Blog 26: Senior Project Reflection

(1) Positive Statement

What are you most proud of in your 2-Hour Presentation and/or your senior project? Why?
 I am the most proud of my mentorship overall because I know I learned many things by observing my mentor, as well as the other people, there. I know this isn't very big but I really liked the posters I made with my EQ on them for my presentation. I am also very proud of the fact that I was able to complete this topic that I have been researching and learning about all year.

(2) Questions to Consider

a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your 2-Hour Presentation (self-assessment)?

AE       P          AP       CR       NC
I would give myself and AP+/P because I know I did a good job but I know I could have done better.

b.     What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project (self-assessment)?

AE       P          AP       CR       NC
 I would give myself a P because I feel like I did everything I was supposed to and I completed the assignments on time.

(3) What worked for you in your senior project?
  What worked for me was that I was able to get very informative books to help me understand my topic better. Breaking it up through the year helped me get quality research and it also helped me figure out specific research I needed to obtain.The research checks throughout the year really helped with the compilation for the final binder check as well. 
 

(4) (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would have you done differently to improve your senior project if you could go back in time?
I would probably liked to have better answers for my essential question. Either this or I would have liked to come up activities that seemed more fun. I would have liked to have done more research to gain even more knowledge than I have now.
 

(5) Finding Value

How has the senior project been helpful to you in your future endeavors?   Be specific and use examples.  
  Like my product, I know I can talk to people and socialize with them better. When learning to communicate with people, I know how to work with them to gain specific information to help both of us reach a common goal. For example, while working with drama club, I had to know the type of character the actors were playing by talking to them in order to give them the hairstyle to represent that character. Being social and an effective communicator are both skills needed in the career field I want to go into. It is also very important in the society we live in, because everything requires communication and people cooperating with each other nowadays. I am no longer nervous or shy to ask others for favors, ask for help, or even just have a normal conversation. This project has helped me surpass this obstacle that I have been trying to overcome for a very long time.

Props

These are the maniquin heads I will be using for my 2- Hour Presentation and one of the posters with my EQ. The other posters are the same only in different colors.

 

2- Hour Lesson Plan

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0YI-cY7nd1GSkNybjhaanNfSFk/edit

Blog 25: Mentorship

Literal 

• Mentorship Log Link Here
•  Contact:Adriana Solis                                                                                                                     Number: (909)643- 3791

    Interpretive

     What is the most important thing you gained from this experience? Why?
The most important thing I have gained from this experience is knowledge of how to style, cut, and dye hair. I have learned important techniques that I had not learned about in the many books I used for research. These techniques not only help do the job correctly, but they also help get the job done faster and easier for the stylist.  Apart from this, I also gained the social and communication skills I need out side of the salon in order to effectively interact with people. I no longer feel afraid or nervous to talk to others and speak my mind at certain times. I feel more comfortable meeting other people and speaking to them.

   Applied

     How has what you’ve done helped you to answer your EQ?  Please explain.
 Since my mentor doesn't speak English very well, there were times when I had to interpret what she was trying to tell the client and vise versa. I had to learn what the salon terms meant in a different language in order to communicate efficiently with both parties. This way each of them knew what the other person was trying to say in order to find out what the client wanted. However, I also saw my mentor go through "interviews" with the client to figure out what they want, what length they want their hair, or even if they have had other dye jobs. This helped me see that when a stylist communicates well with the client, they are able to produce the style the client wants, therefore making the client satisfied and happy walking out of the salon. Communication answers my EQ, which is "How can a stylist best satisfy their clientele?"

Drama

Today, May 16, 2013, I helped out again with the plays that Drama Club is performing. I was surprised to see my name on the program but there it was. I couldn't stay long, though, so I was only able to take a picture of  Gen putting hair spray on one of the actors.

My name is where it says stylist

Drama Hair Dressing

Yesterday, May 15, 2013, I helped the people from drama style the actors' hair. Here are some pictures:

Hair Pinned Up to a Bun

A Little Bit of Volume Added to the Crown.

French Braid Pinned Up to a Bun.

Mentorship.... Again

On Saturday May 12, 2013 I forgot to post what I did in mentorship. Many women and men came into the salon more than usual. Needless to say, it was a very busy day. At the beginning, though, it was a bit slow. I mentioned to my mentor that I had learned how to create the dutch flower braid. Since I said this, she had braid her daughter's hair, since she was visiting that day. It looked really cool because half her hair was blond and half of it was black. The contrast in both colors made the style look really amazing. Sadly, I couldn't get pictures that day other than these:

Close Up of Flower

 

Mirror View

Hair Styling Urban Legend

          While reading the book "Haircutting for Dummies" by J. Elaine Spear, I came across a story that is somewhat of an urban legend in the hairstyling business. This story is told to explain why it is so important to communicate efficiently with the client, which is my third and best answer. This is how the story goes:

A long haired, male client walks into a salon to get a few inches trimmed off his hair. When he sits down in the chair, the stylist asks him, " Do you want to keep your ponytail?" Naturally, the client responds, "Yes". With one swift movement of her scissors, there stylist cuts off the man's ponytail and hands it to him. Devastated, the man walks out and starts to wander from salon to salon asking other stylists if there is some way they can fix his hair.

