Blog 16: Independent Component 2 Approval

1.  Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.

I’m planning on doing something my mentor recommended to do for an independent component. I was thinking about going to a courthouse to see the lawyers there. My mentor told me that if I go there I can see some other lawyers in action and I could try to ask them questions.

2.  Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.

I would spend some time maybe a few hours in the courthouse watching lawyers in court. I could use this time to learn first-hand at what the lawyers do in court and take notes.

3.  Explain how this component will help you explore your topic in more depth.

One of my answers was communication and negotiation. The component will help me learn more about litigation between lawyers. I would be able to see how they act in court. I might learn a lot from some experienced lawyers that I meet.

4.  Post a log in your Senior Project Hours link and label it "Independent Component 2" log.

Independent Component 1

LITERAL

(a) Write: “I, Ethan Justin Porsona, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.”

(b) Cite your source regarding who or what article or book helped you complete the independent component.

" California Bankruptcy Process – How to File Bankruptcy in California." California Bankruptcy. California Bankruptcy.2005. Web. 14 Jan. 2016..

La Fond, John Q. and Singer Richard G,. Criminal Law Examples & Explanations, New York: Aspen Publishers. 2004. Print.

LegalAidKY. “Bankruptcy Overview.” Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 22 March, 2011. Web. 27 Jan. 2016.

"Process - Bankruptcy Basics." US Courts. US Courts. n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2016.

(c) Update your hours in your Senior Project Hours link. Make sure it is clearly labeled with hours for individual sessions as well as total hours.

(d) Explain what you completed.    

First I participated in a mock trial. I logged my hours after school to study and prepare. Then I decided to create a flowchart describing the bankruptcy process. I spent most of the time researching for the flowchart and I found some useful sources and some not so useful sources.

INTERPRETIVE

Defend your work and explain its significance to your project and how it demonstrates 30 hours of work.   Provide evidence (photos, transcript, art work, videos, etc) of the 30 hours of work.  

Here is a link to some notes I took after after school: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FH_KzdkuC4cjNuNOQ4UjObmwekhAqWpWnPz-R3XIIbw/edit?usp=sharing

Here is a screenshot of the finished flowchart:

APPLIED

How did the component help you understand the foundation of your topic better?  Please include specific examples to illustrate this.

It helped me learn more about litigation. The mock trial really helped with understanding what it is like in the courtroom. In bankruptcy law the lawyer spends long hours in the courtroom talking with other lawyers.

The flowchart really helps grasp the process of bankruptcy and the different types. through this experience I learned a lot about the six chapters of bankruptcy. When I started I only knew about Chapter 7 and Chapter 13. Now I know about Chapters 9, 11, 12, and 15.

Grading Criteria

Blog 15:Lesson 2 Reflection

1.What are you most proud of in your Lesson 2 Presentation and why?

I proud of my activity because I think it is an interesting activity that relates to my answer very well. I am also proud that I made the overall time in the presentation. I’m proud of this because in lesson 1 I was a few minutes short.

2. a. What assessment would you give yourself on your Lesson 2 Presentation (self-assessment)?

         AP   

b. Explain why you deserve that grade using evidence from the Lesson 2 component contract.

I think I deserve an AP because I could have done things better in two areas. The first being organization and creativity. I believe I had a nice introduction and use of time but I think I could have organized my powerpoint better and rearrange some slides. The second is audience involvement. I should have gave clearer instructions. I had one group ask me a question because they didn’t understand part of the activity.

3. What worked for you in your Lesson 2?

I had some nice information and a good activity that everyone enjoyed.

4. What didn't work? If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your Lesson 2?

What didn’t work is how I explained my activity. I forgot to mention one of the rules to it. I think that I could have done my activity a little better. I could have explained the rules a little bit better. I would also told everyone to wait until the end of the block or presentation to eat the candy they got.

I think that I would script my presentation if I was able to redo it. I practiced what I needed to say and I knew what I had to say but I forgot some minor details that I wanted to say. If I memorize a type of script or read of some note cards I might forget to say some certain things. I think I would also go into more depth of my answer.

