Independent Component 1 Proposal

What is it?
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 depth more with this component. On February 6, 2015 you will be turning in the following to your blog to prove completion of this component:

-Section documenting hours for Independent Component 1 in Senior Project Hours link (this should be documented regularly and can be spot checked throughout the year.)

-Evidence of the 30 hours of work (e.g. transcript, essays, tests, art work, photographs) as digital artifacts.
-Blog reflecting on work completed


 To get your idea approved now, please answer the following questions:
1.)Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.
2.)Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.
3.)Explain how what you will be doing will help you explore your topic more in depth.
4.)Update your Senior Project Hours log.

To be approved, your proposal should be supported with details and examples for the senior team to understand what you plan to do.

Next Steps: Once we review your blog post, your house teacher will discuss with you the approval of your plan either face-to-face or as a comment on this post. If your idea is approved, please start working on it. If it is not approved, your house teacher will explain why. It is your job to follow up with your teacher. 

Blog 7-Second Interview Preparation

The purpose of the second interview is to justify your mentor as an expert in the field. You will be asking them 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? If their workplace does not reflect their expertise, what makes them an expert?

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

The interview is due 10/31 by 8 am in numbered Q&A format to turnitin.com. Additionally, a reflection of the experience as well as a 5 minute audio/video clip should be posted on the blog by that time.

Blog 6-Advisory House Prep

Please copy these questions and answer them in your own blog. Don't forget an image to promote interest.
We'll have a house discussion in place of research check this Friday to check in on how things are going.
1.)What worked well for you concerning senior project this year? What has made it a positive experience for you?
2.)What are you finding concerning senior project? How can you adapt to make that portion work better for you? How might the senior team help?

Blog 5-Interview 1 Reflection

Please copy these questions and answer them in your blog. Attach a link to your video or sound file. As usual you'll want an appropriate image to lead this.
1.)What is the most important thing I learned from the interview? Is there anything I would do differently for other interviews?
2.)Did I get additional resources and contacts? What is the most useful? Why?
3.)What makes my interviewee qualified to help me?

Blog 4-House Advisory Prep 1

Write  a short explanation of what you are hoping to accomplish through your senior project topic. You will be sharing out on what you've written here with your house advisory and classmates on Friday, 9/11. Don't forget to start off with an interesting visual.

I hope to gain a better understanding of criminal investigation, what other people they work with, how they manage to get witness accounts of a crime, how they track people down, precautions taken to preserve evidence, and so on. Through this experience I hope to find out if this is a possible career for me.

Blog 3-First Interview Preparation

1.)Who do you plan to interview?Why?

2.)Five questions will be assigned to all seniors to ask, what additional questions do you plat to ask? Ask-open ended questions.

Assigned Questions

1.)I'm interested in studying Criminal Investigation. What can you tell me about it?

2.)From your perspective, what could I study that would be significant to other people?

3.)Who else would you recommend I talk to?

4.)What kinds of places or activities do you recommend for the mentorship component?

5.)What materials should I read in this field? Who else can I interview?

Additional Questions to get more familiarized with my mentor

1.)What type of training (physical, psychological, etc.) must a criminal investigator go through to be properly prepared in the field? How long does the training take?

2.) What do you believe is the most difficult task a criminal investigator faces when dealing with a case?

3.)What types of people did you work with and how did you go about building a relationship with them to better the chemistry between the team.

4.)Did you have a mentor?How did they influence you?

5.)How did you keep your feelings from interfering with your job? 

6.)What's the best advice you can give to plan a career rather than work to simply keep a job?

Blog 2-Summer Mentorship

WORKING ON A CASE=)

THE LENGTHY AFFIDAVIT AND SEARCH WARRANT-_-

A FINGERPRINT I COLLECTED=)

1.)Contact Name:Terry Hensen
Phone Number:(909)477-0916
Organization: Azusa Police

2.)What qualified this person as an expert in your topic choice?
-Mr.Hensen had worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation for 8 years, 17 years with the Azusa PD( patrol,property crimes, homicide, robbery, DV, and under cover stuff.) In total he has been in the force for 25 years.  Mr. Hensen genuinely wanted us to take something away from the experience and taught us in a way that was interesting and informational.

3.)List three questions for further exploration now that you've completed your summer hours.
-What type of training (physical. psychological, emotional, etc.) must a criminal investigator go through to be properly prepared?
-How long does it take a criminal investigator to get through all the training and out onto the field?
-What is the most difficult task a criminal investigator faces when dealing with a case?
-What types of people will be working with you on a case?

4.)What is the most important thing you gained from this experience?Why?
-The most important thing I gained from this class was a truly brutal look into the field. Before taking the class I was really excited about learning about Criminal Investigation because of all the work they did to help a deceased person's loved ones rest knowing that the murderer had been brought to justice. However, this class made me realize that there was so much more to it, I somewhat overlooked the key elements in the job, and I wasn't really prepared for some of the things we watched and discussed in the class. However, I spent about 130 hours in total learning about criminal investigation and after a while I became used to the material we were exposed to. I would say the most important thing I learned was to not get emotionally involved in the case because it makes it much harder to deal with.

5.)What is your senior project topic going to be? How did mentorship help you make your decision? Please explain.
-My senior project topic is going to be Criminal Investigation.
-Mentorship helped me make this decision because I really enjoyed the class and the numerous activities we did to better understand the job of a criminal investigator. I realized that it's more than looking for fingerprints, foot prints, etc. being a criminal investigator requires you to get outside of your mind and into that of the criminal. This sounds pretty crazy but that's how criminal investigators capture a perpetrator, they have to think like them; What motive did they have to commit this felony? What could they possibly gain from it? Where would they go after committing the crime? I originally wanted to do psychology, and this topic allows me to learn about that as well, so I'm pretty happy with my topic.=)