Over the past several years, art therapy has become a very popular form of treatment for special education students and kids with other behavioral, emotional or psychological issues. For me art therapy has been my favorite way of learning. It teaches different types of skills such as learning academic skills, symmetry which is a math skill and social skills as they are more engaged with each other.  It is also a fun way for students of all ages to learn because they get to see what they are creating.For my Capstone I went to Greenfield and did projects with the students in Mrs. Serra’s class. We did different projects such as painting pumpkins and painting hearts for Halloween and Valentine’s Day. In order to plan this project I had to research different ideas and send them to Mrs. Serra to get them approved, once she approved them I had to go out and buy the supplies and get them ready for the students. The hard part of this project was finding something that worked with all the students and their disabilities. In the end of this Capstone I have gained experience in working with children with disabilities.

Art Therapy is More than Just Making Nice Pictures

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/art-therapy-is-more-than-just-making-nice-pictures_us_5609be20e4b0af3706dd8e26

This source provides information about art therapy and why it is important for children to be introduced to art. It explains how art therapy isn’t just making nice pictures it is a way of learning.

Art Teaching For a New Age

https://www.chronicle.com/article/Art-Teaching-for-a-New-Age/140117

This source provides information about teaching art to a new age of kids.

Ten Reasons to Let Your Kids Paint

https://picklebums.com/ten-reasons-to-let-your-kids-paint/

This source provides information on why you should let your kids paint.

The Value Of Art Therapy For Those On The Autism Spectrum

https://the-art-of-autism.com/the-value-of-art-therapy-for-those-on-the-autism-spectrum/

This source provides information on how arts and crafts are good for those with autism.

Annotated Bibliography :

Golics, Catherine Jane, et al. “The impact of patients' chronic disease on family quality of life: an experience from 26 specialties.” International Journal of General Medicine, Dove Medical Press, 2013. <www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3787893/>

After reviewing this source, I noticed that it gave me a lot of background information. I also noticed that it was an interview put into a sort of document. At first I didn’t think that this source was reliable, but once I started getting more into it, I noticed it has a lot of references. I also saw statistics, and the interview questions that was talked about. Most of the interview questions that were asked answers my capstone question on how families feel about their relatives conditions. So maybe I can use some of these questions to ask the families I get in touch with.  

Good, Byron J., et al. “Impact of Illness on the Family: Disease, Illness, and the Family Illness Trajectory.” SpringerLink, Springer, New York, NY, 1 Jan. 1983, link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4612-5433-1_6.

Although this source is similar to the other source, I selected this one as well because it’s the impact instead of the effect. This gives me a lot of information on how illness affects the whole family and the different ways they can cope together as a whole.

How Families Cope With Chronic Illness - Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY, <wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/102000363.>

After reviewing this source I got more information on how families cope. I also noticed that this source puts together verses from the bible, which I think is really reliable. It also gives questions families frequently ask doctors when they find out their loved one is diagnosed with an illness. This source helps me a lot because it gives a variety of information. It talks about the many ways someone can be supportive, so this can help me on how to be supportive to the families I talk to.

“Interviewing an individual to gain a family perspective with chronic illness : a clinical demonstration.” Free Library of Philadelphia, [San Francisco, California, USA] : Kanopy Streaming, <know.freelibrary.org/Record/2103858.> https://freelibrary.kanopystreaming.com/video/interviewing-individual-gain-family-perspective-chronic-illness-clinical-demonstration

At first I didn’t think this source would be reliable. Although this interview was about a man’s experience on chronic illness, it was still able to help be gather information. While watching this interview, they introduced the skills they would be talking about which included, coping strategies and impact on family. They also explained ways someone can cope even without family members, but how to on their own. During the interview, the doctor asked the patient many questions on how he coped, and how he felt about the loss while he was a young boy. In the end, this source was pretty useful for me.

Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Health and Behavior: Research, et al. “Individuals and Families: Models and Interventions.” Health and Behavior: The Interplay of Biological, Behavioral, and Societal Influences., U.S. National Library of Medicine, 1 Jan. 1970, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK43749/.

This source shows how families and or the individuals that are diagnosed behave. An individual sometimes feel guilty when they’re diagnosed because of the many things their family has to go through in order to prepare for them. The many equipment they have to get, and the amount of money they have to gather.

