Friday night a friend and I went to the Minnesota Orchestra for an evening of Brahms Symphony and Song. We were inspired by some half-price tickets so it really didn't matter what was on the program. On the way I told my friend that the culture I had experienced growing up was mainly the high school band and choir concert. Every now and then we did sing a piece in Latin but I can assure you that we never sang or played any Brahms. My friend is from a small town in North Dakota so she didn't benefit from much culture either. We did know enough not to clap between movements.
The concert began with five Hungarian dances which are fun pieces to listen to and it looked like they were fun to play as well. This was followed by two pieces for chorus and Orchestra. Brahms was German and spent most of his life in Vienna so I was glad to find the program notes that had the German words and the English translation. It helped even more to read that the first piece, Nänie, was a lament written following the death of one of Brahms' friends.
The concert finished with the Serenade No. 2 in A major, Opus 16. The unique thing about this piece is that the trumpets, timpani and all violins were not included. This allowed us to actually see the violas, cellos and woodwinds that were hidden by all the violins.
Here are links to two of the pieces from the concert.
Hungarian Dance No. 5 in G minor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3X9LvC9WkkQ
Nänie, for Chorus and Orchestra, Opus 82 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb4qj_z4294
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Job Hunting and Editing
Since I only have one class this semester I've been looking for another part time job. I check the ads on Craig's List every day and am pleased when there is one or two that I actually wanted to respond to. This week I was called to come in for two interviews.
The first was helping the Operations Manager at a company that sells robots that make machine parts (from what I understand.) She is responsible for taking the file from the sales people and following it through to finish. There was a stack of files on her desk and it was obvious that she needed some help. It would have been challenging and enjoyable work but when she said for the 3rd or 4th time that she would feel comfortable letting me follow one of those files from beginning to end in about 6 months, I knew it wouldn't be fair for me to not tell her that I was really only looking for a job for the next 9 to 12 months. She thanked me for my time and said that wouldn't work (which I completely understood). To try and make me feel better she offered some feedback by saying that I had interviewed well. That cracked me up since I had said maybe 5 sentences during the whole time. She was the one doing all the talking. I guess I managed an intelligent question when she asked if I had any.
My second interview was for a temporary position with a tutoring company that needed someone to go to student's homes and deliver a laptop computer, make sure they are connected to the internet and get them started on a tutoring program. To qualify for this program the kids need to be in a school that hasn't met standards for 3 years and who receive lunches at a reduced rate. One of the qualifications for this position was to be bilingual or be able to figure out a way communicate with those who don't speak English. French was not one of the languages they need but I do have some experience going into immigrant homes. I was basically hired on the spot.
Most of the rest of my week was spent writing and rewriting the essays for my application to Occupational Therapy school. Thanks to some help from Aunt Versa and my English teacher roommate I managed to submit something readable and interesting (I hope) that answered the questions being asked about 24 hours before the deadline. One of the essays asked me to describe how I would contribute to the diversity of the program. Fortunately diversity includes being from a rural area. The only problem is that my transcripts have not yet arrived even though they were sent 10 days ago.
The first was helping the Operations Manager at a company that sells robots that make machine parts (from what I understand.) She is responsible for taking the file from the sales people and following it through to finish. There was a stack of files on her desk and it was obvious that she needed some help. It would have been challenging and enjoyable work but when she said for the 3rd or 4th time that she would feel comfortable letting me follow one of those files from beginning to end in about 6 months, I knew it wouldn't be fair for me to not tell her that I was really only looking for a job for the next 9 to 12 months. She thanked me for my time and said that wouldn't work (which I completely understood). To try and make me feel better she offered some feedback by saying that I had interviewed well. That cracked me up since I had said maybe 5 sentences during the whole time. She was the one doing all the talking. I guess I managed an intelligent question when she asked if I had any.
My second interview was for a temporary position with a tutoring company that needed someone to go to student's homes and deliver a laptop computer, make sure they are connected to the internet and get them started on a tutoring program. To qualify for this program the kids need to be in a school that hasn't met standards for 3 years and who receive lunches at a reduced rate. One of the qualifications for this position was to be bilingual or be able to figure out a way communicate with those who don't speak English. French was not one of the languages they need but I do have some experience going into immigrant homes. I was basically hired on the spot.
Most of the rest of my week was spent writing and rewriting the essays for my application to Occupational Therapy school. Thanks to some help from Aunt Versa and my English teacher roommate I managed to submit something readable and interesting (I hope) that answered the questions being asked about 24 hours before the deadline. One of the essays asked me to describe how I would contribute to the diversity of the program. Fortunately diversity includes being from a rural area. The only problem is that my transcripts have not yet arrived even though they were sent 10 days ago.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Playing with kids
After a year and a half of classes, I'm ready to apply to occupational therapy school for next fall. The application is due on January 15th so that has been a big priority during this break. Besides getting a decent GPA in the prerequisite classes and having a BA degree in anything, I also need some volunteer hours doing something related to OT. In early December I found out that one of the schools I'm applying to requires two different volunteer experiences of at least 25 hours each. I've spent over 100 hours helping out in the OT department at the Hennepin County Medical Center so I needed to find something else working with people who have disabilities. A friend of mine works at The Lazarus Project, a center for young children with autism, and her boss was gracious enough to let me hang out there for several days during my break.
