Home Stretch...

So, a few weeks ago, for class, we were asked to write a final entry. It was called "A Journal Assignment for the Home Stretch." I figured I should probably put it in my blog.

Looking Back

I feel like I should have more reflection than I did. I could work on that in the next few weeks making it better. Reflection has been something hard for me to actually write about. I don't know exactly what to say about it. I'll write an entire post about it I guess.

I should have spaced out my project more. I spent so much time at Kim's earlier in the season, I was there for 3 hours a day 4 or 5 days per week every week. I wish that I could have kept that going, though I guess it would have been kind of difficult to have kept that up through recital time and senior week, etc.

I definitely should have planned out my time better. I had some major issues with time management. I know that's a big problem with kids in the WISE program, and it was one for me as well. However, I am giong to have a really tough time in college if I don't plan out what I am going to do better. At the beginning of the project, 16 weeks seemed like forever, so I figured I would be just fine. But as I went through, the time seemed to get shorter and shorter.

I am proud of all that I have learned. I did a lot of research about different issues related to sports. I also learned how to tape an ankle and tape shins. So, that gives me a little bit of an advantage over some of the kids that I am going to be going to college with.

Research

Research was kind of vague for my project. I knew I wanted to find out some common injuries associated with sports, and I did. So for that part, I think I did the research part of this project. Along with that, I wanted to find out what the specifics of being an Athletic Trainer was, and I did that as well, again fulfilling my research component of the project.

The only issue that I had was getting a variety of sources. There were a ton of websites that I got, and I have two "interviews". They weren't really interviews, they were more like prolonged correspondence, so that counts, I think. But I couldn't really find good periodicals. There wasn't a famous person that I could read about, and there weren't really any articles specifically about Athletic Training that I could read about. So, I don't know about that part.

Hands-On

I know for certain that I fulfilled the hands-on part of the project. For the past few weeks, I've been the main person taping people up. Many of the people who come in need their shins or ankles, and I know how to do that, so it frees Kim up to do the other things that she needed to do. I made the video (which by the way has been watched 25 times) and have had a lot of time to work on this part of the project.

Presentation

I think my project is going to go very well. I'm excited to be able to show what I've learned since I started the project 16 weeks ago. I know I'm going to be taping an ankle, and I'm totally prepared, and I pretty much know what I am going to say, so I'm not really worried at all. I hope that it all goes well, and is a good tribute to what I've done this semester.

Reflection

I was told by Mr. Heurich that I needed to work more on reflection. So, I'll do a post right now.

This has been a tumultuous road since I started the project. There have been a lot of issues, starting right off the bat. I had dance 5 nights a week some weeks. So it was really difficult for me to start meeting with Kim. Then competition season ended and I had a ton more time. I absolutely loved being in the Training Room. There was such a good vibe in there. Kim, as well as the college trainers were all amazing and so friendly. They got me really excited to go to college next year. I worried a little bit, when I first chose my major about the fact that I didn't really know if Athletic Training was what I actually wanted to do. This project cleared that up for me a lot.

Then, May came, and I had a lot of studying to do for my APs. For about 2 solid weeks, I couldn't meet with Kim as often because of the studying. Then after those two weeks were up, it was back to more dance rehearsals for the recital. During this time, I didn't meet with Mr. Heurich and I had a really hard time keeping up to date with my blog. I had a written journal, but neither Mr. Heurich nor Ms. Lang saw that, so there was no evidence that I had done anything. However, I did add some. Then senior week where I didn't do anything really. I added some back posts then. But most of my back posts came after Senior Week.

I thought at the beginning that it was going to be easier to have a blog. I type faster than I write, so why wouldn't it be easier? But I found out, that for me, it was more difficult. If I had a regular journal, I could have written whenever I had the opportunity. I wouldn't have had to be near a computer. I didn't think about that side of it when I first started the project. Don't get me wrong, I love my blog, I'm just saying that it might have been easier to have had a regular journal.

Lists

Planning: In the Next Week

• Find out common Lacrosse injuries
• Read more periodicals
• Put more pics and videos on blog
• Stay consistent with writing
• Make up blogs from past week
• Talk to Kim about taping
• Start getting taping lessons from Kim/Kara/IC

Recording: With Mr. Heurich

• Presentation Plans
• Blog Ideas
• Magazines of interest
• Online resources
• Documenting with Pics and Videos
• What I've Done
• What I Plan To Do

Reflecting: I've Enjoyed

• Talking with Kim
• Meeting Chris Hummel
• Being outside
• Talking with the athletes
• Hanging out with Bob
• Talking with Mary Rose about IC
• Hanging out in the Training Room
• Hands on work
• Blogging
• Finding cool videos online

Another Mentor Meeting

I met with Mr. Heurich today 7th period. We talked about what I have done this week, and some ideas for new posts that I could write...I have already written a blog about the ideas...look below. We also talked about what my plans are for my presentation.

As far as the presentation goes, I would like to give a taping lesson to people. I don't know if it would be ankle taping, wrist taping, etc, but I think it would be a good idea to look at doing that as a culmination of all the things i've learned about Athletic Training. Along with that, I thought of having some handouts with pictures of injuries, and I could have a someone come in and demonstrate how doing a certain thing could cause the injury, and I could stop them as soon as the injury would occur.