Lawrence, Erika. “The Impact of Chronic Illness on the Family.” http://www.igliving.com/magazine/articles/IGL_2012-06_AR_The-Impact-of-Chronic-Illness-on-the-Family.pdf

This source provides informations on the different strategies to cope with a family member's illness and the impact on it. It not only gave information on how families cope, but how individuals, as well as couples together cope. It gave the many effective ways for both couples and families. A big thing I noticed, was family therapy. I could use this, to see whether the families go through family therapy together or even bring up the different ways I learned, to give them ideas on how to cope. In the end, this source was really helpful for me and I will be using it as a guideline when I visit the Ronald Mcdonald House.  

Rothenberg, Michael B. “The Effect of a Child’s Chronic Illness on the Family.” Psychosocial Family Interventions in Chronic Pediatric Illness, 1982, pp. 163–178., doi:10.1007/978-1-4684-4247-2_24. <https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4684-4247-2_24>

This source is a book called “The impact of Chronic Illness on the Family”. Not only does this source show the different ways to cope, but it also shows what the impacts are for the families. Not every family goes through the same thing, so there are many different  things that could happen. This source gave me a lot of information, and was very helpful with not only coping but also the impact it has.

“Saying Goodbye.” Saying Goodbye: Coping With a Loved One's Terminal Illness, www.helpguide.org/harvard/saying-goodbye.htm.

This source provides information on how to properly say goodbye and cope on a loved ones illness. This shows grief and the challenges that the family could face. The process of coping and grieving takes awhile. There’s many steps of these things. At first I didn’t think this source was reliable, but it gave me good information on my topic.

“Signs and Symptoms of Trauma - Causes and Effects.” PsychGuides.com, www.psychguides.com/guides/trauma-symptoms-causes-and-effects/.

This source shows the many causes and effects for Trauma on illness. It gives information about the signs and symptoms to know someone is diagnosed with trauma. Trauma is a really serious thing, and this source can help me know how to properly talk to the families, just in case they are sensitive about a certain topic or thing.

“When a Loved One is Terminally Ill.” When a Loved One is Terminally Ill: Talking About Death and Making End–of–life Decisions, www.helpguide.org/harvard/dealing-with-a-loved-ones-serious-illness.htm.

This source shows how families prepare for the worst when they know their loved one is diagnosed with an illness. They have to prepare financially, physically and emotionally. This source gives the many ways family does these things. This can help me put together information on my end product or slideshow.

For my Capstone, I held a Faculty vs. Student Volleyball Game Fundraiser. My idea was centered around community, specifically in SLA and creating an event that would not only include students; but teachers, parents, alumni, friends, and more. I saw a lack of activities that parents were invited to and wanted to have the game begin a new tradition. I knew I also wanted to do something that would include volleyball, seeing as I was the captain this past season. I thought holding a game would be most engaging for people to come to, and by having the girl’s team play the staff it included more community members. At my actual event, I had a great turn out of teachers, players, parents, friends, and even some alumni. I held two sets of faculty vs. girls volleyball team, then one set of students who wanted to play on another student team vs. the faculty, and finally the two student team against each other. I had music and a microphone so I was able to announce everyone to make it more exciting. I learned a lot from this experience, especially about how much planning goes into holding a school event. I learned how many people it takes to make one event happen and how many different people I had to connect with, which also ties into time management skills which I gained from this project. Overall I'm very happy with my capstone!

Works Cited

Centers For Disease Control, "Make a Difference at Your School" (2013). Chronic Disease. Paper 31. http://digitalcommons.hsc.unt.edu/disease/31

This source is centered around childhood obesity. There are many ways to influence obesity in school settings, like changing school lunch diets and promoting school sports programs and physical activity. Schools need to build a foundation for influencing exercise by

strengthening school sport policies, and fundraising for teams would help encourage joining the programs. The report noted that staff should promote health, involving them in the event would help influence students to become more active which is one of the goals of my event. Overall it would increase opportunities for students to become involved in athletics and school event create exposure. This source is the University of North Texas Health Science Center working with the Center for Disease Control, which is a reliable source because of it’s well known reputation and it’s first hand data from being a government-funded program for citizens.

Dervarics, Chuck, and Eileen O'Brien. “Back to School: How Parent Involvement Affects Student Achievement.” Centerforpubliceducation.org, 30 Aug. 2011, www.centerforpubliceducation.org/Main-Menu/Public-education/Parent-Involvement.

