Unit 4: Social Media

"Do you guys even do anything in N.E.W?" Is a question I get asked a lot. Unlike any other core this one is special because of the way the subjects are taught. No, there is no teacher in front of us giving a long boring lecture about how the body works. Yes, we are a project based core that uses technology in order to be recognized by community members as well as globally. N.E.W (Next Evolution in Work-based Learning) is not a traditional classroom structure yet breaking that structure.  During my experience in N.E.W school I have learned new skills I never knew I would need that definitely changed the way I do things. In this core I learned to be more independent, think out of the box, and be able to work with other people. During this unit I learned a lot about writing ted talks and narratives, exploring social media, and immunology.

My writing is not as strong as it should be. Writing ted talks and narratives was a big struggle for me and something different that I tried out. I enjoy watching ted talks and how knowledgeable the people are preforming, inspiring me to do the same. I started my ted talk with a question to try to engage my audience as well as shared my story about confidence. It was a struggle for me to write my ted talk because I really did not know how to start or end. Watching other peoples ted talks that tucker provided us with and student ted talks really helped and gave me inspiration on how to write it. When I heard that our class was reading the novel To Kill a Mockingbird  by Harper Lee I was very excited because my sister always mentioned it was her favorite book yet I do not enjoy reading. When Tucker read the book to us at first I had to go back and read it myself to understand it more. The Narrative was hard for me as well as writing as a different character. In my narrative I wrote as Jem from the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and added dialogue. Tucker provided us with information on how to write dialogue since it was very new to us as well as helped me to implement it in my essay. I never thought I would be writing ted talks but it was a new task that I completed and believe I did the best I could on the narrative as well. 

Teenagers use social media on a daily basis to post pictures not a lot use it to find experts or get information for projects. Here in this technology class we learned to use pinterest and twitter to connect to experts about our topic. Our teachers taught us how to create  boards on pinterest and how to tweet on twitter. I never thought I would use these both to find experts and that is what I did. I found experts on confidence, social media, and mental health that helped me on my topic. I also used technology to create my videos with high school students about their views on social media and confidence I got in contact with them off of social media as well. My unit project was around this social media unit and how it affects confidence. I was very intrigued on statistics that I researched but I was not surprised.

At first I was struggling a lot in science but I believe I see a lot of growth from my first month in this core to the last month. I have improved a lot in this subject and became more intrigued in what I was learning.Science as well is not one of my strongest subjects. I learned a lot about vaccines and viruses this unit that really interested me. It was cool to find out what type blood people are and I never knew the process until we did it in class. It all fascinated me to find out how the blood clumps and why. I also learned about how your body reacts with a virus. The immune system has cells that attack a virus and has a whole process to get rid of it. This system has its own little army attacking the virus. 

At first I felt stuck not being able to improve in this core because it was hard for me to work independently at times when I had to create my own solutions. This unit was probably my favorite out of all of them showing me new skills I can use in the future. I made a great choice for core that really helped me strive as a person as well as a student. This year really helped me shape my own learning and how I would process all the information I was given. This core has helped me think bigger, has given me confidence to strive in projects and get out into the community. I was taught many lessons in this core. There was some bumpy roads but overall my accomplishments would shine over the flaws. This was yet my best year in high school, being in a pilot program with two of the best teachers Tucker and Neto that inspire me everyday. I appreciate all the hard work the teachers put into this program, it saddens me that I will not have another year in this core.

specific immunity sketchnotes

TED Talks- Whats so funny about mental illness?

Ruby wax started off with a statistic that 1 in 4 people suffer with depression she then added she was that one person. In the middle of her talk she began to tell her own story about her breakdowns. The visuals she used were a brain and drawings. Wax urges to put an end on the mental illness stigma.

Death penalty: fact sheet

3 interesting information:
- A new study in California revealed that the cost of the death penalty in the state has been over $4billion since 1978
- in 2010 poll
death penalty 33%
no opinion 6%
life with parole 9%
life without pain 13%
life without parole plus restitution 39%
-Executions since 1976 by method used
  1276 lethal injection
  158 electrocution
  11 gas chambers
  3 hanging
  3 firing squad

2 conclusions:

In conclusion this graph above shows the percentages of race of defendants executed. This graph is showing there is 55.6% of white people (808) defendants executed. The white race has the higher percentage and followed by the black race.

In conclusion this graph above shows a 2010 poll by lake research partners 61% of these voters chose a different punishment other than the death penalty. Many people have own opinions on what they think is right and wrong. the majority picked life without parole plus restitution followed by 33% of people voted for the death penalty.

