Extra May Blog

Ello world of whatever kind of folks have been reading this!


If i-Poly faculty, then proceed. If stranger/stalker, I guess you may also proceed...Not like I can stop you.

The i-Poly journey has come to screeching halt. I'm unsure of what really happened, one day I was sitting in class trying to calculate the exact minutes left of the school year then the next thing I knew I was sporting my graduation gown as pajamas and wondering where all those minutes went. I'm unsure of what I've really learned from i-Poly; grit, confidence, how to not to cross your legs during powerpoint presentations...I'm unsure what will become of the relationships I've made with the folks here. One things is certain though. I am ready to graduate.

Shout outs:
-To the only woman who says it how it is: Ms. Edwards. You're the reason I'm going in as a snarky English major.
-To the woman who taught me leadership and confidence is an ability, not a trait: Sara B. You inspire.
-To my partner in crime who stuck with me since I was fresh i-Poly meat: Aralia G. Though our periods may now get off the same cycle, our mentality never will.
-To the rebel who everyone thinks is an angel: Bel S. I know the truth. And I like it.
-To the rest of you hooligans: It hasn't been a pleasure, but an experience nonetheless. I learned something from all of you and I know (for the most part) each of you will be successful in your endeavors. I mean what I say and I say what I mean. I truly wish each of you well.

Blog 23: Final Lesson Reflection

1. I am most proud of the fact that when I was pushed out of my comfort zone (which was for basically all 9 months of mentorship), I persevered through the difficult times and actually gained experience that I can now put forward towards using in my future.

2.
a) I would give myself an AE - for my block presentation.

b) I would give myself an AE  for my overall presentation.

3. What worked for my senior project was my activity. People contributed, were actually engaged, respectful and wonderful presenters. They had a lot of fun with the activity and I felt really did well in understanding my debrief.

4. I probably wouldn't have had seating charts. The second assigned seating was announced as they walked through the door I heard a massive groan of unhappiness and its never good to start things out on a bad note- Especially hour long presentations.

5. I have found that in doing a project highly related to customer service, I have had the opportunity to gain exceptional customer service skills. This has made me far more confident about myself and what attributes I have to offer to any business or work place of my choice. Specifically, I enjoyed the individual components because I felt that I had the most freedom and flexibility to choose which path I wanted to specialize in. By choosing to take college classes for both of my independent components, I felt the most dedicated. First I took a public speaking class (Public Address 101) because I was having the most difficulty with this in my mentorship. I spent countless hours (well not really countless, I actually counted every single hour on my Mentorship Hour Log! ) not only in the class room, but creating speeches, memorizing lectures and doing homework to prepare me for my public speeches. I felt that because students just used their independent component to do more hours for mentorship, taking a college class in comparison was a far more difficult endeavor (also far more rewarding.)  I also took a Psychology class, of in which I am currently attending today. Psychology 101 has given my so much research that I was able to use to help create the information I spoke about during my final lesson plan, as well as the fact that I used my class textbook as one of my most credible sources. In conclusion, I felt that I have dedicated myself far more than other students to this project. I read complete books and extremely timely manners just so that I could get AE's on research checks, even though that was never even an option. I never missed any senior project assignments, and I have always demonstrated punctuality in every senior project class as well as staying on task. My written blogs have always been on time and reflective of the time and effort I put into this project, and in total my final presentation demonstrated just how passionately I have devoted myself into making this project a success. I only hope my final grade is reflective of the entirety of my effort and perseverance.

Blog 22: Mentorship

Literal:

Completed

Lorena Jasso (626) 475 -9054
Law Office of Jaime Jasso

Interpretive: 

The most important thing I have gained from this experience is customer service skills. It was something I was severely lacking in before, despite its necessity in the real world. This project has forced me to expand my horizons by meeting new people and interacting (through helping others) in ways I never knew were possible.

Applied:

Everything I have done has helped me answer my EQ.  My mentorship in particular helped me create the answers for my EQ which was a bigger challenge than created the actual EQ. The EQ was pondered since Junior year and only finalized senior year through the guidance of the senior teachers who remained consistently present here.

Blog 21: Exit Interview

1) My essential question is: What is the most significant factor in ensuring a client's confidence that the attorney will exert his/her best ability upon their immigration case?

Answer #1: The best way to ensure a clients confidence in their attorney is by having the client continuously staying physically and mentally involved in the construction of their case to emphasize the feeling of a team effort.

Answer #2: The most significant factor in ensuring a client's confidence is to truthfully keep the client well informed of the case progression.

Answer #3: The most important factor in in ensuring a client's confidence in their attorney is by having the attorney and their firm consistently represent authentic integrity.

