My Capstone Night Experience

I do not think I could have walked into the school building at 5:30 pm yesterday for Capstone night more prepared! I worked very hard on my project, dedicated a substantial amount of time and brain power to my research, and I overall was proud of how well I had prepared. 

       I really enjoyed the girls who also presented in my room. I thought they both did very well and had very interesting topics. We did have to adjust to the fact that both of the interwrite board pens were broken and we had to manually click on the computer to go to the next slide, but really that was not that big of a deal and only minorly subtracted from my presentation. Also we had to turn the lights off in order to actually see the powerpoint because the screen was so poorly lit, but again that was not that big of a deal!

        My actual presentation went pretty well! I did not rely on my notecards as much as I did in class and cut down my usage of “umm” by a lot!  I felt confident in my research and was proud of what I had to present. I did get a little nervous during part of my presentation when I noticed that the reviewers and other girls were actually paying attention and looked interested, which was something that I did not really think happened when I presented in class.

      Overall I felt that I did pretty well and I received some very nice feedback. I agree with my reviewer that I relied on the word “so” when I would transition between information, which is normally not something I do! I think that may have been some nerves talking then! Also my reviewer complimented me on how I shared some of the tough questions to answer and how I presented different views on my topic.    

     Now that I am mostly done with Capstone, I have been able to reflect on the paper, class time, and presentation. I really enjoyed Capstone, but I wish I had known more about it and considered doing blended Capstone. My junior teacher did not explain the course very well or even tell her students about blended Capstone (from what I can remember). I really enjoyed the freedom that Gaff gave me, and I felt like since he gave me more freedom, I was able to learn and explore more about my topic then if we had specific guidelines to follow. I also loved how Gaff would personally help me when most of my peers needed time to work on their own papers/presentations but I was done with material! Overall, Capstone was one of my favorite classes and it really gave me the freedom to express myself as a writer and as a person.

Motivation

I agree with Daniel Pink that when a task is something simple and only includes mechanical skills, the higher the reward, the higher the performance level. But when it comes to mental skills, the higher the reward, the lower the performance.

This concept applies to my own life. When it comes to high rewards for mental tasks, I usually psych myself out and do poorly. Kind of like pitching. I know how to pitch but when I get on the mound and pitching is what comes down to if you win or lose, I psych myself out and “forget” how to pitch and become sporadic. But in practice, I do just fine because there is nothing at stake.

My motivation this week is coming from my softball coaches. They push me to be the best leader, student, and person on and off the field. Since my team is in a little bit of a sticky situation, I have been pitching for JV which is not what I would normally be doing. They root for me when I am on the mound and academically. Coach Weigel and Porter have both been supportive of my academics and have helped me in my college process.

Finished Section 4… Yahoo!

I finally finished my rough draft of section four! I would have to say section four was a labor of love. I loved diving into all of the research but at the same time I wanted to rip my hair out! I was so organized with all of my information that it was easy to start answering my secondary questions, but I had so much information that it made it hard to pick and choose what sources and information I thought were neccessary for my paper.

So what was the easiest, difficult, and most fun parts about writing my paper?

*The easiest part of my paper was that the information really flowed together which made connecting my sub questions a lot easier than I anticipated.

*The most difficult part of writing my paper was picking and choosing what information to include. Some of the topics I wanted to cover had so much information on them that if I included it all, it would overwhelm the person reading it!  So I had to decide what I thought the main importance of each topic was and what information I thought would be most beneficial to my paper!

*The most fun part of writing my paper was learning about so many different things I didn’t already know about my topic! I didn’t realize how many different uses of animal assisted therapy there really are!

What was the most challenging part of my actual research?

*Overall the most challening part of my research was finding contradictory evidence! I honestly thought that would be one of the easiest parts, but since AAT is so new there really isn’t much to contradict yet. I could only find one reliable source that contradicted what all of the other credible sources I found said. It was also hard to find information on if AAT is widely accepted.

Fantastic Paper Update :) !

Section four of my paper is going really well. I am starting on my sub-questions and have been able to really go to town! I am going to need to accomplish finishing the section over break! I want to write so much and go into great detail that I think I will need to dedicate an hour or so each day over break to section four in order for me to accomplish the amount of work I think should be put into this section and I do not want to rush it!

I am loving the research I have been finding on my topic! I really enjoyed interviewing Dr. Sweeney and Teresa Mathis and they are both really cool people. They also gave me some really good insight on my topic which I don’t think I would have found online

I am enjoying the research because I find something new every time I find a new source. I really enjoy reading about the different animals that are used for animal assisted therapy! Some of the animals that are used amaze me! I also love reading about how AAT is used and the successes that it has been a part of. It’s cool to read about stories where someone is not responsive to one-on-one therapy, but then they participate in animal assisted therapy and respond really well. It is amazing how fast AAT is growing and how it is now a commonly accepted type of therapy!

Do I agree with Egan? Hmmm….

I would have to say I do agree with Gerard Egan, author of The Skilled Helper.

Im my own life I have faced many challenges where I needed to act like an adult, but now that I am eighteen I am an adult!