Mr. Heurich and I also talked about doing a blog about the differences between Athletic Training and Physical Therapy. There are a lot of differences, but a lot of people don't know what those differences would be off the top of their head, so it would be a little more information to help peOple understand just what I want to do with my life after high school and college. Even I am not totally sure of all of the differences, so it would help not only the general public that doesn't know about Athletic Training, it would be able to help me as well.

Part of the reason that I wanted to do this project was that I wanted to make sure that the field that I definitely wanted to go into in college was Athletic Training. That's what I love about this project so much. It helped me to officially decide that I want to go into Athletic Training. Yay!!

Mrs. Sauls suggested that I look at a magazine called Oxygen. It is about women and them getting in shape and doing things to help their bodies, and I think this a great idea. I am going to take a look at this magazine at the earliest possible time...which might be in a few days after I have looked at Runner's World, the magazine not the online articles...so we'll see.

I guess that's all for now...bye! :)

A Little Bit of Research

Today, 7th and 8th periods, I went to the Library and borrowed one of the boxes of magazines that Mr. Heurich and I talked about yesterday, DanceSpirit. It wasn't very helpful, the magazines are more about costumes, competitions and famous dancers and choreographers than it is about injuries and things that I am looking for. However, I had fun looking at it. I recognized some people and some of the costumes that were featured in the magazine. For instance, on the cover of one of the magazines was Maud Arnold. I met her February 20th, in Syracuse, she was my Tap teacher at a competition that I was at. This, for me, was the best part of the whole bit...the fact that I knew her and she was on the cover. It was pretty cool.

I think I'm going to go back and look at Runner's World Magazine to see what I can find in there, if anything. Having the magazines at school is getting me so amped. This way I'm not just looking at the computer screen trying to read periodicals all the time. I think I am going to be doing a lot more work now that I have that resource.

Class Meeting

Today we had a class meeting. We talked about the journals that we read for homework. A bunch of people liked the journals that they read; I however, did not. I thought it was not strong, and that it got weaker as it went.

We also talked about fundraising. This didn't apply to me, since I'm not doing anything that involves needing money or supplies to go anywhere or do anything. It was a pretty chill class period.

It's so difficult to go to class on these Mondays. I am so used to having 8th period free, and I love it, to get other work done so that I can do my project after school with Kim, or when I go home, and since Mondays are my late night with dance, it's difficult. But, oh well, you deal, I guess.

Second Mentor Meeting

I met with Mr. Heurich today and we talked about two different topics. One was what i had done since the last mentor meeting that I had last Tuesday, and the other was what I am planning on doing in the next week or two.

What I've done since Last Tuesday

• I read multiple periodicals that I had picked out and put in my annotated bibliography before I even really started working on my project. Some proved to be helpful while others weren't. There were one or two that I got a lot of information on and that I will be using in the future. (Soon I will post a blog entry about the articles that I read.)
• I had a doctor's appointment with Dr. Andrew Getzin, who is a doctor at Cayuga Sports Medicine. I was talking to him about my project while I was having my appointment, and he said that I was welcome to go and visit him at Ithaca College if I wanted any hands on experience.

What I plan on doing in the next two weeks

• I am going to meet with Dr. Getzin most likely this Friday to see what he can tell me and who I should get in touch with.
• I will be heading up to Ithaca College to talk to some of the professors in the Athletic Training program. If I could get an appointment, I would like to meet with Paul Geisler to see if I could go to his class and observe every now and then.
• I am going to start meeting with Kim Bailey next Monday, March 8th. The spring sports are going to start then and I will be able to do something as far as helping Kim and learning some of the information that I want to.
• When I meet with some of these people, I hope to find out some of the more common injuries associated with gymnastics. When that happens, I can start researching those specific injuries.
  
  

Self-Assessment

I think I need to get working more now that i have a lot of the starting points. I said in my original two week plan that I wasn't going to be able to do a whole lot at the beginning of the project because of dance, and that proved to be true. However, now that I have a lot of my competition season out of the way, I should be able to focus more on getting the work for my project done.

I have been able to work occasionally on what I wanted to do, and when I was able to, I got a lot done in a short period of time, so now with the time that I have, I will be able to get a ton of research done.

Accomplishments

During the two weeks since I've been exited, I've read all of my periodicals that I put in my bibliography. I see this as my success. The periodicals weren't as beneficial to me as I thought they'd be. A lot of them were more about people's experiences in their sports and how they were injured and not so much about how they got better.

I got sick over these two weeks, so there wasn't a whole lot more that I could have done. There was a whole lot more that I had been planning to do. For instance, I had thought that I was going to meet with Kim, but I wasn't feeling well, so I left after 6th period most days. My first meeting with Kim is today after school.

I am going to have my first mentor meeting with Mr. Heurich tomorrow 7th period. I am going to set up my blog and from there I'll be adding most of the information I get to that. Megan Mormile has Mr. H as a mentor and she has a blog as well. Every few days, he will go on her blog an dread her entries and comment on them. In this way, it is like they are meeting more often than just once a week.

I regret that I haven't done more on my project yet, but I am going to really be starting today. I hope to find more helpful periodicals than what I've found thus far. For my goals, they are quite simple, get something done. getting my blog up and running is going to help get me motivated. I think it will be a good thing for me to have a blog. I hope you have fun reading it!