Based on what you have done for your senior project so far, answer the following questions (be specific and use examples).
1) Mentorship question: Describe your experience in how you found your mentorship? If you haven't found one yet, describe your experience so far in the search of a mentor.
For my senior project, I knew that I wanted to do something in education and the psychology behind it. But, it was a challenge to find a mentor in that field of study due to the fact that most psychologists require people to be at least 18 years old to work or intern with them. In late November, I will be reaching the tender age of 17 which, unfortunately, limited me when trying to find a mentor.
I like to think that I am the definition of a visual learner. Just today, I had a presentation for my social studies class where my group and I had to discuss two court cases that dealt with matters of equal opportunity. We were required to create a poster for both cases and had to draw out five visuals that represented our case. When researching information on the assigned cases, I would read the text and understand the factual information. But it wasn't until I drew out pictures to represent the cases, that I actually grasped the information. Everyone in the world is different, so I understand that education may differ upon factors such as geographical region, gender, religion, etc. But what if applying arts into the curriculum could give someone a competitive edge over someone without that influence?
After some great thought, I decided upon the idea of having my senior project explore teaching, with fundamentals found in art. At first, I wasn't sure of what grade levels or age group to focus on, but then I remembered that I generally found younger kids, six to seven year olds, more compelling because both my brothers were once in that stage of life. I had emailed a couple teachers from my local elementary school and was able to complete my summer mentorship with them. When I had to search for my current mentor, my fifth grade elementary school teacher came in mind, and so I sent her an email as well. I discovered that she was teaching a combo class this year, second and third grade, so I took it as a sign and graciously asked if I could mentor with her.
2) Research question: What has been your most important article you have read so far and why?
From what I have read so far, I believe that my most important article would be by Sally Gifford from the NEA, National Endowment of the Arts. The article New NEA Research Report Shows Potential Benefits of Arts Education for At-Risk Youth was electronically published in March of 2012, so the information is current for my topic and the author provided specific references to data by the U.S. Department of Education. The article itself reports of a study where students have a "better academic" standing if they have had accessibility to art. The activities used to track the levels are art forms were music, theater, leadership, and more. The author wrote that students with these high exposures to art have a 47% higher rate in volunteering and were "more civically engaged" than low income students. I believe this article was important because it reveals that the arts could help low income students due to the studies results of better academic outcomes from those with significant art exposure.
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