This source mainly discusses the different forms of parent involvement. My event incorporates parents to attend the volleyball game, and this source gives me more insight on the importance of parents being more involved in the school community. It is stated that by including parents, it helps with parenting skills, communication with their children, volunteering because events will make them more interested in continuing interest in the community, community collaboration which helps them reach out to the community more, and more aspects of daily life. Parent involvement can create exposure for parents to see children’s interests and could begin new family bonds and bring the community together in new ways. This source is an organization dedicated to speaking about public education and is an initiative for the National School Boards Association.

Herman, Joan L., and Jennie P. Yeh. “Some Effects of Parent Involvement in Schools.” Apr. 1980, https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED206963.pdf.

This is an article that discusses a study and some of the impacts of parents becoming more involved in their child’s school community. It discusses how creating strong relationships with parents creates bonds for the future with the child and the school, because if anything happens where the school needs people to stand behind them or advocate for them, the parents are more willing and supportive.Parents are more likely to become more interested in school events if they have positive associations and are welcomed to be active members of the community, which is exactly what my event plans to do. Higher socioeconomic class parents are more involved in school life, and since SLA is a culmination of kids from all different backgrounds, this gives me a good place to do more research on an making an event that would interest many parents. This document is credible because it was partnered with the U.S. Department of Education, a primary source for educational information.

Kuo, Roger S. “A Firsthand Comparison Between Magnet School Life and Public School Life: Academic and Social Aspects.” A Firsthand Comparison Between Magnet School Life and Public School Life: Academic and Social Aspects, Stanford University, 28 July 1999,https://web.stanford.edu/class/e297c/poverty_prejudice/school_child/firsthand.htm.

SLA’s community is unique by being a city magnet school, meaning we have unique opportunities. This source is a firsthand account of experiencing both the public school and magnet school systems. This source is helpful because it makes me think about different perspectives and aspects that are specialized just to SLA’s community. The author writes about how students in magnet schools seem to be more supportive of each other’s academic success and build off of one another’s accomplishments, something that I see happening at SLA as well and also transfers to outside of school in our community as well. Magnet schools tend to select students based on who they are academically, which I see as accurate, yet magnet schools still tend to be contenders in sports teams and are avid about their team’s accomplishments. This is true for SLA and I hope to continue to build off of that enthusiasm with my volleyball game.

Osterman, Karen F. “Students' Need for Belonging in the School Community.” www.researchgate.net/profile/Karen_Osterman/publication/247662613_Students'_Need_for_Belonging_in_the_School_Community/links/5515a1420cf2b5d6a0eaaae6.pdf.

This book talks about aspects of community and the impact it has on children mentally. Community isn’t present without a sense of belonging and is made of 4 components: membership, influence, integration and fulfillment of needs, and shared emotional connection. It goes in depth on the importance of collaboration and how forming bonds to bring people together, much like we do at SLA and my event would encompass. Interacting with teachers also creates a sense of relatability, more accessible therefor making forming connections easier which shows the benefits of including teachers in my game. This informs me on how important making people feel included is and how to plan my event to include the most people possible and make all community members feel welcome.

Ross, James G., et al. “After Physical Education...Physical Activity Outside of School Physical Education Programs.” ResearchGate, The National Children and Youth Fitness Study, Jan. 1985, www.researchgate.net/profile/James_Ross38/publication/274620295_The_National_Children_and_Youth_Fitness_Study_After_Physical_Education_Physical_Activity_outside_of_School_Physical_Education_Programs/links/5a5fb9340f7e9b964a1dd7b7/The-National-Children-and-Youth-Fitness-Study-After-Physical-Education-Physical-Activity-outside-of-School-Physical-Education-Programs.pdf+.

Since my game involves physical activity, I researched the importance behind encouraging students to be active outside of just a physical education class. This publication speaks on the importance of creating variation with sports and fitness to introduce many different choices for students. I would be doing this with volleyball, seeing as it isn’t the most popular sport in SLA and could create new interest for students and encourage them to be more active. This helps my understanding of what sports do for students and why they matter and how I could make an impact by creating positive connections for a sporting event. This information in this source is based off of a national study surveying actual students and schools to show the impacts of physical education.

RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, Vol. 1, No. 3, The Elementary and Secondary Education Act at Fifty and Beyond (December 2015), pp. 77-94. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7758/rsf.2015.1.3.04.