An example from my own life that demonstrates the movement toward adulthood is when I was younger I only had a few interests. According to Egan, his fourth point on his list is to broaden your range of interests. When I was younger I only did a few activities, I played in my room, maybe watched some TV, and did the same things everyday. As I started to age I started doing more things like dance lessons, tennis, swimming, softball, arts and crafts, hanging out with friends, and my daily routine was different each day.

I think that with age comes freedom and for someone to enter adulthood they need to do more than just the same things everyday! So I agree with Egan that it is important to widen your range of activities.

Sycamore, in my opinion, allows people to grow into adulthood. Sycamore offers so many different activities and leadership opportunities that many other schools don’t offer. Sycamore allows you to be who you are and to behave as you normally would… as long as it is appropriate behavior. They give us the tools to control our own destiny and to be independent from others.

Interviews With Two Amazing People!

In the past seven days I have interviewed two amazing people that have first hand experience in the field of animal assisted therapy.

The first person I interviewed was Dr. Andrew Sweeney. He uses his basset hound Winnie in therapy sessions with adolescents and children in Madeira. He allowed me to meet with him in his office to get a full experience of what therapy would be like with an animal as a part of it. His office was really nice and similar to a regular office except there was a big dog bed in the room… and of course a dog. He told me about his experiences of using Winnie and the benefits he saw of using an animal in therapy.

The second interview I did was through email. I interviewed Teresa Mathis, a certified equine therapist who works at a residential treatment center in Utah. She was able to tell me about some of the people she works with and some of the activities they do. She also was able to tell me about some of the benefits she feels equine therapy has…. like helping people with anxiety become less anxious and helping people with anger become more controlled. She believes that horses have the power to heal people, but only if people let them in.

 

I really enjoyed meeting Dr. Sweeney’s dog Winnie! She was really sweet and she mostly slept the whole time I was there because she had a big day before I met with them. Dr. Sweeney was really cool as well! He gave me really good advice on the psychology work field and about animal assisted therapy. I also loved being able to email back and forth between Teresa because she is also a really cool person and I love hearing what she has to say about horses and equine therapy!

*The picture on the side is not a real picture of Winnie

Awesome information I have learned about animal assisted therapy!

     This week I have succeeded in finding lots of information on the different types of animals used in therapy settings and how they are used. Below I have shared some information that really stood out to me and I thought was worth sharing!

      If I had to guess, I would not have picked elephants as an animal used in animal assisted therapy. I learned that in South Africa, a doctor named Dr. Swanepoel, uses “elephant assisted therapy” to help children develop skills to overcome disabilities. Dr. Swanepoel studied “dolphin assisted therapy” in Israel but dolphins are rare in South Africa so he started using elephants instead because they share many similar qualities. Dr. Swaenpoel stated that “Elephants are gentle with their young, protective, and seem to sense when they are near a child or disabled individual.”  How cool is that???

     Some elephant assisted therapy is conducted in zoos, which is a safe and exciting environment for children. Elephant assisted therapy as well as other types of animal therapy have shown benefits such as increased concentration/self discipline.

      Other animals used in therapy settings include: cats, dogs, horses, donkeys, dolphins, elephants, bunnies, birds, fish, and other small animals. Dogs are the most commonly used animals in animal assisted therapy and therapy animals are often used in hospitals, psychological therapy programs, nursing homes, and residential facilities.

If you are interested in reading the article on elephant assisted therapy that I found… here is the link:
http://www.equine-therapy-programs.com/elphant-assisted-therapy.html 

Let Your Children Fail…..?

The article Why Parents Need to Let Their Children Fail by Jessica Lahey is a powerful article. It shocks me that during Jessica Laheys teaching career she faced a situation where one of her students mothers actually wrote a paper for her child because she was “stressed” and she did not want her kid to get sick. On top of that, the mother plagiarized most of the paper and the teacher could prove it by seeing exact paragraphs that were copied and pasted word for word from websites.

   It is sad that today it does not seem to be a huge deal or something new that parents are so over protective. Parents over protect their kids to the point where children are “destined to an anxious adulthood” and lack “the emotional resources they will need to cope with inevitable setback and failure”. Today parents seem to take over-protectiveness to a whole new level.

    Some parents are so overpowering that they have “the potential to ruin a child’s confidence”. They often respond to a child’s need before letting their child problem solve on their own creating a dependent relationship with their parents. The child can become so dependent that they rely on their parents for everything, little or large. The child can also become entitled and learn to not take responsibility for their own actions.

    A serious problem of over protective parents is that sometimes parents will do everything for their child that it prevents the child from learning. Parents should allow their children to make their own mistakes and to accept consequences so that they can be successful in life. Learning from our mistakes is what shapes us as a person, and if someone else is fixing everything we do, what really makes us unique?

 

I think that in order for people to truly become who they really are as a person, it requires them to make mistakes and to be able to fix or correct them on their own. You do not learn anything if someone does things for you all the time and no one can learn right from wrong. Making mistakes is what humans do. It is how people fix the mistake that makes us individuals and shows our true personality. The people whos parents fix everything and are over protective probably do face challenges later in life.

