Showing posts with label Independent Component. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Independent Component. Show all posts

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Independent Component 2


La Plaza: Workshop about murals in L.A. 
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Confirmation Letter















Literal
“I, Madelene Santizo, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 37 hours of work.” 

For my independent component I volunteered at La Plaza, which is a cultural and art museum located in downtown LA about Mexican-American history in Southern California. I did various things such as tours for different exhibitions, cleaned up exhibitions, helped with art or educational workshops, and did research projects for La Plaza. 


Interpretive

I've demonstrated 31 hours of work for my independent component by taking the metrolink to La Plaza to volunteer at big events during the weekends. Occasionally I would help give tours during the week for elementary students after school, but not as much as I would have liked to because of my school schedule. I had to be trained to become a tour guide so I learned a lot about Mexican-American history in Los Angeles. I have also supported La Plaza when hosting family events like: Cesar Chavez Day, the launch of their culinary art workshop, and La Plaza's 1 year anniversary. Though my independent component did not lead me to any "real product" I have attained more knowledge and made an impact on the lives of those who I shared my knowledge with. 

  Applied

This helped me answer my EQ because I knew that one of my answers would be related to the impact that stereotypes have on academic motivation. However, I was not aware of how this could be solved until I was inspired by what I learned at La Plaza. I saw how many Latinos/as lacked the knowledge of their own culture, and how by going to La Plaza they were learning new things. Seeing exhibitions about The Chicano Movement, Repatriacion, Gente de Razon, etc. really allowed people to see the struggle that their relatives underwent. One of the questions that I ask in the beginning of the tour is, "Do you think that you would pack up your things and leave to a brand new place if you promised a job, but would leave everything behind." A lot of people say they would not because they are not brave enough, but that is what many of the California settlers did. La Plaza really showed me the importance of knowing one's culture through history. That is why I made sure to tie in what I learned at La Plaza with my answer 2. Because of volunteering at La Plaza my best answer is Latinos/as must understand and embrace their Latino/a culture in order to reject stereotypes found in our society that limit their academic motivation and willingness to make a change. 

Monday, February 13, 2012

Independent Component 2 Plan Approval

(1) Write a description of what you plan on doing for your independent study component.
I have a couple of ideas!
  •  I would like to attend a retreat called the CA DREAM ACT Network, which will be hosted at Cal Poly Pomona. It is from Feb 17 - 20 and an all day thing. http://www.cadreamnetwork.org/
  • I have been thinking about applying to be a volunteer at a Mexican American history museum in Los Angeles. http://lapca.org/moreinfo
  • I have also thought about starting a club at I-Poly, which would be about the college process and just give lots of informations about scholarships, internships, etc. 
(2) Describe in detail how you think your plan will meet the 30 hours work requirement.
  • Since I will most likely spending all day for those 4 days and should spend about 10 hours a day at the event it will make 40 hours. I have never been to something like this so I am not sure how I will be able to show "evidence" of my attendance. 
  • I will volunteer for a number of hours at the museum, most likely giving tours because I believe I will be able to learn much more through that.
  • I plan on being the leaders and have bi-weekly meetings to discuss new opportunities that members could access. 
(3) How does your independent study component relate to your EQ?   
  • "It is for people who want to become leaders in their community and learn more about immigrant rights. For people who want to sharpen their leadership skills and network with other student activisits from across the state." I feel that this relates to my EQ because I will have up to date facts about immigrants and the Latino community. I just feel like it will provide me with lots of information that could be very helpful and that I could use during my presentation.
  • I really love history and would love to learn more in depth the history of Latinos in the USA. Even if I do not end up doing this as my independent component I plan on visiting this place because it seems really interesting. I will be able to share with people the history of Latinos and I feel that is important with my EQ since I want to promote self-awareness. 
  • Exposing young kids to resources is one of my key answers to my EQ and by actually implementing one of my answers I will be able to discover first hand if resources make a difference in students' lives. 

Monday, February 6, 2012

Independent Component 1

See Log Here


“I, Madelene Santizo, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 37 hours of work.” 

