to continue the project somehow throughout the year by having a donation jar in the office or classroom. Just a little bit at a time can go a long way.

Qualification:

For this project I will need to make posters and have jars to place a can tabs in. The student who is helping me is Tyler C. He will help me make posters, spread the word, and help me collect the tabs as well. I’m a good candidate for this project because I have a want to do this project. I want to be able to make a difference even if it is only a small contribution. I’m a hard working person who wants to do this so I will be able to get the job done successfully. My advisor is going to be Giao T. She will help monitor the overall project and help me bring in donations from other sources as well. I will check in with her once a week to talk over what has been done and what needs to be done.

Timetable:

I am planning to have this operation over the course of about five to six weeks. With this longer extended period of time, more donations of can tabs will hopefully come in. I could possibly, however, only run it for a month depending on how many donations come in.  

December 1:  I plan to start placing out notices and jars

December 10: check in and collect the can tabs (count)

December 20: check in and collect can tabs (count)

January 7: check in and collect can tabs (count)

January 21: Finish project

*I know many tabs must be collected for a reasonable amount of money to be donated. I would like to talk to the teacher about perhaps keeping a jar in the office to keep this ongoing and my advisor has outside donations as well.

Budget:

This project is merely donations and will be at no cost to run or donate to.

Conclusion:

This project is worthwhile because it should be an easy way to give to the community without having to actually donate money. Also, the tabs can be acquired on a pretty regular basis considering how much pop people drink nowadays. It shouldn’t require so much effort to contribute to this drive. It would be such a nice way to make a small contribution to help others out because every contribution counts! With this project, it could be the basis for other projects such as a recycling project. Since people are already donating tabs, why not the cans?

Done Cleaning the Road!

On Nov. 6th, I helped clean a road up in Maple Valley, WA. Tyler C. was in charge of this project. What I did was walk along a road with two others( Nina and Lina) and pick up any trash we found along the way. What we picked up and found ranged from chairs, car parts, and many many alcoholic drink cans, to foil, candy wrappers, and cirgarette buds.

We were on the road hoping that no one thought we were convicts but only volunteers doing good for the community. From helping this project, I learned how we humans slowly are just contaminating our world. Looking from the car as we drive by, we don't see the small details. We don't see the trash and harmful items we throw out the window or throw on the ground just because we are too lazy to find a trash can. Everything that could be picked up helps. Every little bit counts. I learned that I shouldn't be one of those people who just are too lazy to find a trash can. I should help protect this beautiful, fragile place we live on. And as I was in the car on the way home, I became more aware of what was around me. And I noticed much more than I saw before... all the trash that we leave behind.

Get-together Completed!

I held the sophomore get-together on 11/12/10 from 4 to 6pm. It was a fun night filled with popcorn, chips, soda, sweet stuff, and more! We had a variety of movies to choose from but decided on the Pink Panther at the end. I really enjoyed putting together this project because it was a nice way to just be with my classmates and have a relaxing time munching on food and laughing at the funning scenes. I’m really glad Mrs. Fitz was able to be there for this project. Although it was fun, not very many people showed up, this was a bit disappointing.

There were barriers that I had to face during this project. Many of them were out of my control though. I was able to go around and tell some people about the get-together and also made signs for the get-together. The barrier was that many people’s schedules conflicted with the time set for the get-together so they were not able to come. There were also people who backed out the last minute due to other arrangements. Furthermore, many people forgot that it was this Friday and not the next Friday. Some just complained that they did not hear about it. But doesn’t anyone read signs?!

Learning from these barriers, next time I would improve some things. I would try better to make sure that everyone is aware of the event so they can’t say that they never heard of it because apparently they are not aware enough to read signs. I also would better plan ahead on who is bringing what food so I now there is enough to go around. (We did not have a shortage of food but I was afraid we would if more people came)

From putting together this project, it has helped me learn a lot from what skills are needed to what I need to improve on. For this project, I needed to speak up and take initiative. It takes organizational skills and planning in order for the project to successfully come together. I learned that I need to be more confident and speak up. If I want something or for people to notice, I need to raise my voice. Also, I learned that I need to be more organized as well. I was initially going to have people sign up for what food they wanted to bring so I knew but it fell apart in the end. Too many people didn't have time or couldn't come at the last minute so I just got a few more things and had people just bring stuff if they wanted.

I hope to learn from these weaknesses and skills to better improve my next project.

Here are some pictures of the get together:

Updates

Sophomore Get-Together
I have chosen a date and time so far. This event will be held on November 12th at 4pm to 6pm at AHS. I have further to determine which room will be used. This event will include a movie and food, which will be brought by different people. There will be popcorn of course! Goals that I still need to accomplish include determining what movie is going to be viewed and knowing which foods will be brought by who. Steps I must take include gathering movie suggestions and having people sign up to bring treats. Also, I have to make flyers to hang up and notify the sophomores about this event.

Helping Out
I currently am planning to help Tyler with his Road Clean Up project. I will be there to help out with the clean up crew. I decided to help with this project because I think cleaning up a roadside would be an interesting experience. I have not yet done something like it so it would be nice. Also, participating in the project would be helping out the environmnet and the community. It is a way to contribute to the community so we all could live in a better place. Although I have not yet done the project, I learn that there is a lot to consider while cleaning up a roadside. It takes me into a deeper level of seeing what has to happen before the project must go on. There are many factors that must be considered while out near an open road. Safety is a main concern but we must be prepared with proper safety precautions.