1 question:
How do they choose who will they inject and why do they they still have death penalties for the innocent?

TKMB ch 11-12

Why does Jem have to read to Mrs. Dubose? What is actually happening as he reads? Why does Atticus say Mrs. Dubose has “real courage”?

Jem has to read to Mrs. Dubose because he destroyed her garden. When he is reading she keeps correcting him and she also falls asleep. Atticus says she has real courage because she faces challenges that are impossible and she knows what to do.

There are clear gender roles during this time period. How are girls and boys supposed to act? How to these expectations complicate Scout’s life?

She is told to dress like a young lady because she dresses like a tomboy. Neighbors and her aunt judge her on how she dresses, Scout has an attitude and refuses to dress like a young lady.

Why doesn’t Dill visit in the summer?

He does not visit in the summer because he is living with his dad and building boats.

Discuss the kids’ trip to church with Calpurnia? What do they notice about Calpurnia during this adventure? How are the kids treated at the African American church? What do they find out about Tom Robinson while they are there?

The kids were treated like outsiders. Calprnia was more educated than the other people at the church.

Assesing our peers

Our teacher always make our grading rubrics this time we turned it around to have us students make the grading. This is what my group came up with to grade our peers during there presentation of there solution.

Unit assesment: Environmental

Environmental unit 
   In the environmental unit I have learned about many environmental issues from teach backs, labs, research papers, field trips and books. Before starting this unit, I did not know about a lot of the environmental problems we had, this unit helped me be aware of what was going on around me. Knowing what is happening gives me an eyeopener. Thank you to this unit I learned about ocean acidification letting me think out of the box to think of a solution and make a research paper letting me become the expert. My favorite part of this unit is joining the field trip to bodega bay where it gave me and my partner the motivation to create our solution. I also enjoyed adding to my passion blog, talking about something I enjoy doing is my favorite.

   When we were told to pick an environmental issue we would like to research, my partner and I looked at many of them thinking they will all be hard to create a solution for. I did not have any idea what ocean acidification was before this unit until we were told to pick an environmental problem to write a research paper and create a solution. I furthered my research on this problem, learning it was a very big issue. My research paper was not as good as I wanted it to be and was one of my hardest papers to write because of the lack of my credible research. My partner and I thought out of the box when creating our very own solution. We got out of our comfort zone and decided to get contact with experts about this issue. We are very proud on what we have created and this unit gave us the opportunity to believe we can create anything if we put our mind to it.

    The bodega bay field trip was a very good experienc and I learned a lot in both of these places. the bodega bay trip was my motivation to construct the model for our solution for ocean acidification. This is the place where Olivia and I got confirmation on what could work. We then got in contact with a geologist that worked in this research center and he was kind enough to help us get our hands on some eelgrass that we needed to construct our solution. Without going on this field trip I feel like we would not have had the extra push to create it.

   My passion blog is what I have been most proud of. I enjoy having the freedom of writing about something I enjoy doing. In the beginning it was hard for me to come up with something because in being in a new core I felt like I had a restriction on what I can write about. It did not feel right to me that I didn't have to write about anything specific. Later on I realized that the blog does not have to be specific I can write about anything as long as it goes with my theme of soccer. I absolutely love sharing my knowledge on this sport and it has been easier for me to write them.

 In conclusion this unit was amazing teaching me new things about what is going on around me. Without this unit I feel like I would not have been able to go out of my comfort zone or think out of the box. This unit was defiantly an eye opener because we do not realize what we do to our own earth on the daily basis. By being taught these issues of the environment it might change our ways of living to help our earth a little more.

Solution for ocean acidification

Finding a solution for ocean acidification was very difficult thinking of the little things we will need to work around. Olivia and I thought of a solution of having floating eelgrass beds. Eelgrass will increase pH levels only during photosynthesis which means at night they are not photosynthesizing due to no light. In order for them to photosynthesize all the time we will add solar panels and a fluorescent light. The floating box will be similar to a buoy and will have holes on the sides in order for water to travel through it.

Sketch notes

Sketch notes is a new way of writing notes! drawing out notes to make sense of them. these sketch notes are based off of the book The sixth extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert.

Bodega Marine Laboratory

Eelgrass!!

Our group taking a picture in front of the ocean.

On March 16, 2017 our class took a field trip to bodega bay to check out the bodega marine laboratory in Bodega Bay. This field trip will be a resource that will help us on our solution or essay for our project for our environmental problem. The environmental problem my partner and I are focusing on is ocean acidification, the trip we took was very helpful and interesting for us. This is the place that gave us the motivation to think out of the box and realize there will be mistakes, the laboratory helped us think of our solution. Recently my partner and I reached out to the laboratory manager for some help. in order for our project to come to life we need to get our hands on some eelgrass. Hopefully soon we will have eelgrass with us... Keep in touch!

