Final 20 Time Post!

At the end of my 20 Time Project, which was related to the Playground Pals Bus Stop Program, I have completed: a guidebook, an official PPBS website, and an official PPBS presentation. I have also successfully shared this program with one school district: the Moreland School District. The special education director of this district has guaranteed that she would implement this program into Payne Elementary School. Mission Accomplished! I am going to talk to 2 other school districts this week and hopefully some of their schools will also accept this program. Over summer and at the beginning of senior year, I will be completing the paperwork necessary for obtaining my Girl Scouts Gold Award, the highest honor a Girl Scout can receive. Click HERE to see my website!

 For my TED Talk (which is this video that you can click on to watch!), I explained to the class not only what my 20 Time project was, but more importantly, what I've learned from it. The process of preparing for my TED Talk in itself was a learning process. I wrote down a rough draft of a speech just as a brain dump, and ended up using it to help me format my slides. I also used notecards with small bullet points about each topic I wanted to make sure to mention. To practice and memorize my presentation, I practiced my speech in various ways: sitting down, standing up, reading straight off of the written speech at first, timing, without timing, using just notecards, using no aid, etc. I was extremely nervous right before the presentation, but once I got up there, I felt as if I were simply talking to another person. I lost all my nervousness, and because I know this topic like the back of my hand, I was able to talk about it instead of reading completely off of the notecards. Though I do admit I used the notecards quite a bit, I used them to make sure that I was staying on topic and that I didn't forget any important sentences. I could have definitely worked on memorizing the speech a little better so that I wouldn't have to look at my notecards as much. From this experience, I have learned that I probably shouldn't psych myself out for presentations as much as I normally do and I should focus more on preparation than the aesthetics of the presentation. 

20 Time Final Reflection!!!

My 20 time project is my Gold Award for Girl Scouts and it is geared towards helping others. My project's goal was to spread the PPBS program to at least one other school. I challenged myself because I pushed my boundaries; I had to make requests and be persistent with people to the point where I felt pushy (something I was not comfortable with, but something that had to be done). I’ve learned that everything does not come to us, we have to really fight tooth and nail to get people to notice you in this busy world. You have to be your own advocate. My goal was to propose my idea to the district office, and through that, start talking to school districts to propose my idea to specific districts. My project's still in the process, but I have gotten a date to present to two schools. I am hoping that these schools decide to take up this program (which they most probably will). If I could change anything about this project, I would have started this project earlier so that everything wasn’t clumping up within this last month of May. For my next steps, I hope to fully implement this program into one of the schools in the districts I will be presenting to.

Almost finished!!!

I have learned that I need to persevere and ask for what I want. I have also learned about the continual slowness and not-promptness of schools and replying. Recently my mom came up with the idea to just send one email to 100 or so school principals and special education directors so that I can hopefully get a reply from someone. And I did!!! The Loma Prieta school district finally replied, and I am in the process of setting up a time to meet the coordinator to present about this program! I can apply this to myself because this project is teaching me that I need to make my own path and make myself be heard. 

3rd Blog Post: Slow and Steady Progress!

This week, I have learned that this process of spreading this program is not dependant on how fast I work. Now that I am trying to spread this program to other districts, this project is dependent on the people I am trying to pitch this idea to. I have received a response from the Sunnyvale district, but the coordinator said that she would only be able to get back to me sometime in May because they are in the midst of hiring and firing employees. I have also sent an email to the Loma Prieta district, but I haven't heard anything back from them. I have learned about myself that I am not a pushy person as my mom wants me to send a third email to the Sunnyvale district requesting to meet earlier than May, but I do not feel comfortable sending a third email. My next steps include possibly taking my mom's advice and sending the third email, practicing my presentation to other districts, and trying to contact other districts. I have learned that the California Education System is really slow at making changes, although, it is understandable because the change has an effect on all school. I have the feeling that if a district adopts the PPBS program, it will take a year or more to fully implement this program into their elementary schools. 

Progress Report: Playground Pals Bus Stop Program

I have learned that to help spread this program and to talk to other districts, I'm going to have to jump through a lot of rings. I have also learned that replying to emails on time relays a good impression on the other person. After I went to present to the board of Special Education directors, I got an offer from the Sunnyvale and Loma Prieta district to come and talk to them. I have sent them emails, but the problem is that no one has replied to them yet. To try to fix this problem, if they don't reply to my second email, I will try calling them to set up an appointment. My next steps would be to visit these school districts and present the Playground Pals Bus Stop Program to them.

Playground Pals Bus Stop Program

Helping Students Feel More Included During Lunch and Recess at Elementary Schools!

Playground Pals Bus Stop program establishes a safer and more inclusive environment for elementary school students. 20% Time is a program which is implemented into our Anatomy and Physiology class. 20% of our class time is used to help us achieve a goal regarding a topic that we've always wanted to learn more about. Usually, we use our Monday class periods to work on our 20 time projects. For my project, I wanted to continue my Gold Award. I started my Gold Award last year, but since I did not have much time to do it due to the demands of junior year, I decided to make it my 20 time project so I would be forced to spend time at least once a week to work on it. My essential focus for this project is to try and spread this program (Playground Pals Bus Stop program which helps special needs children feel more included) to other schools and eventually other school districts. My goal is to spread this program to at least one other school (or preferably one other school district). Moving forward, I plan to pitch this idea to a board of 15 special education directors from 15 different districts on March 8th, I plan to also keep updating a website that I have created, and start creating a guidebook about the program. I will measure my progress by how many districts are willing to discuss the idea of this program and possibly implement it.