To the Members of the Portfolio Committee,  

Prior to being a college student, my writing abilities have never been so good. I’d struggle in all my classes due to not stepping out of my comfort zone. Taking this course (ENG-101-A8W) had me a bit nervous as to English was never my favorite subject and I didn’t care too much for Robots. After, completing a few assignments to this course, I started to like how easy it was becoming and how my writings turned out. I was finally coming out of my shell and learning new things. 

The first assignment I present to you was our first major assignment. It was a memoir that we were to compose from the viewpoint of five to eight lifeless and moderately comparative instruments that assist you in playing a certain role. When receiving this assignment, I was extremely excited because I got to write about what I essentially use at work. But I was also aggravated because I couldn’t pinpoint what I exactly wanted to write about. I made sure to get into details about how each tool is used differently to moderate behavior. This essay felt essay to me and help me open my shell because everything I was writing about, I used on an everyday basis. 

The second assignment I present to you was my third major assignment in this course.  This assignment was annotated bib and a short report. I had to choose a topic to write about. It could’ve been about anything as long as its robot related. I had to research the topic as well as formulating a research question, finding and evaluating the sources using those sources in my own writing, and citing them appropriately. This assignment I chose to write about children who have Cerebral Palsy (CP) because CP is a group of disorders that affect a person’s ability to move and maintain balance and posture and could benefit with a source of robot depending on their severity. I enjoyed having the ability to pick anything I wanted to write about because it gave me the chance to learn more about a topic that I’m interested in/ a topic that I work with. Writing this assignment became like second nature to me the only trouble I had with it was evaluating the sources. 

The third assignment I Present to you was my final assignment. This assignment was a Robot Proposal on whether a robot should or shouldn’t be used in whatever field I chose. I chose to write that robots should not be used as teachers because they lack the emotional view of a human. I believe I only wrote one research paper in high school. It was nothing compared to this. I struggled with this assignment not with the research part of it but with the citation part. I searched the internet on different websites to find paper articles and scholarly sources to make sure that citations were credible. 

This course made me ‘spread my wings and fly’. I was not pleased with my writing skills before, but this course helped improve my skills and now has made me a better writer. I enjoyed learning new facts about robots and how I could incorporate my job into my school work. I’m hoping that when I take English 101 that I can use my skills I learned this semester and carry them over. 

Thank you for your time, 

Alicia Lucas 

Classroom Management 

As I’m sitting back on my front porch staring into the sunset, I can’t help but think back to my first day teaching my sub separate class grades 3-5 this school year. The night prior I had spent quite some time reviewing their IEP’s (Individualized Education Plan) and noticed I had some of the same student’s as last year. I remember walking into the auditorium where my class was waiting anxiously. If only I could get into their little heads and read their minds. Then I think to myself. Why are these little ones so anxious? As I stood there looking around…. I noticed the colorful clip chart that I made. The clip chart is color coded with various important words found in a specific color. Veronica, who was in my class last year slowly raised her hand. I said, “Yes Veronica.” She then replied, “What is the stick for?” I then told her that it was a new tool that our school was using this year to moderate classroom behavior. At the beginning of every day, each student will start in the middle of the chart on the green, “Ready to Learn”. Each child has a clothespin with his/her name which is clipped on the green. Throughout the day each of you can move up or down the chart according to your behavior. At the end of the day, the color that you’re on is the behavior grade for that day. I’ve then explained to them what each color stood for with, Red being that they needed to rest and being on pink was superhero status. Mia, hiding in the back, spoke out loud asking, “What happens, if we landed on pink and still being outstanding?” “Yes Mia, great question.” once you landed on pink you then have a chance to “Fly off” the clip chart and onto my shirt, and at the end of the day your parents will see that you’ve had an amazing day! I could see in their faces that they were very excited about what’s to come, this school year!

 Calming Corner 

Isaac, another returning student, has been having a rough morning thus far. He’ has been giving the 3rd warning, for disrupting the class, which means he has moved down the chart 3 times and is now on the color red. Once he realized that he was on red, he didn’t take a liking to it. He had a meltdown and was crying very loudly. I sent him to the calming corner, where he can take his time to cool down and rest himself. The calming corner is a quiet area of the room equipped with soft furnishings and soothing materials to help a student de-escalate when upset. Once Isaac had calmed down, I told him that he needed to reflect on his behavior and work on turning it around. 