Intro to Ecology!

Further information in science section!

Questions to ask yourself

•  Are you satisfied with your learning? 
•  Are you satisfied that you demonstrated your knowledge and skill? 
• How does your work compare to the expectations on the rubric?
•  With which parts of the assignment (project, performance, etc.) were you most satisfied? 
•  How closely does your work on this assignment (project, performance, etc.) reflect your learning? 
•  Why do you think this assignment worked for you? 
•  Were there any parts that didn’t work? 
•  How did you do the assignment/project? Be specific. 
•  Were the strategies that you used effective in helping you reach your goals? o What learning strategies were helpful? Explain. o What would you have to add to learn more, do better, etc.? 
•  On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your effort? 
•  Did the amount of time, effort and strategies used help you reach your goal?
•  If you were to do this over, how could it be improved? 
•  As a teacher, what can I do to help you? 
•  What can I do to increase the value of this assignment/project, etc.?

waterslide challenge

This was our water slide the next time I would make this I will make some changes to it. I would have made the water slide more waterproof by using foil. The cups were not aligned I think that could have been better and for the water slide to be higher from the top. The wood at the bottom was not as sturdy as you can see it is not aligned. Next time I will take in consideration a safer water slide and one that is more waterproof.

Unit 2: Mental Health Reflective Assessment

  Mental health
     "Our youth spend more time in school than they do anywhere else except their own home. School is one of the best places for both educators and students to become increasingly aware of mental health, mental health problems and mental disorders." (Teen mental health) In NEW school our teachers have educated my classmates and I about the importance and awareness of mental health. They have taught us in many different ways and we have showed our knowledge using three subjects English, Science and Technology.  I have showed my knowledge of mental health in different kinds of ways such as my unit project, Romeo and Juliet and science experiments such as cauliflower
brain and the DNA lab. 

     My unit project was about depression, I did a video about the causes and explaining what it is, this falls into the technology class. In order to make a strong message and show awareness about depression I decided to use audio clips of some people who have been in the mental state of depression. In my opinion I think I have showed a strong message and while we did the exposition I got many compliments from parents and I got told my video showed a very strong message. While doing audio clips and editing it made me very emotional and hard to think about how many people are affected by depression. Also in my technology class I made a blog about my passion it is called A passion for soccer I really enjoy doing my blog and writing so my readers will enjoy the blogs. I've been proud of what I have written and excited for the future of my blog and how it can expand. 
  
 
   

   
   

    In English our class focused on the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, reading is not my kind of thing, we made it more entertaining by acting out the scenes. While our class was told to analyze the characters and play, find the literary devices and vocabulary we found out many of the characters in Romeo and Juliet had mental health disorders and this falls back into our unit. In my essay about the mental health of Juliet I did depression and mentioned her moods and how she was brought up by her parents.Also in our English we learned about Shakespearean sonnets and how many lines, quadrants, and how many he wrote.

     Science is always interesting to me I enjoy doing labs this unit we did were a DNA lab and did a cauliflower 'brain'. In the DNA lab we were trying to find out who the murderer of Juliet and Romeo really was, in my group we thought it was her father, Capulet we happened to be wrong. Our lab came across many obstacles because we did not have the right materials to do the lab such as stainless steel wire and having the comb stick to our gel, our data was not conclusive. In order to know who the murderer was we had to use a certain enzyme in order for the DNA to break up except we did not have the funds to get a hold of the enzyme. We also used a cauliflower to label parts of the brain and to know what each function consisted of, the importance of this is because in depression and may also include other mental health disorders is that it can be caused by chemical imbalances in the brain.

     During this mental health unit I have learned the importance of the disorders and why we should be aware of what is happening around us, it can be affecting one of our peers. Unfortunately mental illnesses are very common and I believe everyone should be aware of what could be happening to the people around them. While in this core stress has hit us all students while doing projects and with coping with stress we had an amazing yoga instructor in order stress for us to relax, I really enjoyed the idea and I think it is a great way to cope with stress. I have learned that it is okay to make mistakes in science because us, human beings are fallible and not all science labs are perfect and show the data we are expecting. All in all the mental health unit has been my favorite and I enjoyed learning about it and will take this information with me later on in life.

