Blog 15: Independent Component 2 Approval

Content:

1.  Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.

Much like my first independent component, for my second independent component I plan on continuing to attend my fire explorer meetings, which are held at least once a week. The meetings usually last approximately 4-5 hours. I will accomplish any tasks that I will be given by the firefighters to the best of my ability and learn all the material they present to us. At Post 10, were I do my mentorship, my adviser tends to focus most of his attention on a new topic each month. During each meeting he usually goes over a different part of the month's topic. All in all, for my independent component I really want to master all of the new fire related techniques or skills which I will be taught in the future.

2.  Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.

To show evidence of work, I pan on continuously filling out my second independent component log. Aside from that I will take pictures, when I can. I don't plan on photographing every moment of my explorer meetings, because that would interfere with my actual learning, but I will capture images of what I feel are the most important parts of my experience. Lastly, I will show evidence of completing my work by keeping track of any paperwork which I receive and eventually share it on my blog.

3.  And explain how what you will be doing will help you explore your topic in more depth.

By continuing to attend my explorer meetings at station 166, located in the City of El Monty, I will be able to learn more about my topic by simply being exposed to the fire service. When ever I attend any meeting, I always come home with some different form of knowledge that I wasn't aware of before. From being exposed to the work life of firefighters, I have already learned about the benefits and hardships about the career, alongside the importance of knowing all of your information and going out of your way to help another person. Attending my explorer meetings will help me learn more about different aspects of the fire service, which I am eager to explore.

4.  Post a log on the right hand side of your blog near your other logs and call it the independent component 2 log.

Done.

Blog 14: Independent Component 1

Content:  

• LITERAL
  (a) “I, Steven Robles, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.”
  (b) Firefighter Cunningham played a huge role in helping me complete my First Independent Component because he is the person who actually taught me new things when ever I attended my  fire explorers meetings.
  (c) I have completed my digital spread sheet. It can be located in the right hand side of my blog or by clicking here.
• (d) For my independent component I continued to attend my normal explorer meetings. The interesting part about my logged hours was that I got to write about a yearly  explorer event, know as the mustar, which the other explorers and I had to prepare for. I also got the opportunity to volunteer at a number of different locations and learn more about the career of firefighting like things such as yearly inspections that they have. 
• INTERPRETIVE: My independent component consisted of learning about different aspects of the fire service by conducting hands on activities. I sent a majority of my mandatory 30 hours preparing for a mustar with the help of my other explorers and post leader. By preparing for the mustar I was also able to learn about the different types of equipment that firemen use. I also spent a large part volunteering, which helped me understand the huge importance that being open and willing to help others has on the job.

The image above is the cover of the mustar packet which goes over each event in the mustar. Some of the explorers in my post received a copy in order to help them prepare for and get a general ideal of what to expect. 

The image above is a picture Post 10 at the mustar event. I am located in the far left.

The image above shows myself and another fellow explorer, Tagle, posing by the bed section of the fire truck after learning about the different sections of hose that can be found of the truck. 

In the picture above I was separating toys when volunteering at the Spark of Love Toy Drive. 

• APPLIED: As I mentioned before, everything that I did through out my independent component helped me understand a different aspect of the fire service. For example, the mustar showed me that firefighting doesn't always have to be pure work and no fun. I got to learn about the different equipment while conducting hands on activities when preparing for the mustar. I also learned the importance of volunteering and how rewarding it feels to actually be directly involved in helping make a difference in someones life. Lastly, simply by spending so much time at station 166 with the other explorers I got the chance to appreciate the power of creating new friendships with others who have similar interest, which is important in the fire service because I've found that firefighters tend to spend large amounts of time with a set group of people. 

Grading Criteria 

• Log on a digital spreadsheet ✓
• Evidence of 30 hours of work ✓
• LIA submitted to blog ✓

Blog 13: Lesson 2 Reflection

Content:

1. Positive Statement

What are you most proud of in your Lesson 2 Presentation and why?

• After completing my 30 minute presentation, I would have to say that I'm most proud of being able to control my nervousness better than in my 10 minute presentation. I know that I still need to work more and spend more time practicing my presentation, but for the most part I'm content with how I did. 

2. Questions to Consider
       a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your Lesson 2 Presentation (self-assessment)?

       AE       P          AP       CR       NC

       b.     Explain why you deserve that grade using evidence from the Lesson 2 component contract.

• The reason why I feel that i deserve a "P" grade on my my Lesson 2 project is because I met all of the requirements, while still trying to incorporate a fun and interesting presentation. Both my hook and lesson activity required each student too think about a possible answer or write down their thoughts. Aside from that, I feel that my first answer was a very specific response to my essential question. I also sited my research and reference my mentor a little. While meeting all the requirements, I even tried to focus on asking the class lots of questions in order to keep them engaged. 