Article can be found at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/01/why-parents-need-to-let-their-children-fail/272603/

Equine Assisted Therapy – A Growing Technique of Therapy

      Equine therapy is a new and largely growing technique of therapy. Equine therapy, which is also recognized as equine assisted therapy, consists of participants interacting and doing tasks with horses as well as teaching general horse care, grooming, and basic equitation skills. Equine therapy has shown to have positive benefits to those who have low confidence/self esteem, poor communication skills, struggle with impulsive behavior, and struggle trusting people.

    Equine therapy is often used when youth do not respond or are resistant to other types of therapies. Instructors do activities that teach participants that the way they act in certain situations is inappropriate or ineffective. One such activity is when an equine therapist asks participants to get the horse to move without touching them. Often times participants yell, whistle, clap, and move their arms, but it does not get the horse to move. This activity helps participants understand that when they yell or get out of control it often does not result in a positive outcome.

    Equine therapy is also a great way for participants to be indirectly connected to their therapist. Some people do not respond well to one on one interaction with a therapist and equine therapy allows a medium between the participant and therapist. Therapists are able to see how people react with the horses to gain insight on how the participant interacts with people. It is often used when a participant has experienced trauma, and it is hard for them to trust others. Equine therapy is designed to help those who have experienced trauma to regain trust with others.

     Horses have also been used in the treatment of eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia because participants can form a relationship with a horse and not feel judged on their weight or appearance. It also can help participants start to form human relationships in which they do not feel judged or criticized. Also, sometimes horses that are injured or have been traumatized are brought into programs for them to be rehabilitated as well. This offers participants a way to really connect with a horse and through directly helping the horse heal, they can help heal themself.

Also the fact that you are in the presence of an animal whose average weight is about 1200 pounds can cause participants to become vulnerable. This gives participants an appropriate setting and safe place to admit fear and show vulnerability. Horses pick up fear and other emotions by just simply being in an environment and horses can give therapists insight on what emotions the participant is experiencing based on the actions and behavior of the horse. This sometimes happens even before the therapist is able to understand what the person is feeling. It is truly incredible that a horse can understand and identify humans emotions sometimes before other humans can!

  

http://www.equine-psychotherapy.com/equine.html

http://psychcentral.com/lib/2008/equine-assisted-psychotherapy-healing-therapy-or-just-hype/all/1/

http://blogs.psychcentral.com/equine-therapy/2013/01/will-volunteering-improve-your-mental-state/

Theatre Of Pain

Link: http://www.esquire.com/features/nfl-injuries-0213 

A quote that stuck out for me was when Tom Junod asked “So you don’t consider the concussion an injury?” and Willis McGahee responded by saying “That’s what they consider it. But getting a concussion and hurting your knee are two different things. You get back up from a concussion.”

This quote stuck out for me because to NFL players concussions don’t seem to be a huge deal when in return they can cause serious problems later in life for people who have suffered from one or multiple concussions. It was interesting that Tom Junod was able to see a trend that most NFL players only consider themselves having an injury if they require rehabilitation and if it puts their career in jeopardy.

Ed Reed also shared his opinion on what an “injury” meant. “It was an injury, then. It qualified by the only measure that counts: He couldn’t play.” It seems that for more than just NFL players, but all committed sports players, pain is a part of their life they have to accept if they want to stay a top competitor in their career.

Another thing that seemed to concern players is that if they are injured they can be replaced and they do not want to lose their earned spot on the team. Dr. Yates, the Pittsburg Steelers team doctor, said “Players know that if they can’t, someone else can – and they know that depending on their status with the team, they might never get a chance to go again”.

What was also interesting is that players often choose to play injured because they don’t want to let their team down. A lot of players know that if they do not play and a replacement plays for them, they could be jeopardizing how well the team does and they self select to play hurt. Tom Junod stated that “He’s playing because he’s better hurt than his replacement is healthy, and he is helping his team more by playing than he would help his team by sitting down and trying to heal” talking about Ed Reed while he was injured. This is considered the NFL cardinal rule #2 “you play unless you can’t”.

Surprisingly, the man in the article that Tom Junod calls PJ, expressed that a lot of players who hurt other players do not feel bad about hurting them. PJ said “Anyone who tells you that they feel bad causing an injury is probably lying. How can you feel bad?… Your coach tells you to go kick his… Your father and brother tell you to go kick his…. You are taught to hurt people”. This makes total sense! If everyone is telling you to go out there and win and it doesn’t matter if you kick some guy in the *** it really doesn’t matter because it only gives you a better advantage in the game.

However some players are different. Ed Reed in the article said “I took out an offensive lineman… It was bad technique on my part and I took out the center’s knee… So I told coach to send my respects to the center and let him know I didn’t mean to hurt him”. So I guess it depends on the person if they feel remorse or not. If they feel an inner conflict like Ed Reed or if they are more like PJ and know its just part of what the game entails.

What amazed me is that some players are even allowed to continue to play! Ryan Clark was fined $55,000 in one season for high hits, but he is still allowed to play. Players know that the risks of playing football are high, but they continue to play for their own reasons. Maybe they love the sport or maybe they want to simply be the best at their position. One thing that the article made very clear is that players play no matter what.