    

Snapchat dont's- Fun friday

Problem Solving

Making equilateral triangles

we used 6 popsicle sticks to make 4 equilateral triangles.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder- Sebastian Junger’s TED Talk

A disorder of failure to recover after experiencing a traumatic event. Something that surprised me is that it does not only happen to people from the military but it can happen to anyone that has had a terrifying experience.

Symptoms
nightmares, flashbacks, anxiety and/ or depressed mood

• People of higher class have a higher percentage of getting depression.

• In 9/11 the PTSD rates decreased because the city was unified under the attack.

Understanding depression in teenagers

Why is there depression? 

A way of changing ones own environment 

focus cognition 

psychic pain  

Definition of major depression episodes 

depressed mood 

loss of interest or pleasure 

Depressed  mood nearly everyday 

Weight loss or weight gain 

insomnia 

DSM IV major depressive episode 

fatigue or loss of energy every day 

feeling worthlessness or excessive guilt 

diminished ability to think/ concentrate 

recurrent thoughts of death 

significant distress 

is depression a serious problem? 

Depression is 

Potentially fatal 

adolescents with major depression are up to 30% times more likely to die of suicide 

Origins in early life 

affects 9% of adolescents 

Depression diagnosis 

diagnosis should also address 

presence of manic symptoms 

underlying medical causes (e.g. anemia, thyroid disease 

risk assessment 

Depression treatment 

pharmacology

srontin, reputake inhibitors, fluoxtine, sertraline

 60% of young people respond to take an antidepressent 

Depression is a disease 

Depression is probably a heterogeneous syndrome 

Binge eating, Anorexia, Bulimia

Binge eating disorder 

Binge eating is a disorder when characterized by episodes of eating large quantities of food to the point of discomfort and then feeling guilt afterwards.
Binge eating is most common in the United States

• 3.5% women
• 2% men 
• 1.5% adolescents

Symptoms 
Eating rapidly, eating until full uncomfortably, feeling disgusted after eating
A feel of not being able to control what is eaten.
Behavioral characteristics 
Evidence of binge eating
secretive food behaviors

Physical characteristics 

body weight varies

Binge eating disorders is often associated with signs of depression. Binge eating is more common than anorexia and bulimia combined.

Anorexia 

Symptoms

• Inadequate food intake leading to a weight that is clearly too low

• Intense fear of weight gain, obsession with weight and persistent behavior to prevent weight gain

• Self-esteem overly related to body image

• Inability to appreciate the severity of the situation

Warning Signs

• Dramatic weight loss

• Preoccupation with weight, food, calories, fat grams, and dieting

• Refusal to eat certain foods, progressing to restrictions against whole categories of food (e.g. no carbohydrates, etc)

• Frequent comments about feeling “fat” or overweight despite weight loss

• Anxiety about gaining weight or being “fat”

• Denial of hunger

• Development of food rituals (e.g. eating foods in certain orders, excessive chewing, rearranging food on a plate)

• Consistent excuses to avoid mealtimes or situations involving food

Health Consequences

• Abnormally slow heart rate and low blood pressure, which mean that the heart muscle is changing. The risk for heart failure rises as heart rate and blood pressure levels sink lower and lower

• Reduction of bone density (osteoporosis), which results in dry, brittle bones

• Muscle loss and weakness

• Severe dehydration, which can result in kidney failure

• Fainting, fatigue, and overall weakness

• Dry hair and skin, hair loss is common

Bulimia Nervosa

a serious, potentially life-threatening eating disorder characterized by a cycle of binge and compensatory behaviors such as self-induced vomiting designed to undo or compensate for the effects of binge eating

Symptoms

• Frequent episodes of consuming very large amount of food followed by behaviors to prevent weight gain, such as self-induced vomiting
• A feeling of being out of control during the binge-eating episodes
• Self-esteem overly related to body image

Warning Signs

• Evidence of binge eating, including disappearance of large amounts of food in short periods of time or finding wrappers and containers indicating the consumption of large amounts of food.
• Evidence of purging behaviors, including frequent trips to the bathroom after meals, signs and/or smells of vomiting, presence of wrappers or packages of laxatives or diuretics.
• Excessive, rigid exercise regimen--despite weather, fatigue, illness, or injury, the compulsive need to “burn off” calories taken in.
• Unusual swelling of the cheeks or jaw area.
• Calluses on the back of the hands and knuckles from self-induced vomiting.
• Discoloration or staining of the teeth.

Health Consequences

• Electrolyte imbalances that can lead to irregular heartbeats and possibly heart failure and death
• Inflammation and possible rupture of the esophagus from frequent vomiting
• Tooth decay and staining from stomach acids released during frequent vomiting