I had never spent much time with anyone with autism but by observing and interacting with the kids I learned a lot. One of the key characteristics of autism is having difficulty developing and using language. These children covered a wide spectrum. Some of them were quite verbal and spoke clearly. Others struggled. One boy would look at me and say what sounded like, "Cherry me," which meant "chase me." Once I got him to say something closer to "chase" I'd gladly chase him around the room. Other kids couldn't say a word and were learning sign language. It took them a long time to learn a sign and each sign needed to be continually reenforced.
A behavioral therapist worked individually with each child. Much of the time was spent playing while getting the child to verbalize his wishes. A favorite activity of all the kids was to be on the swing. The therapist would push them for a bit and then stop the swing and ask them what they wanted. An appropriate response was something along the lines of, "Push me" or "I want a push." If they said that without being prompted they got a bigger and longer push than if they had to be prompted to say (or sign) it. In addition, lots of verbal praise was showered on them each time they gave an appropriate response. The same principles were applied when playing with other toys, drawing or playing with play dough (or moon dough).
Each child also had table time which involved more formal learning. The children learned to identify, match and categorize a wide range of objects. They also learned to pay attention and follow directions. In many ways it seemed the kids were being bribed to do this. Before beginning an activity the therapist would ask, "What do you want?" (The choices ranged from a movie to a treat to playing with a favorite toy.) Once that had been identified, the child was told she needed to earn it. For the most part it worked - at least the kids were motivated to do things that weren't as much fun as just playing. And, unless they were having a bad day, they thoroughly enjoyed the praise that was lavished on them when they mastered something that had been hard for them before.
The last day I was at the Lazarus Project I got a clear picture of another key characteristic of autism which is difficulty with social interaction. Five of the more advanced children were put into a group with the goal of learning how to appropriately interact with others. They watched a short clip of two children sharing and then the therapists tried to get the kids to replicate it. The first activity they did was to go into the book room where there is a couch and a couple of comfortable chairs and they were to read books together - or rather next to each other. It was exhausting watching them. Many of them would rather hit a child than have that child sit close to them. They did better once they moved to taking turns going down the slide. One of the more advanced boys did really well one-on-one with a therapist. At other times I'd watched him appropriately play a game with another child. But he went crazy during the hour or so that he was to be interacting with 4 other kids. I lost track of the number of times he had to sit in a chair turned away from the rest of the group because he had hit someone else or thrown something. There were many tears and "behaviors." Once he was back with just a therapist for the rest of the afternoon he was fine.
All in all it was a good experience. I saw how many of these children would benefit from occupational therapy. I'm grateful for the chance to see how my friend spends her days. I also learned that as much as I like kids, interacting with them intensely all day is exhausting for me.
I had never spent much time with anyone with autism but by observing and interacting with the kids I learned a lot. One of the key characteristics of autism is having difficulty developing and using language. These children covered a wide spectrum. Some of them were quite verbal and spoke clearly. Others struggled. One boy would look at me and say what sounded like, "Cherry me," which meant "chase me." Once I got him to say something closer to "chase" I'd gladly chase him around the room. Other kids couldn't say a word and were learning sign language. It took them a long time to learn a sign and each sign needed to be continually reenforced.
A behavioral therapist worked individually with each child. Much of the time was spent playing while getting the child to verbalize his wishes. A favorite activity of all the kids was to be on the swing. The therapist would push them for a bit and then stop the swing and ask them what they wanted. An appropriate response was something along the lines of, "Push me" or "I want a push." If they said that without being prompted they got a bigger and longer push than if they had to be prompted to say (or sign) it. In addition, lots of verbal praise was showered on them each time they gave an appropriate response. The same principles were applied when playing with other toys, drawing or playing with play dough (or moon dough).
Each child also had table time which involved more formal learning. The children learned to identify, match and categorize a wide range of objects. They also learned to pay attention and follow directions. In many ways it seemed the kids were being bribed to do this. Before beginning an activity the therapist would ask, "What do you want?" (The choices ranged from a movie to a treat to playing with a favorite toy.) Once that had been identified, the child was told she needed to earn it. For the most part it worked - at least the kids were motivated to do things that weren't as much fun as just playing. And, unless they were having a bad day, they thoroughly enjoyed the praise that was lavished on them when they mastered something that had been hard for them before.
The last day I was at the Lazarus Project I got a clear picture of another key characteristic of autism which is difficulty with social interaction. Five of the more advanced children were put into a group with the goal of learning how to appropriately interact with others. They watched a short clip of two children sharing and then the therapists tried to get the kids to replicate it. The first activity they did was to go into the book room where there is a couch and a couple of comfortable chairs and they were to read books together - or rather next to each other. It was exhausting watching them. Many of them would rather hit a child than have that child sit close to them. They did better once they moved to taking turns going down the slide. One of the more advanced boys did really well one-on-one with a therapist. At other times I'd watched him appropriately play a game with another child. But he went crazy during the hour or so that he was to be interacting with 4 other kids. I lost track of the number of times he had to sit in a chair turned away from the rest of the group because he had hit someone else or thrown something. There were many tears and "behaviors." Once he was back with just a therapist for the rest of the afternoon he was fine.
All in all it was a good experience. I saw how many of these children would benefit from occupational therapy. I'm grateful for the chance to see how my friend spends her days. I also learned that as much as I like kids, interacting with them intensely all day is exhausting for me.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)