Third Interview Preparation

1. Who do you plan to interview? What is this person's area of expertise? 
• I plan to interview Dr. Jennifer Chang, the other dentist in the office where I do my mentorship. Dr. Jennifer Chang had received her bachelors degree in psychology and biology from UCLA. She has also received her dental doctrine degree from Columbia University School of Dental Medicine. Her area of expertise is general dentistry and implant treatments. 
2. Verify that you have called your interviewee to schedule an interview?
• I have an interview scheduled for February 4th @ 5pm.
3. Phrase an open ended question that will help you find research resources that would help to answer the EQ.
• "As a dentist, how do you make sure you make your patients feel the most comfortable?"
4. Phrase an open ended question that will help you think about other useful activities you might do to help you answer the EQ.
• "What is it important to practice in order to be able to be a 'good' dentist?"
5. Phrase two open ended questions that help you to understand your interviewee's perspective on an aspect of your EQ.
• "You see a lot of anxious patients throughout your time being a dentist. Have you ever helped a patient with their dental anxiety?"
• "How do you relay the importance of proper oral hygiene to your patients in a way that they will  actually listen to the advice?'

Blog 13 - 10 Hour Mentorship Check-in

1. Where are you doing your mentorship?
• I am still doing my mentorship with the Puente Hills Dental group located in Hacienda Heights.
2. Who is your contact? What makes this person an expert?
• Chris Chen, DDS 
• Achieved degrees in biology and chemistry, achieved a doctorate degree at Colombia School of Dental Medicine, established a career in dentistry with the Center of Esthetic Dentistry at UCLA. 
3. How many hours have you done during the school year? 
• So far I have completed 63 hours with my mentor.
4. Succinctly summarize what you did, how well you and your mentor worked together and how you plan to complete the remaining hours?
• Usually when I arrive at mentorship I sit and discuss with the receptionist how the day has gone, what type of appointments the doctor has had, and what appointments will be going on while I am there. Then, I usually put on some gloves and a mask and watch Dr. Chen work. Occasionally I will hand him one thing or another or retrieve files. I like to speak with patients whenever I can to see how they feel about being at the dentist and what they think of Dr. Chen. I usually do three hours at once. My mentor is really nice and is always willing to help me and teach me new things that could help me with my senior project. I plan to 30-40 more hours. 

Blog 12 - Holiday Project Update

1. It is important to consistently work on your senior project, whether it is break or we are in school. What did you do over break with your senior project?
• In regards to my senior project I would say that I did a lot of thinking. I thought mostly about what I am going to do for my Independent Component 1. I also started thinking about Lesson 2 Presentations and which answer to my EQ I would possibly like to focus on. I worked on research checks in my notebook each Friday. 
2. What was the most important thing you learned from what you did, and why? What was the source of what you learned?
• The most important thing I learned was both what I am planning to do for my Independent Component 1 and also my Lesson Plan 2. The source of what I learned was my research checks mostly. Doing the research helped me decide what direction I want to go in with my senior project. 
3. Your third interview will be a 10 question interview related to possible answers for your EQ. Who do you plan to talk to and why?
• I plan to interview the other dentist in the office where I currently do my mentorship. Her name is Dr. Chang and I know she will provide me with very useful and honest information.

Blog 11 - Lesson 1 Reflection

1. What are you most proud of in your lesson, and why?
• I am most proud of being able to present good and valid information about my topic. I am also happy with the fact that I was able to explain how I came up with my working essential question. I think I did a pretty good job managing my time too. 
2. What assessment would you give yourself on your lesson? Explain why you earned that grade using evidence from the component contract.
• I think I deserve a P for my Lesson 1 assessment. I don't think I had any concern with volume, body language, eye contact, or engaging my audience. I think that the research I presented was clear and concise. I had with me three sources that were cited. I also mentioned my mentor and interviews 1 and 2 several times. 
3. If you could go back, what would you change about your lesson? How can you use that knowledge to give a better Lesson 2?
• I would definitely want to rehearse more so that I could sound more professional and provide more valuable information to my audience. I think the overall change I would make when giving my Lesson 2 would be to be more organized than I was for this first lesson.

