Blog 21: Independent Component 2

• Literal.
• I, Brittany Ho, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.
• Damaris Elenes / Adrian of YMCA, 9092424376.
• Independent Component Log II
• Every Wednesday, I went to volunteer at the child watch program at YMCA from around 4 PM to 8 PM.
• Interpretive.
• For my second independent component, I had decided to continue volunteering at the day care because I wanted to improve what I had already done there. I wanted to change my approaches with the kids to something more interactive & to something that was more based on their individual behaviors. I've been a part of the child watch for quite some time now & I've gotten to know a lot of the kids pretty well. Besides being able to work on my patience, I was able to apply some of the skills I learned through my research to this. Although it seems kind of unrelated since my topic is dealing with drug & alcohol addicts,  there were actually a lot of occasions that I was able to apply my knowledge. For example, when the kids were overreacting or misbehaving, I was able to practice being realistic & stern with them. I was also able to practice my empathy & being able to pay attention to each of the individual children's needs. One of the regular kids there, Brandon, was a really tough one to get close to because he's very obnoxious. But after a while, I learned that I could get him to behave  & help out with the crafts if I gave him an incentive, like being able to go up to the pool. Throughout my hours, I was also able to help a lot of the kids out with their homework & I read to a lot of the little kids. I was able to make sure they left the child watch with something to hold on to & something they could improve on. By the end of my hours, Damaris & I had established a behavioral chart that would reward the kids that were the most well-behaved at the end of the month. We had also established an art wall for the kids to display their art. When we first started volunteering there, the kids watched a lot of TV & didn't really do anything else. Now, the kids do more art related things & play more games. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Applied.
• This independent component helped me answer my component by improving my ability to pay attention to individual behaviors, which is essential when dealing with drug & alcohol addicts. I basically explained everything in my Interpretive section.