Week 4/27 Blog

THRIVE Director Notes

Posts on this Blog will be directed to help families see what is going on in our THRIVE Program.  Items discussed on the Blog have already occurred.  

DIrector Notes: 

We will keep families posted on any new developments involving our campus and the coronavirus.  We found out this week that the university has rescheduled graduation for August 1st.  The move-in date for next fall’s Early Move-In is August 13th.  Next year’s students should plan on being on campus for move-in on this date.    We are also still working from home until May 17th.  I’m sure emails and Facebook will be good methods of keeping up with any changes.  

Facebook and Google Hangouts have been the way to communicate over the last few weeks.  We’ve been really impressed with the students’ ability to accept change and learn new skills.  (Parents you, too.  We couldn’t have done this without you. Please keep the Facebook posts coming.  

First-Year Students:

Workplace & Community Skills (Mrs. Southard & Dr. Manning): 

Students final included a mock interview over google hangouts. This week we finished up topics. Points of discussion included:

• Self-advocacy
• Self-determination
• Self-awareness of strengths
• Decision making
• Having a balance between being self-determined and too assertive
  

Learning Strategies (Mrs. Southard): 

Chapter Ten was covered. Topics included:

• Different levels of questions
• Reading the questions twice
• Answering all parts of an essay question
• Creating a 5-day study plan
• Using different techniques to study: reviewing the PowerPoint, group studying, reviewing highlighted statements in the text, notecards, and creating their own questions. 

Personal Math (Mrs. Garnier): Personal Math finished up our semester with a lesson on consumer skills and learning our rights and responsibilities as consumers. We completed a study guide for the final and played a Kahoot game to review for the final exam. Thursday, April 30th was our last class meeting, and all they have left is to complete the final exam on Blackboard by Thursday, May 7th at midnight. In spite of the unforeseen circumstance of college in quarantine, the students really stepped up and worked hard. I’m very proud of our kids and their response to these circumstances.

Second-Year Students:

Transition Planning II (Dr. Manning):  This week we discussed our transition final.  The final consists of the students making at least a three-minute video of their two-year path in being a student in the UCM THRIVE program.  The students have had a lot of creative thoughts about how they want their video to look like.  The video is due May 7th.

Internship II:  During the internship class, we discussed the student’s exit interview with the THRIVE staff.  The students will do their exit interview through Google Hangouts with the staff next week.  The interviews will take place next week.  The interviews will have around 20 questions and usually last around 45 - 60 minutes.  

PLATO (Mrs. Southard): 

This was the last week students worked 2 hours on each subject. Most students completed it the previous week. 

THRIVE Activities:  Here are some of the students working on their cooking skills and helping around the house.  Great job!!

Important upcoming dates:

2nd-year Families:  In the coming months, we’ll have some updates for 2nd-year graduation and activities.  At this time, the university has announced that graduation is now scheduled for August 1st.  I’ve begun the process of scheduling a room for our celebration after the graduation ceremony.  Please make sure and put this date on your calendar.   Please monitor your emails.  I've also heard that the university plans to open for face to face classes in August. Please continue to monitor Facebook, Twitter, and email for any other updates.

1st-year Families: Early Move-In date is August 13th.  We have also emailed the paperwork that we need to be filled out and sent back to me by June 1st.  Dr. Manning will also be emailing roommate information in Mid-May.  Please watch for this.

"This blog is a programming blog written by the director and staff of the THRIVE Program on the University of Central Missouri campus.  This blog doesn't accept any form of cash advertising, sponsorship, or paid topic insertions. 

The views and ideas expressed on this blog are purely the blog owners.  This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.  We are simply telling you what we plan to do in our program and using the blog to help spread what we are doing on a weekly basis."