          The way I interpret the story is that if the stylist had rephrased her question to something like "Would you like me to cut the ponytail?", then the client would have answered with a no. Phrasing a sentence to something that would not be misinterpreted can help gain clientele confidentiality and allow them to be satisfied with their hair style. When a client does not communicate clearly and efficiently, there is a huge possibility that the right hair style will not be received and the client will not be happy. That is why communication is the key to giving clientele satisfaction.

Blog 24: Exit Interview Questions

(1) What is your essential question?  What is the best answer to your question and why?

          My essential question is "How can a stylist best satisfy their clientele?" Through the year, I have been able to come up with three answers that answer this question. They are; know what the client likes to do to their hair, know the client's hair type, and communicate with the client before and during the styling process. My best answer, however, would have to be communication, because without communication the stylist will not be able to receive clear direction or form a clear picture of what the client wants. Communication is also very important because without it, the stylist will not be able to know what the client likes to do to their hair and their hair type, my first two answers. Gaining this specific information depends on how well the stylist and client communicate with each other.

(2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?

At the beginning of the year I wanted to do my EQ on something that had to do with how much time a client spent at the salon. At my mentorship, I would always see clients spending many hours in a chair, but they seemed like they didn't mind. When doing the EQ meetings Mrs. Pittman made a good point of saying that wouldn't the client prefer the quality of the work and it wouldn't really matter if the time took long. After taking this into consideration and really reflecting back on my mentorship, I realized that this was true. After this I decided to focus on satisfying the client. After asking "What would make a client happy?", I came up with the answers: know what the client likes to do to their hair, know the type of hair, and communicate with them before and during the styling process. however, what lead me to my best answer was my fourth interview with Adriana Solis, my mentor. Most of the answers she was giving me had to do with communication. Thinking back on my research, most of the authors had also claimed that communication was an important aspect of satisfying a client. After my mentor had told me this, I knew I had confirmed my third answer. Now that I also remember my science fair project, my results of the survey I created said that the people who interacted with the stylist and took the time to talk about the hair walked out more satisfied than the people who did not talk with their stylist.

(3) What problems did you face?  How did you resolve them?

          Some of the most significant problems I was faced with this year were mostly associated with mentorship and interviews. From mid-October to mid-December I was having trouble with going to

my mentorship because this was the time my mentor, Adriana Solis, was switching salons. Before we had to turn in the first ten hours of  mentorship I called my mentor to see if there was some way I could complete those hours. She told me I could mentor at her house because even though she wasn't working at her salon, she had taken up shop at home. I was then able to obtain my hours this way. Another problem I had was for my first and third interview. I was planning on interviewing my mentor but she had to cancel on me at the last minute. The same thing happened again with my third interview. However, the way I was able to resolve this is that my mother has friends that work as hairdressers , so I was able to call them up and obtain the interviews I needed through them. I was able to interview my mentor for my second and fourth interview, though.

(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?

          The two most significant sources I had this year were two books called "Pro Hair Care: Salon Secrets of the Professionals" Alexandra Friend and Sheridan Ward and "Haircutting for Dummies" by J, Elaine Spear. The reason these two were my most important sources was because the first book had a little bit of everything pertaining my three answers. There would be one chapter dedicated to types of hair, and other about how to gain information about the client, and another one on how to communicate with the client. The second book, however, had more information on communication. It really helped me get a better perspective on why communication was an essential key to satisfying a client. The examples they gave were clear and easy to relate/ comprehend. 

(5) What is your product and why?
          I know that my communication skills and social skills have improved greatly. Now, I feel more comfortable speaking to people of different ages with out feeling nervous. I know that now when I communicate with others I can much more clear on what I want to say and this helps the conversation flow much more smoothly.

Blog 23: 2014 Interview

1.  Who did you interview and what house are they in?
The junior I interviewed was Analisa Gallegos of West House.

2.  What ideas do you have for your senior project and why?
Analisa told me that she wanted to do her senior project on something related with animals or psychology. However, she seemed more interested in the psychology topic. She also told me that she would narrow it down to something that had to do with the criminology aspect of psychology. The reason she wants to do her senior project on this is because this is the career field she wants to go into. Analisa had explained that this project would hopefully help her get a jump start on this career path. 

3.  What do you plan to do for your summer 10 hour mentorship experience?
Analisa explained that one of her mom's friends works in the FBI so she was hoping she could obtain permission for mentorship for this. If she couldn't get mentorship there she told me that one of her family members was a psychologist and would probably be willing to allow her to mentor there for the 10 hour summer experience.

4.  What do you hope to see or expect to see in watching the 2013 2-hour presentations?
What she expects to see in this year's 2- hour presentations are the activities. She really wants to see how to make her activities fun next year and see what kind of activity ideas there are. Analisa also hope to learn more about the project in general and what it is exactly.

5.  What questions do you have that I can answer about senior year or senior project (or what additional information did you tell them about senior year or senior project)?
The only question she had for me was about the research. She seemed a bit confused about how much research and how many research pieces were going to be needed and how they were going to  pile up at the end. She asked "How exactly does all the researching thing work? How does it get compiled at the end of the senior year?" I told her that throughout the year, they would have research checks. For each research check they would have to bring in a certain amount of research pieces and take notes on them. I told her that through the year these research pieces will compile into  one binder that they will have to turn in. I also told her that when researching she should get more books than internet articles because they will help her more in the long run.

Final 3-Column Chart

3- Column Chart Link