Interview 2 Reflection

Interview 2 Audio

1. Please explain how you are spending your mentorship time. 
• I spend my time in a dentist office mostly shadowing my mentor and also another dentist that works in the office. I like that I am able to speak with the patients sometimes as well as watch my mentor and learn new things in the office. My mentor is an expert seeing as he has gone to dental school and has a degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery. I definitely do enjoy speaking to patients as well and observing them, which has helped me steer the direction of my topic and think of my EQ. 
2. How did you find your mentor? How did you convince this person to help you?
• My mentor is my dentist. I felt comfortable asking him to be my mentor because when I had braces Dr. Chen did my ortho work and over the course of 18 months I felt more comfortable with him. I wouldn't really say that I had to convince Dr. Chen. He was more than willing to help me out with my senior project and be my mentor once I had asked him. 
3. How would you rate your comfort level with your mentor at this point in your relationship? How does this relate to the time you've spent so far at mentorship with this person?
• On a scale of 1 to 10 I would say my comfort level is at about a 6. That meaning I feel comfortable enough with my mentor to talk about stuff other than dentistry and make jokes and stuff like that. He has known me for about 4 years. Of course having him as my mentor and going in to the office twice a week for a total of six hours has helped develop the comfort. 
4. What went well in this interview? Why do you think so? What do you still need to improve? How do you know? How will you go about it? 
• I was able to get some valuable answers and information from Dr. Chen. I think the questions I asked were what really helped me get some good and helpful information from my mentor. This interview was a bit rushed seeing that although I had made an appointment with my mentor, his appointments ran over closing time and caused a rush in the interview. Hopefully next time I will make the interview way more in advance in order to allow sufficient amount of time to comfortable complete the entire interview. 

Blog 9 - Advisory Prep 3

1. State whether or not you currently have a mentor, and what the status of your interview is with that person.
• My mentor is Chris Chen, DDS at Puente Hills Dental Group. I have scheduled a time for my second interview with Dr. Chen for October 27th. 
2. At this point, your research is probably guiding your studies toward more specific areas within your topic. Name the area or two you feel most promising and explain your reasons. 
• Patient Care/Easing a Patient: I will focus more on the psychology of dentistry, that is why so many people are afraid of the dentist. My mentor has told me that many people view dentists as "villians" or the dental office as a scary place. I could explain what makes a patient the most comfortable or why patients might have dental phobias or fears. 
• Ortho Care: I will be able to explain the anatomy of the mouth and teeth. I will also be able to educate my audience on how to take the best care of their oral hygiene. 
3. What kinds of sources do you think will help you in the next month to gain more research depth? Where will you go to get them?
• My mentor will definitely be able to provide me with more information about my topic. 
• I can go to the library and hopefully find some books about oral hygiene and tooth anatomy.
• Articles about the psychology behind dental fear/phobia/anxiety will really help me do more in depth research. 
4. Write down a possible EQ. 
• What are the best ways to maintain good dental hygiene/what is the most effective preventative care?
• How might a patient develop orthophobia's and how could a dentist best ease a patient? 

Blog 8 - Independent Component 1 Proposal

1. Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours?
• I don't yet have a solid idea on what I would like to do for my 30 hours. Through my project I really want to focus on accessing things like what makes people afraid of the dentist and/or how to get people to be more aware of the importance oral hygiene. I was hoping I could make some dental care packages (filled with things like information, toothbrushes, floss, toothpaste, mouthwashes, etc.) and give them to the homeless shelters. I was hoping I would be able to go and talk with those people about proper oral hygiene and maybe find out if any of them have fears of the dentist or maybe bad experiences. Another idea would be to build a mouth out of paper mache. The whole structure would include the gums, teeth, nerves, etc.
2. Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.
• I could document it with pictures, a video log, and even actual logging of hours on paper. 
3. Explain how what you will be doing will help you explore your topic in more depth.
• By making dental care packages I would be able provide help for people who don't have access to a dentist or maybe who don't have proper supplies to maintain good oral hygiene. I would be able to talk to those people about their past experiences with the dentist (if any) and their oral hygiene. 
• By building a paper mache mouth I will be able to learn about the anatomy of the mouth such as things like nerves, bones, blood vessels, placement. 
4. Update your senior project hours log.