My Project Plans

Projects I plan to lead:
*Sophomore Get Together (helper: Tyler C. and Jennifer H.)
*Can tab drive (helper: Tyler C.)

Projects I plan to help with:
*Road Clean-up - Tyler
*Freshman and sophomore class Get together - Jennifer H
*Clothes drive - Jennifer H (potentially could change)

Dealing with barriers

Driving Forces:

·         Relax from school

·         Have a fun enjoyable time

·         Opportunity to socialize

·         Try to create a stress free atmosphere

·         Meet and hang out with friends

·         Chance to meet others and get to interact with them

Barriers

·         Students may not be able to attend due to their schedules

·         Students do not want to participate

·         Unexpected turn out rate

·         Students have bad experience and attitude towards event

·         Students can get out of control

·         Students may get hungry and thirsty

·         Technical difficulties

·         Unwanted people show up

·         Not enough space

·         Some students may be too disruptive

·         The room becomes chaos

Top 3 barriers I will try to change:

·         The room becomes chaos

·         Not enough space

·         Students may get hungry and thirsty

Students may get hungry and thirsty:

In order to address this issue that could arise, I am going to make sure there will be snacks and drinks at the event. I was thinking of either having people bring some stuff they would like to share to the event or perhaps buying pizza and have people bring some cookies or something. I do not know yet what people would prefer so I need to go take a survey and ask around to decide what will be done.

Steps I will take to overcome this barrier are to ascertain what others would like to do concerning food and drinks. Next, decide what foods and drinks will be there. Plan ahead and make sure there will be enough to go around. It might help to go around during advisory or something to take a rough estimate of how many people are going.

Not enough space:

To address this issue, I will have to coordinate and find a reasonable sized room for the event.  I will not know exactly how many people may attend but the room needs to be a good size to hold most of the sophomore class.

I was thinking of talking with Ms. Fitz (my mentor) to see if we could find and use a room that will be big enough for the sophomore class.

Also, in order to get a good idea of how much space is needed, I might go around and ask about whom is most likely attending. Last year, a similar event was held and Mrs. Durrant’s room was the place. So perhaps this event could be held there.

The room will turn into chaos:

For this issue, I plan to have basic rules that must be addressed before the event. Having a room filled with teenagers isn’t always the best setting so I need to somehow be able to keep things under control without losing the fun. Rules must be set to make sure it is a fun filled yet safe and organized environment.

In order to control this issue, I will have to lay it out that certain behaviors are not appropriate and that the room must be kept clean. Food cannot be thrown around and no school property can be mistreated. To overcome this barrier I will make sure that the rules and expectations are clear at the very beginning to try to prevent chaos in the room later on. Also, I will have to make sure everything is in order at the very end to assure that the teacher’s room was not left in a big mess.

Work Day: my accomplishments so far

10/13/10

Today in class, I was able to plan out my milestones and execution in order to make this project a success. I also asked Ms. Fitz to be the mentor of my project and I am thankful that she is willing to give up her time to help me. Some of my next steps will include coordinating with Ms. Fitz to find a time and place to host this event and find good ideas on what people would enjoy doing during the time provided.

My To-Do List:

·         Work out a time and place

·         Gather good ideas and suggestions from y peers

·         Figure out which of the ideas I will use

Project Outline

 10/13/10

Project Title: Sophomore Get Together

Start Date: October 18th

End Date: November 15th

Milestone dates:

* select time/date/place and collect ideas and suggestions from my classmates [by October 25th]

* spread the word, make signs for the get together, and prepare [by November 1th]

* the date of the event will still need to be determined but I would like to have it before or by November 15th

Mentor: Ms. Fitzpatrick

 MM

My project is going to be a Sophomore Get Together. I see this project as a way to bring the class together more and let them enjoy and have fun together. It would be a nice breather from school and would allow people to just chill out. This get together could include a movie, food, games, and activities. I will get ideas and suggestions from my peers in order to find out what most people would enjoy doing in the time provided. I am asking Tyler to help me get the event organized and help gather ideas.

As a result of this project, I hope to see people finding enjoyment and better bonding within the class. It’s a good way just to talk and get to know people who you really don’t hang out with. Although I find this project quite fun, there will be obstacles along the way. I think some of the big obstacles are finding something people would be interested in doing, finding a time and place and just putting it together so it runs smoothly and as planned. The milestones that I’m going to meet are to select the setting for the event, gather ideas, and prepare for the event by making signs and spreading the word. I will ensure that I reach these milestones by staying organized and being efficient. I should plan things out ahead and not wait last minute to do things, in other words, procrastinate on this project. Also, staying organized and gathering as many ideas as possible would give me better judgment on overcoming my obstacles. I am going to need are lots of good ideas, organization, and a meeting place along with an advisor. I believe I would only need one other person and the mentor to help me. With the mentor, I would need to coordinate a time and place that would work for both of us. The other member would help me get organized and help gather good ideas to help me plan out what the highlights of the event will be. My plan is to work efficiently, stay organized, listen to others, and executing my goals.