Literal
I attended a course, which was taught by a Pomona College professor, where I was part of the collaborative community that was composed of Claremont Colleges' students and Pomona High school students. I attended several meetings both in Pomona College and Pomona High to get to know each other and work on our specific topics. I worked with a group of variety of students on our topic of Migration and interviewed several people. For our final presentation we shared the stories of our interviewees and learned about the topics (Education, Housing, Communities, etc.) of our fellow peers. 

Interpretive
I had meeting for three months were we learned what a community really meant, and we visited and learned about two educational institutions  (Pomona HS and Pomona College) that are close to each other yet very different. These meetings themselves added the majority of my 37 hours (and additional meeting times), and were very productive since we were able plan our own curicculum. Within the Migration group that I picked we wanted to compare migrants from Claremont and Pomona, but instead focused on reoccuring themes and shared their stories. I was able to interview a Scripps college professor who was from Vietnam and an I-Poly student who was from Ecuador with a Claremont College partner, while my other peers focused on their own interviews. The interviews themselves lasted a couple of hours, but I first learned how to properly conduct an interview and transcribe it. The proof of all of my, and peers, hardwork could have been seen in our final presentation, which was like an exhibition, that was held on December 3rd at Pomona College.

Applied
I took into consideration that a large portion of Latinos/as  are recent migrants and have traveled to the United States from their home countries. I felt like this was a very important topic that I had to learn about in order to discover why so many people left their homes and why the US intrigued them so much to leave, which I assumed was due to opportunities such as acessibility to education. One of the many reocurring themes that I found throughout the interviews was that the young migrants took advantage of being able to be educated in the US. This leads me to conclude that many first generation Latinos/as are most likely to try harder in school then later generations. I believe that this is because they know what it is like to live in a place where there is lack of education. Later generations may not appreciate this because they have never had to face any struggles and do not value its importance. From this I feel like I could answer my EQ by stating that there must be an awareness for ALL Latinos/as of their roots and where they come from. If they are shown their potential conditions, whether its living in Mexico or Cuba, then they will appreciate everything that was done for them and be more likely to take advantage of their opportunities.

Also, while hearing my fellow peers presentations I found something interesting. Claremont, which is now a heavily populated with whites. used to be the home of many Latinos/as. Living by this neigborhood I never thought that any Latino/a even lived in Claremont. Basically, Latinoa/as were forced out of Claremont because they were going to be build new homes. and in recognition for their bad actions they made a little park called, "El Barrio." To me this shows that their is much oppression that we are not even aware of and I can tie this to my answer of rejecting imposed ideas from oppresionists.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Independent Component 1 Plan Approval

(1) Write a description of what you plan on doing for your independent study component.

I have all ready started doing my independent study component by working with Gilda Ochoa (Pomona College Professor), Pomona College students, and Pomona High School students. This a course taught by Ochoa, but I am only participating in the community collaboration aspect; I'm not enrolled in the course. Through the collaboration we will become a closer community and at the end of the course give an oral history presentation. To do this we will need to do research and interview several people. Every group of college and high school student will have different aspects (education, family migration, sex and gender) and will focus on that specific topic.

(2) Describe in detail how you think your plan will meet the 30 hours work requirement.
We have met and will continue to meet every next Friday (or sometimes Thursday) usually from 2:45 - 4:45 pm (sometimes 12:30-4:00 pm), until the final date of December 3 (Saturday). Though the the meetings itself should average a total of 26 hours, if I include the extra time needed for interviews, and research this should be a  little more then 30 hours. 
*Location varies from Pomona High School or Pomona College

(3) How does your independent study component relate to your EQ?   
EQ- What is the best way to increase the number of Latino students that attend higher education institution? 

I have chosen family migrations as my topic, but it will not be such a broad topic. I chose family migration instead of education because I wanted to concentrate on the reason why migrant parents do not search for college resources. If I am able to pinpoint the reasons why parents don't know about resources then I can come up with a solution (perhaps through my research itself). It is important to take into account the reasons why it may be hard for parents and children to assimilate, this may have a connection with education. I also will be there while other groups give their presentations,  I will be taking notes and asking questions so I may use their findings as part of my research. I will be able to hear presentations from different perspectives and this could impact my answers to my essential question.