5. What do you think your answer #2 is going to be?

I think my answer #2 might be good experience to help in certain situations.

Blog 14: Third Interview Preparation

1.  Who do you plan to interview?  What is this person's area of expertise?

I plan to interview Javier Castillo. He is an attorney, not only that my mentor  is the one that gave me the idea to interview him.

2.  Verify that you have called your interviewee to schedule an interview.  What is the date and time of the interview?

I don’t really have his number so I can’t say that I’ve called him but I hope to see him on Saturday to get more details.

3.  Phrase an open-ended question that will help you find research resources that would help to answer the EQ.

Do you know where I can find some good resources?

4.  Phrase an open-ended question that will help you think about other useful activities you might do to help you answer the EQ (IC2, possible experts to talk to, etc).

What can do you think I can do to learn more?

5.  Phrase two open-ended questions that help you to understand your interviewee's perspective on an aspect of your EQ.

1. What do you think of my EQ?
2. How can it be improved upon?

Blog 13: 10 Hour Mentorship Check-In

1.   Where are you doing your mentorship?

At first it was at Mr. Benitez’s office then towards the end of the year it was him coming to see me and we would discuss things. He gives me good advice and some sources to read from.

2.   Who is your contact?  What makes this person an expert?

My contact is Mr. Benitez. He is a lawyer that used to work for the Pool Law group where he worked for a bankruptcy lawyer. Bankruptcy was also an elective for him in law school.

3.   How many  hours have you done during the school year? (Summer Mentorship Hours and Mentorship Hours should be reflected separately in your Senior Project Hours log located on the right hand side of your blog).

About 11 hours over the school year.

4.   Succinctly summarize what you did, how well you and your mentor worked together, and how you plan to complete the remaining hours.

Well in short I visited him where he works, shadowed him a little bit, and talked to him about things I need help with. I know that in order to finish the rest of the hours I’ll have to focus on mentorship so I talked with Mr. Benitez about seeing him more.

Blog 12: Holiday Project Update

1.  It is important to consistently work on your senior project, whether it is break or we are in school.  What did you do over the break with your senior project?

Over break I met up with Mr. Benitez. I wanted to talk to him about what I could do for an  Independent Component next semester. I also tried to plan out when I could see him in 2016. I didn't do much research on my topic besides that.

2.  What was the most important thing you learned from what you did, and why?  What was the source of what you learned?

The most important thing I learned were the ideas Mr. Benitez gave me for an Independent component. He told me to go to a courthouse and try to see other lawyers in action. I think this is a cool idea and a good opportunity. The source is just from Mr. Benitez.

3.  Your third interview will be a 10 question interview related to possible answers for your EQ. Who do you plan to talk to and why?

I was planning on asking Mr. Benitez in he could give me the contact info of a former coworker of his.I want to interview the coworker because he or she would also be able to help me in my certain area of law.

Blog 11: Lesson 1 Reflection

1. What are you most proud of in your lesson, and why?

I am proud that I managed to share some of the interesting things that I’ve learned. There have been some cool things over the past 3 months that I learned that I would have liked to tell other and Lesson 1 gave me that chance.

2. What assessment would you give yourself on your lesson? Explain why you earned that grade using evidence from the component contract.

I would give myself an AP or lower. First I’m just assuming I made the 8 minute mark I never checked my time but I’ve been told is was about 8 minutes. I think I deserve an AP at best because I don’t think I engaged the audience very well. I should have come up with a better hook and near the end I had a long pause which just didn’t look good to me. There were also some things I planned to say and just ended up blanking out on it altogether.

3. If you could go back, what would you change about your lesson?  How can you use that knowledge to give a better Lesson 2?

I would try to make a better hook and conclusion and come up with better notes so I can remember to say all of what I wanted to say. I would also make sure that rehearse more so that I don’t have to keep referring to notes as often. One thing that I think I should do for Lesson 2 is come up with better props and visuals. For Lesson 2 I will try to rehearse my presentation more than I did with Lesson 1.