My best answer is Answer #1 because I have learned that to ensure a client's confidence, that requires trust. The most important way to acquire trust is by not only staying involved in the process (which is similar to my answer 2), but feeling like the client is apart of a collaborative team (in which they never would have done if the attorney or firm didn't represent the same values as the client which includes my answer 3).

2) The process I took to arrive at my best answer was one gained through mentorship experience. I have noticed that the clients who kept in contact with our office are a symbol of pure confidence in not only the attorney, but in the attorney's ability to win their case. There is no correlation that I have noticed between the clients who keep in contact with the office and the success rates of their case, but there is a correlation between their attendance to the office and client's confidence.

3) Problems I faced were simple ones, though they couldn't be solved. The most important aspect about keeping in contact with the office is commuting here from wherever the client is located. Though the reasoning for our office location being in Pomona, California was basically due to the fact that the city is saturated in the demographic of people our office aims to attract, commuting for most client's have typically been a major problem because as illegal immigrants, most find unstable jobs that they have to work at most of the day and long hours through the night still making minimum wage. Minimum wage causes them to be forced into working unfair hours, making it difficult to take the time to visit our office with their families (because they have to accommodate their schedules as well). The solution we have uncovered is telephonic communication, even though it is not as strong as a bond due to it the fact that without speaking in person, it is very non-personal.

4) My most important source for answering my essential question was from a book titled: Credibility: How Leaders Gain and Lose it, Why People Demand it by James Kouzes and from my fourth interview in which the topics of credibility and trust were heavily discussed which assured my confidence in my best answer.

Extra April Blog- "Tranquility"

We only have about one more month of prison left. Oh, I mean school.


....or do I?

Adequacy would be the least of my concerns at this point. I have consistently striven at this school to achieve only excellence. I put time and effort into everything I turned in. I wholeheartedly believed that my effort would reflect in my grades, that my GPA wouldn't so much be a number, but an asset that would run parallel in worthiness to every one of my accomplishments in high school. The truth is, I was naive to believe that. Even during my first year of attendance, I noticed that there was a problem. My effort was not being reflected in my grades due to the oh so lovely grading system here at I-Poly. Foolishly, I remained a loyal I-Polian for the sake of simplicity. I had already created (what felt like at the time) unbreakable bonds, embraced the I-Poly mentality and became accustomed to a certain style of teaching (which does not include senior year). Now only weeks away from my senior presentation, the one 8 months in the making, are you curious to know how I feel? *no* WELL I'M GOING TO TELL YOU ANYWAYS. 

I feel nothing, but tranquility. 

I'm not worried, because I have spent months dedicated to this project, weeks debating over all the possible ways of phrasing my essential question, days perfecting my research check notebook just to make sure it looks organized, hours in libraries hunting down the perfect books and now I'm left with few minutes of worry. I've had 4 years of stressing just to be able to attain that AE, but now it's over. I will try my hardest to succeed for the duration of this project, now without that same AE mindset. I am no longer concerned with the grades I receive at this point. Rather, I am more concerned with knowing that I did the maximum amount I possibly could in this presentation and for the rest of the year. Consistently displaying such effort in the past and only being rewarded by 'P's, this year I was very discouraged. I'm pleased to announce that I am not longer seeking to satisfy my fellow classmates, teachers or faculty. I am finishing this project for me. You see, I-Poly really is a prison. We are kept in a room for hours, confined to close quarters and being told that when released, things will be different. But prisoners walk out of years of confinement all the time completely unchanged, I-Poly is unlike this. This month I have finally realized just how much of a transformative experience I-Poly has the ability to make. I am so thankful I had this little epiphany, because honestly I could easily blame the changes I've undergone these past four years on puberty or the 'Teenage Change,' but it is I-Poly that has reconstructed me as a whole. In my opinion, it is largely part of what has made me the strong, capable woman I am.

[For those of you who are not familiar with the I-Poly grading system: AE = A, P = B] There are no pluses, no minuses. You are either proficient or approaching excellence. Because we all know in this world there is no in-between, right?]

Blog 19- Independent Component 2

Literal:

a) I, Marissa Jasso, affirm that I have completed my independent component which represents 45 hours of work.

b) My main source that helped me complete my independent component was the required text for the class that I took (which was my independent component), titled "Psychology In Your Life" by authors Grison, Heatherton and Gazzaniga.

c) Digital spreadsheet- Uploaded in my Mentorship Log
It can also be found here.

d) Explanation of what I completed: I have completed over thirty hours of working on this component. I decided to take a Psychology class at Citrus Community College. It was titled 'Psychology 101: Introduction to Psychology,' instructed by Dr. Sharon Rizk. Throughout the course of the class, I read the entire Psychology text book which consists of 531 pages.