 Visual charts 

In some of my student’s IEP required them to have a visual chart made up for them to visually see what the day consists. Charlie IEP stated that he needs a chart specifically made for math. He doesn’t retain math at all and needs diagrams to remind him of what the lesson is on. His chart was about the length of a piece of copy paper that was laminated and had a bunch of math formulas on there that was colorful. Unique, is a very smart girl, her IEP required that she needs a chart made up on bathroom times. Her chart was small like the size of an iPhone that had smiley faces and flowers all over it, with a grid to check off as the days go. She needs to be asked every hour if she needs to go to the bathroom. If she doesn’t go, I leave the box emptied and if she does need to go, I check it off for her. Her At the end of the week I send that chart home with her parents, so they can keep track of when she goes. My other friend Shyan, needs another behavior chart made up for her. A chart that she can understand a little better because she doesn’t quite get the concept of the clip chart. Her chart is also the size of a piece of copy paper, that has a grid, and has the days of the week on it. If she behaves, I give her a sticker to let her know she’s having a good day!

Pom Pom Jar 

“It’s time to go to lunch”, I told my students. They all run to the entrance of the doorway. Oh, how they are all lined up in a nice quiet line. I’m very impressed with how well this line is for it being the first day of class! In my hands behold a recycled spaghetti sauce jar. The purpose of this jar is to earn compliments from myself or other staff members in the halls. When I say compliments, I mean earning pom poms but given the compliment from another adult/class. I directed my class to the 2nd-floor cafeteria, as we were walking my students had their eyes facing forward, lips quiet and had their hands by their side. Mrs. Breton’s class walked by us to return to their classroom. Her classroom was not in a straight line and they were very noisy. She noticed how good our class was she gave us two large sized purple pom poms. “Good job guys, I’m very proud of you and how well behaved you are, and what great role models! Once the jar has filled, we can earn a pizza party.” My class was very excited, to say the least.

Prize Box 

As the day almost reached its near, I have most of the class clipped on to my shirt. What a great day it was today. I called the names of the students that were on my shirt, “Charlie, Veronica, Shyan, Unique … etc.” I bring out this box. The box has a black cotton-like blanket over it used as a cover to hide the contents under it, the kids are excited to see what’s underneath it. Behold a treasure box I let each of them pick one prize from it, to reward them for exceptional behavior. Sadly, my friend Isaac hasn’t turned his day around and leads me no choice but to make a call home and let his guardians know what kind of day he had. 

 Learning will not happen in a classroom that lacks high expectations, both academically and behaviorally. The first six weeks of school are essential for embedding clear procedures and routines in the classrooms. These tools are very beneficial in an everyday classroom. They encourage students to make positive choices about their behavior’s. It enables the children to develop, good work habits, resolve conflicts, and self-discipline independently.

The Use of Robots with People who have Cerebral Palsy  

 Cerebral Palsy (CP) is a condition marked by impaired muscle coordination (spastic paralysis) and/or other disabilities, typically caused by damage to the brain before or at birth. About 10,000 children are diagnosed with cerebral palsy nationwide each year. Cerebral palsy occurs as a result of a brain injury sustained during fetal development or birth. However, because the symptoms of CP affect a child’s coordination and independent movement, the injury is not always diagnosed right away, especially when the symptoms are mild. Parents usually start to notice when something wrong when the child has failed to reach developmental milestones; rolling over, crawling, and walking. People with cerebral palsy have trouble controlling movement, balance, and posture. There is no cure for Cerebral Palsy  

One symptom of Cerebral Palsy is crouch gait, an excessive bending of the knees while walking. Dr. Thomas Bulea and his team of researchers at the NIH Clinical Center created a Robotic exoskeleton to treat crouch gait. The exoskeleton is a wearable device that provides powered knee extension assistance. Bulea tested whether the Robotic exoskeleton could lessen crouch gait when worn by children with Cerebral Palsy. He tested 7 children ranging between the ages of 5 and 19 who could at least walk 30 feet without a walking aid. The research team saw knee extension improvements in six of the seven participants. Majority of the children were able to improve their knee extension up to 37 percent. “It was the first time in their life some of the parents had seen their children walk while standing that tall,” says Bulea. It showed that the children worked with the exoskeleton rather than let the exoskeleton do all the work of straightening the leg. 

