THRIVE Blog of Week of August 26th
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. To keep updated on what’s coming up please refer to the THRIVE activity calendar or UCM activity calendar.
First-Year Students:
University Foundations :
Topics this week included bullying, goal setting, and critical thinking. We discussed the advantages of attending college. A couple of homework assignments were given. They were available on blackboard. The student signed up for Edmodo.com that is a place they can go to get reminders on homework. Students need to let us know if the cannot access their adobe reading. Goal-setting was a topic on Friday. This week we also started to-do lists for each student to remember what assignments need to be done.
The students had a visit from Mrs. Southard. It looks like some good eaten.
Daily & Independent Living Skills:
In DILS we finished up our assessments and reviewed student learning styles with the kids. We also had a guest speaker from the Student Health Center on campus. She spoke about the services available at the health center and encouraged the students to come over if they felt like they were ill or coming down with something. She also spoke about an upcoming campus-wide event where flu shots will be given free to students and faculty. Friday we began to talk about personal finance by discussing how to distinguish between wants and needs.
Technology Literacy:
Tech Lit visited the Learning Commons in the JCK Library where tutoring and homework assistance is available in all areas of study from writing to mathematics. We added Microsoft Word to computers that did not have it and will be adding PowerPoint as well. We continue to practice using the Blackboard system for course assignments and using the campus Gmail system for communicating with faculty and staff at UCM.
Relationships 101:
The topic this week was communication. The students were enthusiastic about discussing some of their personal situations relating to miss-communication. Nonverbal communication was also covered. And not to read meanings into friendly gestures. Students were asked to get in a group of two and one person explain a picture they were given. The other person was to draw the picture. Funny drawings come out of that activity. We discussed communication blocks and difficulty explaining something.
Second-Year Students:
Transition Planning I:
The students having been reading/discussing the first couple pages of the 7 Habits book. We have been discussing paradigms/perspectives of ourselves and others and how we as individuals have different perspectives. Our perspectives have been influenced by our families, friends, where we were raised, religion and lifestyles. The students have been doing a good job in their discussions in class. Sometimes we have to have difficult conversations with our friends, families and other individuals around us. However, their conversations can be productive if the conversations are done in the correct manner.
Internship I:
The students have been doing their internships for two weeks now and all of them are doing well. Their supervisors have been very impressed with the students. The students are showing up at least 15 minutes early for their shift, wearing the proper attire and using professional communication skills. Sometimes I have to remind the students that they need to be working at least 15 hours a week at their internships and their internships come before their activities.
- The students will be starting to update their resumes and making appointments at the UCM Career Service Office. The Career Service Office will help the students with resumes, cover letters and interviewing skills. The students will also get signed up for "Handshake", which is a search engine for jobs. We will keep you updated as we progress with this project.
Plato:
Students continued to work with Plato. Learning more about Math, Reading, and Writing. They will have an hour of Plato to work with each day, building on their current knowledge and working to improve each section.
THRIVE Activities:
Mentor Activities: It’s Building Photo Frames with Sushma
This weekend Sushma is working with the students to create their own frames to put their favorite photos. Here are some of the pictures of the event.
Important upcoming dates:
Down Syndrome Guild Walk:For the 2nd year THRIVE is a sponsor for the Down Syndrome Guild of Greater Kansas City’s Step up for Down Syndrome. We will be putting together a team of 10 students that will go to Arrowhead Stadium to walk for this event, held on October 26th from 10 am to 2 pm. We are excited that we are able to do this and see our students show support. We have 7 signed up so far.
Softball sign-ups are in the classroom:
We had enough players to sign up for a softball team for the fall semester. I’ll keep you updated on when the games will be. We’ve signed up for Wednesday nights 7 & 8 but will have to wait and see. If your student signed up and has a glove at home please remind them to pack their glove this week. We do have some gloves that were donated by a family last year, so if your student wants to play and doesn’t have a glove they can still play. We should be starting to have some practices this week. As long as they don’t have mandatory study hall...
Special Olympics group to be on UCM Campus:
We have a group from Special Olympics attending UCM in late October. We will have a couple of students help with giving tours of campus and will also have a group of students help with an activity in the evening. We’ll be talking more to the students as we get more information.
Family Day: Family Day is September 28th. We will have a THRIVE activity that weekend along with activities across campus. I’ll be updating as we know more. Unfortunately, I have a nephew getting married in Colorado so you will have to enjoy your time on campus without me.
The students can also try out for the Talent show a few weeks prior for a chance to be in the Talent show. Here is a link to the events that they had last year. They are in the process of getting this year’s events scheduled but should give you an idea.
Homecoming Weekend is October 12th Put it on your calendars. The students will be able to participate in several activities. We normally have a float that the students help with and the students walk in the parade.
"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."
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