I was originally inspired to take this course because the topic of psychology had always interested me and now that I'm going to college, I need to start acquiring my general education units. I was planning on taking Psychology 101 due to my need for college credits anyways, but when I found out that we needed another independent component, I was sure that this psychology course was for me. The psychology course was based on the many theories of mental processes, perception and intellectual research.

Interpretive:

Here I would like to explain the significance of my independent component 2 by providing evidence and reasoning for this particular choice of topic. Many would wonder how a Psychology course could interconnect with Immigration Law and to that I would answer with this: Psychology and any type of law work hand and hand. Psychology is the study of mind and behavior, and when working in law that is extremely useful information to know. When working with clients, our office often would like to know what on earth was running through their minds during the time of our interview, or the time they committed their crime, or why their behavior is they way it is. Often times we would like to study their behavior more often then we would like to fix the consequences of it. This is why I found that taking a psychology course is significant. I took it in hopes of better understanding the clients I serve.

Theses are the examples of the notes we had to take outside of the classroom. We were assigned two to three chapters per week of reading which ranged from 85-130 pages. There were also mandatory notes we had to take in class, which the professor would check for at the end of every class, but assured us it was for our own personal benefit. There were also homework worksheets the professor would give to us after every lecture, which were constructed very similarly to my personal notes.

This was an example of the homework given in which we would have to fill in the blank. This was an example of Chapter 3 and the pictures I took covered Chapter 3.1. A typical packet she would have given to us for homework would be 7-8 pages in length of fill in the blanks, because it would have to cover material for Chapter 3. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10. The structure of the class was simple. The class was held once a week for 3 hours at a time at night. Every other week was a test on the 2-3 chapters we were assigned the week before. In total, I have completed 45 hours of in class Psychology test/lecture learning time. This 45 hours of documented work on my project hours listed above does not include time for homework outside of the classroom, studying or personal note taking from the book or recorded lectures at home.

Applied:

This class helped my answer my EQ in multiple ways I never would have expected. Besides the fact that I'm not even completed with the full course yet, I have already learned so much that can help me answer my essential question. The best example I could give was that in Chapter 9: Motivation and Emotion, the book discussed the topic of belonging, social development and social attachments. The chapter was enthralling to begin with because it started off with the sentence: 'We often hear that "humans are social animals." This statement is not just a s way of saying that people like parties.' What a chapter hook, am I right? Later in depth, it began to speak about the need to belong, and specifically the Need To Belong Theory which states that the need for social relations is a fundamental motive that has evolved for adaptive reasons. It has been our method of survival since far more primitive times, sticking together has now evolved into what it is today which is people staying together in social groups. The book states that "a lack of human contact causes emptiness and despair." It even mentions the movie Cast Away as an example of how necessary human togetherness is to not only life, but living. This was how I got my answer of having the client maintain consistently involved in the progress of their case. People need human contact with other individuals, it makes them feel safer, more protected and more connected. This human connectedness builds the feeling of confidence and motivation within that one individual. I do not feel that I would have come up with this answer if it were not for all that I have learned throughout the course of this class, as well in the particular chapters of Emotion and Motivation.

Extra March Blog

     Have you ever had one of those roommates that seem completely adequate until you actually have a conversation with them and they say something like... "Haha yeah, I watch you in your sleep."

     Yeah neither have I, but that would be scary though right? I have graciously been given the honor of working with our two newly hired employees. I consider them roommates, because most days I see them for more hours than I actually sleep. Working in a new environment, being surrounded by people you don't know, having to learn a whole new system of doing everything may be a little daunting in the beginning...and in the middle...and probably in the end for some introverts. When you get hired by someone/where new, you are not just changing jobs, you're changing lifestyles. Though this could be worrisome, our law office processes (thankfully) haven't changed much throughout the years. They may have mutated to better fit the needs of our client base, or to gain efficiency in some aspects, but overall when this business was established, the owners worked out the kinks through years of trial and error so that now it should be near flawless. My new associates will soon come to realize our methodology and perhaps even embrace it with positivity. Either way, I have yet to have a personal conversation with them, so I'm not quite sure how they will embrace the transition...
     Similar to a roommate, I will begin to make myself more known to them slowly but surely (not all at once, I mean we don't want them to quit), I will start to gain their trust and respect as I hope they will earn mine in order to create a better relationship with each of them. I have found productivity to benefit from stronger associate relationships. Not only does team work come into play, but overall you want to work harder, faster and with more vigor when you feel confident you are in a comfortable, positive and friendly environment. When you feel that efforts are not only recognized (by your boss/coworker) but appreciated, a more sustainable chain of command is created and a business becomes pleasantly efficient.