This journal discusses the role of the government in education. Since SLA and many public schools across the country are underfunded, it creates new challenges for our students. Many programs are struggling to continue due to lack of resources, like the volleyball team. Because there isn’t money, students like myself have to take matters into our own hands to change the situations. This source talks about the racial and socioeconomic gaps as an issue the government hopes to fix, and SLA is an example of a group of students experiencing these issues. This helps me analyze the problems our school faces and why.

Strauss, Valerie. “The Ugly Facts of Life in Philadelphia Public Schools.” The Washington Post, 7 Oct. 2014, www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2014/10/07/the-ugly-facts-of-life-in-philadelphia-public-schools/?utm_term=.e811fe457d9a.

Up until recently, the school district was run by the State who decided our funding and performed massive budget cuts to hundreds of schools throughout Philadelphia. Teachers make less than teachers in the suburbs and also have to pay for their own health benefits, showing how the cuts are not only taxing on the students, but the teachers as well. We face many setbacks with cut funding for afterschool programs and the arts, which means students and teachers have unfair weight to carry when compared to many other school districts. This source gives me all of the information I need to fully understand our lack of funds and current situation and reminds me of the importance of making my event successful.

The North Carolina High School Bulletin, Vol. 5, No. 1 (JANUARY, 1914), pp. 26-29 Published by: University of North Carolina Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/43822093 Accessed: 26-01-2018 14:41 UTC.

A study was done by the University of North Carolina discussing how the state of North Carolina put more funding into high school sports and it resulted in more interest in sports than ever before. This shows how there is a direct correlation between funding and interest, and my capstone is focused around raising money for the volleyball team which would encourage more students to join the team and make it a stronger program overall. The state also released requirements for the student athletes, like attendance and grade requirements. Not only do students want to join sports, but they must also focus on their grades as well because they can’t be a part of the sports program without improving their academic status.

Wright, Handel Kashope, and Sidonia Alenuma. “Teaching City Kids.” Google Books, https://books.google.com/books?id=YWh8ho9e2qwC&pg=PA211&lpg=PA211&dq=pros+and+cons+of+magnet+schools&source=bl&ots=Tc3IbEXfwV&sig=P_WlppFW6G4Nvf2gs0ghF18lVPk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwit6v-IoPPYAhURON8KHUhDCo04FBDoAQhLMAY#v=onepage&q=pros%20and%20cons%20of%20magnet%20schools&f=false

This book talks about the unique aspects of urban magnet schools and how they are multicultural, multiracial, and high achieving alternative schools. This allows for a fuller educational experience that includes a wider variety of students and people, which includes the SLA community. By reading pieces of this book it helps me understand how important magnet schools are and how vital it is to support the system, giving my event more meaning by hoping to raise money to support our clubs and sports teams. My event is a chance to interest students of all types and across the spectrum to fully bring our community together and support making our magnet school system stronger.

Rift: Race for Dominance

Annotated Bibliography

1. Dahl, Roald. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Reclam, Philipp, 2018.

I also read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory when I was in fifth grade. However, I am using it now for a completely different reason from Bridge to Terabithia. While that source helped me with flushing out the background, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory helped me flush out the characters. It had about seven main characters throughout the story, all with different personalities, and kept their dialogue consistent. I used Dahl’s strategy in my own book by writing a short bio for each of the main or recurring characters and writing around those bios, ensuring the consistency of each character.

2. Google. “Frequent Spots in Philadelphia.” Google Maps, Google, 2018, www.google.com/maps.

My book mainly takes in an alternate version of Philadelphia, named Neo Central. The characters also travel through multiple other versions of Philly, including the one in real life Pennsylvania. So I figured that it would be cool to have some landmarks or popular places that Philadelphians could recognize. These places would also change as the characters travel through dimensions. So I looked on online for some sources that describe popular and frequent spots in Philly. However, I could find no such source. So I decided to research it myself. Using Google Maps, I looked at the part of Philly where this book takes place and found exactly what I was looking for.

3. Haddix, Margaret Peterson. Sabotaged. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2011.

Sabotaged is the first book in the Missing Series that I read. Ever since, I was intrigued by the books until the final one came out. I was hooked on these books because after every chapter, there was a cliffhanger, leaving me with a sense of emptiness. I wanted to know what happened next, so I kept on reading. I took this strategy used by the author and implemented it into my own book. At the end of each chapter, I am adding a cliffhanger that leads into the next chapter. This will keep readers invested and coming back to the book.