3. What worked for you in your Lesson 2?

• I believe that I excelled in being able to give the class a specific answer to my essential question. Even though I may have bored some, I  feel that those who did listen and were actively engaged in my presentation were able to learn something new. 

4.  (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your Lesson 2?

• If I could go back in time and redo my Lesson 2 I would choose to practice presenting my power point more than I did the first time. Aside from that, I would also want to try to focus more on making my presentation fun and engaging for the entire class. Maybe next time I'll give little rewards in order to grab the students attention. 

5. Finding Value
What do you think your answer #2 is going to be?  

• I'm thinking about revolving my second answer around the firefighter's equipment. I could possibly say that another way for a group of firefighters to limit injuries and fatalities when fighting structural fires is by making sure that their personal protective equipment (PPEs) is in working condition at all times. I would have to do more research on this, but for now I'm thinking about focusing on the importance that fire equipment may have on a firefighter's life. 

Additional Post Five: Size Up

During the month of January I was able to find lots of informative and interesting articles on firefighting. Although each and every source was useful in some way, none have been as beneficial as the most recent one that I came across while on  the website Fireengeneering.com. "Critical Components of Size Up," by Bill Gustin in an amazing 12 page article packed with an overwhelming amount of information related to my first essential question answer. This piece goes into depth about what a size up is, and it describes various components which make it up. Aside from being descriptive, this article also came with several different examples and scenarios of firemen conducting size ups. One of my favorite aspects of this piece was that it also included several different images which really helped me visualize what a firefighter might expect in the real life. All in all, I found Gustin's article to be extremely easy to understand and useful.

If you would be interested in taking a look at  "Critical Components of Size Up," by Bill Gustin click the link below: 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jekC36jUAY4YMaRMwNGmXSNt916cnlThYzigUokH_r4/edit

Blog 12: Third Interview Questions

1. What is the best way for a group of firefighters to limit injuries and fatalities while fighting structural fires?
2. What is an important ability that can be found to be most useful when fighting fires?
3. How can someone help protect themselves as well as their partners while on duty?
4. How do you usually handle high stress situations?
5. Can you tell me about some common injuries that firefighters tend to get?
6. How can firefighters avoid seemingly normal injuries? 
7. Have you ever been hurt while on the job? If so,what would you recommend others do in order to avoid your injury?
8. Can you explain to me some of the major safety precautions that you and everyone else in your station take when fighting fires?
9. What aspect of the fire service would you change in order to help make you feel safer while in dangerous situations? 
10. In your opinion, what's the most important skill to have, which could be used to save a life?

Blog 11: Mentorship 10 Hours

1.   Where are you doing your mentorship?

 I am currently doing my mentorship at fire station 166 in the City of El Monte. The address is:

3615 Santa Anita Avenue
El Monte, CA 91731

2.   Who is your contact?

 My contact is the explorer post adviser. His name is FireFighter Cunningham and also works at station 166 were I'm doing my mentorship.

3.   How many total hours have you done (total hours should be reflected in your mentorship log located on the right hand side of your blog like your WB)?   

 So far I have completed 58 hours of service learning at my stations. These hours reflect my time spent at the station since the begging of the summer when I first started attending the explore program.

4.   Summarize the 10 hours of service you did.

The first 10 hours that I have logged onto my mentorship log were spent basically getting introduced into the explorer programs and getting debriefed on what's expected of me as an L.A. County Explorer. I also partook in physical training the days I completed the hours and learned about the different types of fire trucks that the station has.


5.   Email your house teacher the name of your contact and their phone number confirming who they should call to verify it.  

DONE.

Blog 10: The Holiday

1.  It is important to consistently work on your senior project, whether it is break or we are in school.  What did you over the break with your senior project?

This break I continued to work on my senior project by continuing to attend my fire explorer program. Although I did not continue to write my hours into my independent component log 1 since I am done already, I did attend my weekly meetings throughout the break and expanded my knowledge. In these past two meetings that I have attended my post advisory had choose to teach us about throwing ladders, which is basically how you would put a ladder onto a building. I also worked on my senior project by completing my months additional post, which I choose to write about ladders since that was the most recent subject that I had been taught about. 

2.  What was the most important thing you learned from what you did and why?  What was the source of what you learned?

The most important thing that I probably learned during the break would have to be how to properly throw a ladder. I only learned one method of throwing a ladder onto a building, the method I learned is called the beam raise, but none the less, this method is still very important. The source of what I learned came from my post advisory and certified explorers at my post.

3.  If you were going to do a 10 question interview on questions related to answers of your EQ, who would you talk to and why?

I'm thinking about asking another fellow firefighter at my station who usually helps my post advisory when he's not able to make a meeting. His name is Firefighter Abadie, and is a very respectable and knowledgeable firefighter who was once an explore like me. He is very approachable and I would asking him for help because I know that he has lots of experience in the fire service.