Another symptom of Cerebral Palsy is Hemiplegia, a paralysis of one side of the body. Having this symptom significantly impacts play and self-care activities such as eating, getting dressed, and going to the bathroom on your own. Virtual reality (VR) is a technology used to accomplish intensive massed practice in children. Use of VR is thought to enhance children’s motivation, enable age-appropriate play/participation and sense of self-efficacy, which may in turn, result in a desire to practice more. Deutsch JE, Borbely M, Filler J, Huhn K, Guarrera-Bowlby P, had developed a case study in which an adolescent utilized a commercially available hand-held controller to play computer games. The subject demonstrated improvements in visual perceptual processing, postural control and functional mobility at post-testing. A case study with a 6-year-old child with upper extremity hemiplegia that performed four weeks of robotically facilitated planar reaching activities following application of botulinum toxin to reduce spasticity in elbow, wrist and finger flexors. The child showed very little improvements at the impairment level that was comparable to an equivalent to Occupational Therapy (OT) following botulinum toxin therapy (BOTOX) in the arm and hand. The child made improvements in the upper extremity active range of motion and in kinematic measures of reaching movements. 

The main goal to both studies was for the children to be able to do more for themselves instead of relying on their parents/guardians or other equipment’s they use on an everyday basis. For instance, because children who have crouch gait, they’re not able to walk on their own. They need to use a walker/stander to help gain muscles in their legs. Also, they need so many hours (depending on the level of their case) of Physical Therapy (PT). Children that had Hemiplegia and can’t move one of their hands, makes things harder for them. They need to use specific eating utensils to help them eat on their own, additional OT time. Having these robots help the child better their life. I think these robots should be put in every school system and every adult care so the person with CP, can try and make something out of their life! 

 “Robotic Device Aids Walking in Children with Cerebral Palsy.” National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 26 Sept. 2017, www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/robotic-device-aids-walking-children-cerebral-palsy.  

This article discusses what Cerebral Palsy is and how it affects children. It also discusses how Dr. Thomas Bulea and his team of researchers at the NIH Clinical Center created a robotic exoskeleton to treat crouch gait. This is a sufficient source because it gives you details about CP and what it is as well as Dr. Bulea’s research. 

 Revell, Timothy. “Robot Suit Helps Children with Cerebral Palsy to Walk Better.” New Scientist, www.newscientist.com/article/2145128-robot-suit-helps-children-with-cerebral-palsy-to-walk-better/. 

 This article discusses the testing of the exoskeleton and how it’s been successful. It also gives more information about Cerebral Palsy. It is a sufficient source because it’s easy to understand and doesn’t take much time to decipher the article. 

 FREIMUTH, CC, MOLLY F. “Robotic Exoskeleton Helps Alleviate Crouch Gait in Children with Cerebral Palsy.” National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2 Nov. 2017, irp.nih.gov/catalyst/v25i6/robotic-exoskeleton-helps-alleviate-crouch-gait-in-children-with-cerebral-palsy The author discusses the study of the exoskeleton and how it used with children with CP. She also mentions a few quotes by the designer of the exoskeleton. 

 Qinyin Qiu, et al. “The New Jersey Institute of Technology Robot-Assisted Virtual Rehabilitation (NJIT-RAVR) System for Children with Cerebral Palsy: a Feasibility Study.” Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation, BioMed Central, 16 Nov. 2009, jneuroengrehab.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1743-0003-6-40. 

The author explains what CP is and mentions what symptoms you have when you have CP. The author mentions a few studies they used with robots and how they were successful. Not only is this a great source but I found it on google Scholar, and the paper was very well written.

Robots seem to be slowly taking over the jobs of us humans! But are they capable to handle student’s when they’re at their worst? Working in the school system myself I don’t believe that any Robot can compare to any teachers. Robots don’t understand the feelings that kids may have or portray. Robots should not be used as teachers because there are so many disadvantages that wouldn’t meet a child’s need. 