4. Josh L. “Middle English Grammar.” Learn Middle English online - a brief grammar of Chaucer's English (Basic Middle English lessons), Naivlang, 6 Nov. 2009, www.nativlang.com/middle-english/middle-english-grammar.php.

The hi-tech medieval dimension in the book has several characters that I wanted to speak in a language similar to Shakespearean plays. So I needed to research Middle English in order to learn about that language and be able to write dialogue with it. That is when I found out about Josh. He has researched Middle English for at least 8 years and has shared his findings with the world. He created a website to showcase his knowledge and teach others how to use Middle English correctly and efficiently. Therefore, I used his site to help me write dialogue for Sir Phoenix and random civilians in the book.

5. McCarthy, Cormac. The Road. Alfred A. Knopf, 2017.

I read The Road in 12th grade. I saw it as a very insightful source, as it showed me that fluff does not have a place in a book. Cormac McCarthy wrote The Road so that every word was important to the story and it got straight to the point, not getting sidetracked by anything. I wanted to use this strategy in my book, as I dislike when a book as useless fluff that has no meaning to the entirety of the plot. Therefore, I made sure that every part, every chapter, every word to the story pertains to the larger plot.

6. Palacio, R. J. Wonder. Puffin, 2017.

I first read Palacio’s Wonder in seventh grade. I was interested by the author’s use of different fonts and spacing for each character’s narration. It described the characters without necessarily needing to describe the characters. Since I found it so interesting, I wanted to include this strategy in my book. I did not want to give each and every character a different font because I have a lot of characters in my book and it would get very confusing. As there are multiple points where computers or any other technology speak to the heroes, I decided that the tech should have a different font from the humans. This would give the tech a robotic voice and describe the voice of the tech without the voice necessarily being described with words.

7. Paterson, Katherine. Bridge to Terabithia. Crowell, Thomas, 1977.

I first read the Bridge of Terabithia back when I was in fifth grade. It was a lovely book with a whole lot of imaginative imagery in it, describing practically of detail of the background and scenery. Using words that presented more of an impact to the reader, it instilled in me a sense of wonderment while I visualed the scenes in the book. This strategy used by Paterson is what I implemented in my book. In regards to describing the background and action scenes, I used words that will resonate with readers and provide vivid descriptions in their minds.

8. TheBookPatch. “Print a Book.” Book Printing and Binding | Online Book Printing | On Demand Printing, TheBookPatch, 2017, www.thebookpatch.com/PrintBook.

This is the site I will use to print my book. It allows me to submit a pdf of the text I want printed and create a cover. Since I already received the cover art from my cousin, I can submit that art to the site and use it as the cover for my book. After approving both the pdf and the entire cover, I can then move on to the printing phase. It cost $4.47 to print a book, which is not too costly compared to other publishing sites. After paying, they will print it within 2 to 3 business days.

9. Thomas, Timothy. Personal Interview. 17 Nov 2017

Including myself, my book contains characters that are counterparts of my real life friends and family. This meant that if I got their characteristics wrong or portrayed them in a way that they did not like, they would be very annoyed to say the least. So I had to talk with them and figure exactly what they would say in certain situations. This included constant questioning of my brother, Timothy Thomas, as he and the different versions of him make recurring appearances in the book. The questioning did not end with speech patterns, however. I wanted every detail to be as accurate as possible. So I asked them about their height, weight, and other aspects about themselves, making the book as realistic as possible.

10. WikiHow. “How to Write a Book.” WikiHow, WikiHow, 28 Dec. 2016, www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Book.

When I was first starting this capstone, I wanted some strategies on writing a full book, not just two page essays. I just went on google and searched “How to write a book” and this WikiHow article showed up. It described six strategies the helped me a lot in the long run. The first was buy a notebook to put ideas in. I did not technically do that but I did start a new google doc to do the same thing. The second strategy was to think of ideas for stories. I had no idea at first what I wanted to write about until it clicked when I was writing out ideas. The third strategy was to create an outline, which helped me to write each chapter with detail. The fourth one was writing down every character with meaning to the plot. The fifth was write the outline and the sixth was “edit mercilessly,” which was the greatest strategy of all. The first draft of a book is rarely the one an author settles on, which was very true for me. So in the long run, WikiHow helped me begin writing my book and encouraged me to keep editing where it was necessary.