Hey everyone!! Happy National Chocolate Covered Raisin Day I hope you enjoy it.
This week I returned to the lesson plans, which I continued updating Wednesday and Thursday (don’t worry, I’m not going to go through that process once again). On Friday I finally finished the lesson plans for high school and elementary school students, which I emailed to Cassandra. I also downloaded the lesson plans that hadn’t needed to be altered and sent them to her, just in case the page of the website with all of the lesson plans is ever taken down.
After that, Cassandra had me go on her computer and make sure the formatting was correct in the older version of Microsoft Word, as well as move all of the files from her email to the Lesson Plans folder. There were so many folders and subfolders in computer I had to ask her the correct path three separate times before I actually got them to the correct place.
Just as I finished doing that, Cassandra pulled me out for a surprise meeting.
(you thought I had run out of these gifs, didn’t you) (I never run out)
Anyway, the meeting was with Americorps and Habitat for Humanity International and Cassandra wanted me to talk about the youth program that we had been developing. It was kinda scary since I hadn’t really prepared anything but I basically just summarized what I had done at the internship so far. I first said that I had mainly been going through the preexisting resources that Habitat International had, updating them, and making them more relevant to Habitat for Humanity Central Arizona. I talked about the Housing Simulation and how I had updated it and made it more appropriate for smaller children. After that, I talked about the lesson plans I had been working on more currently and how I had been updating broken links and statistics. Apparently the people who made the lesson plans was no longer with Habitat so they hadn’t been updated, and they actually asked me to email them my revised ones so my version might end up on the larger Habitat for Humanity International Website! There is also a way to flag broken links apparently which I didn’t know about, but it was probably faster to just update them myself.
That’s it for this week! There is some sort of public speaking training I’m supposed to do next week, so we’ll see what happens there.
Hi, Sarah. That sounds like an amazing opportunity. Being able to talk about the youth program to those kinds of people is a huge deal. I can see how it could be stressful as it was a surprise, but you seem to have handled it well. Also having your idea being seen internationally could open many doors for the future, so congratulations. I hope it all works in your favor.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much!
DeleteWow, Sarah, I definitely wouldn't have been as quick thinking as you at that meeting, so I'm glad you were able to pull it off! I wish you luck with your public speaking training (I probably need one of of those before our presentations in May, no joke). How often do the Americorps, Habitat for Humanity International, and your Habitat for Humanity meet up or was this a meeting specific for discussing the youth program? You should feel pretty important if that meeting was just being held for you. ;D Glad to hear you had another great week!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kiri. I think they check in with all of the affiliates (annually, maybe?) to go through how they are being run, etc. Youth programs were just one aspect of it I think. I'm not entirely sure of the meeting schedule because I haven't been here for that long.
DeleteSurprise meetings sound stressful! I am glad it went well. I was curious, what are you planing to use for your "final product" for the senior research project? (I have no idea what I will do...)
ReplyDeleteAnyway, have fun and good luck with the public speaking training.
Thanks! I think I will most likely use the Housing Simulation that I revised earlier as my final product, but I could change that in the future to another youth presentation or lesson plan.
DeleteHi Sarah! I can't even imagine how much anxiety I would have in that moment. I'm glad it worked out in the end. Good Job! (Yay for public speaking) So I was wondering when any of the activity plans you've created are going to be implemented into actual practice. Are they approved and ready to use now? Or are there more processes it needs to go through before it's finalized?
ReplyDeleteThank you! Its pretty much finalized at our affiliate at least (I think). I don't think there is any official process of finalization, other than Cassandra looking them over, which I don't know if she has done yet.
DeleteWow that meeting sounds like quite the surprise and stress. It is a great opportunity to get to interact and speak with that group though so congratulations on that. It is also so exciting that your revised plans may be put on the Habitat for Humanity International website. Looking forward to next week!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteHi Sarah,
ReplyDeleteGood job on the quick thinking at surprise meeting, I would not be able to pull that off. Good luck on the public speaking training.
-Vara
Hi Sarah! Its sounds like you did a great job at the surprise meaning and congratulations on Habitat for Humanity International wanted to use your lesson plans. When are the lesson plans going to be used, in the near future or sometime later? Good luck on the public speaking training, something I could use, and can't wait to see what next week holds!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'm not entirely sure when they will be used. Youth activities tend to be decided on a case by case basis, so if a school/church/other group wants to do lesson plans and approaches Habitat, they will be used then.
DeleteSo glad you haven't run out of the gifs yet. Your project seems so be going well so far. Are you planning to do anymore hands on volunteering for them?
ReplyDeleteThank you! I will be going to the Gilbert Christian visit next week, and I hope to continue volunteering at Habitat builds and events in college (Berkeley has a club).
DeleteHi Sarah, sounds like you had another great week and I will be sure to enjoy the chocolate covered raisin say. It must be nice to be able to conduct your internship at a place that cares enough about your success to have someone talk to you about how it going. Until next week, good luck!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteWow Sarah! Looks like all of your Model UN experience prepared you well for this impromptu meeting! How cool that your senior project work is benefiting the organization, not just at the local level, but the international level as well! Have you thought more about how you will structure your final presentation?
ReplyDeleteThank you! I'm thinking about breaking down the three sources I used (Habitat International resources, local affiliate practices, and other organizations' youth programs) to show the general structure of a succesful youth program/activity, which will hopefully be good and satisfy the requirements.
Delete