Robot teachers can work around the clock, meaning they can work 24 hours. In contrast to human educators, an online AI PC program is continually accessible to give the lectures, exercises, test, extra data to help the examination procedure. This empowers the students to learn at a helpful time, place and pace. They also can send numerous subjects simultaneously. Human educators spend significant time in a couple of courses from a couple of related fields. An instructor who can convey many courses isn’t considered important by the understudies and his partners since he can’t be a specialist in every one of them. Despite what might be expected, a robot instructor can convey the boundless number of courses that can be refreshed and changed relying upon interest, in this way prompting enormous efficiencies. A robot can rehash an exercise the same number of times as fundamental with no negative feelings or lack of patience caused by the moderate or absence of advancement of the students. Robot’s don’t discriminate students or anyone else at that matter. In spite of their most noteworthy endeavors and claims for the inverse, human educators regularly segregate understudies and partners. They appear (in)tolerance towards a few understudies and their conduct also, the absence of it towards others. In any case, whether separation is based on sexual orientation, race, nationality, religion, understudies’ information and learning abilities, sexual introduction, salary or on the other hand something unique, it puts a few understudies in a burdened position contrasted with the others. Robot instructors treat all understudies comparatively and don’t separate them in any capacity, consequently, they take out any potential separation claims against the individual instructive organization with all their negative legitimate, money related and exposure impacts. 

Robot instructors need a human teacher to prepare the course materials for them. Stanislav said In spite of their unmistakable focal points over human instructors, robots are not by any means autonomous yet – human educators are expected to design and set up the module content, addresses, works out, tests, give the right answers, build up the stamping sheets and checking scales, set the due dates, and so on. Be that as it may, the course planning can be executed by one human instructor and after that the real course could be conveyed by a few robots, instead of arranged by a few human instructors who convey a similar module to various accomplices of on-grounds understudies for what it’s worth as of now the case in training organizations. In this manner, albeit human educators are still required for the course arranging and arrangement, immense economies exist as to course conveyance.

Stanislav said Robots lack the creativity that all human’s carry. Man-made reasoning instructors will convey the course the way which they have been modified to do. In the predictable future, they will come up short on the inventiveness to discover new answers for new issues, something that human educators can do. Obviously, the advances in computerized reasoning and the made strides learning capacities of robots will diminish the negative impacts of this hindrance and will close the hole between human and robot educators. A Human educator will have emotions. The instructor will give passionate consideration and support towards the understudies. On the other side in the event that a Robot Teacher goes to the Class, the association between the understudy and the instructor is lost since there is no human-like connection or emotions. 

There could be a possibility in the near future for the school systems to hire ‘Robot Teachers’. It would only make sense to do so. The idea of robot teachers may sound appealing on some levels because teachers are expensive and in increasingly short supply.” Mrs. Harper says.  Having a less demand for raise’s or salaries. I’m scared to see where the future will lead us with Robot’s taking over so many ‘Human’ jobs. I do not agree with the idea of having robot teachers. Students should be able to engage with children face to face and have that human interaction where the teacher can understand the student. The teacher will provide emotional care and support towards the students. The human teacher explains concepts through real-life experiences and stories which makes it more interesting for the students. If a student asks any question to the human teacher, then the teacher will be able to clear all the doubts without any problem. Mrs. Harper said, “Education is not just about the acquisition of knowledge, it is about relationships and the shaping young minds.” I agree 100% with her quote. You need to build a bond and have a relationship with the student. I, however, do agree that having robot teachers would be a “cost-cutting measure”, but a waste of time at the same time. 

 Harper, Amelia. “Will Robots Replace Teachers in the Future?” Education Dive, 15 Nov. 2018, www.educationdive.com/news/will-robots-replace-teachers-in-the-future/542239/.

Stanislav Ivanov, 2006, https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Stanislav_Ivanov/publication/304490445_Will_robots_substitute_teachers/links/57711de708ae6219474a35f8/Will-robots-substitute-teachers.pdf

Sharkey, Amanda J. C. “Should We Welcome Robot Teachers?” SpringerLink, Springer, 10 Feb. 2016, link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10676-016-9387-z.