Here are some of our goals I plan to achieve in high school:
Organization: I am confident that my use of social media, the internet, and video games has no negative impact on my school or work performance. Stress Resilience: I feel good that things going on in my personal life rarely interfere with my concentration at school or work. Healthy relationships: My friends and those who know me well would say I am a good and trusted friend. Rest and Play: I am confident that the amount of time I spend connected to technology such as video games, TV, computer, Facebook, and cell phone is good for my overall well-being. Handling Emotions: When someone I care about is upset, I am comfortable listening and really being present to them. Spirituality: I forgive others, and I forgive myself. School and Work: I am confident that my use of social media, the internet, and video games has no negative impact on my school or work performance. Care for the Body: I am satisfied with the amount of exercise I get regularly.
In Unit 2, we studied mental health and how technology impacts mental health.
What I used to think
I used to think that mental health was quite literal and only included the psychological troubles. A misconception I had was that therapy was the only part of treatments for mental health issues.
Learning
In this unit, we learned about how, sometimes, AI could guide people with mental health issues to commit acts like self-harm or suicide. We also learned the negative impacts of social media and its stigma towards mental health issues, as they use a stereotypical way to portray these difficulties.
Socratic Seminar
I participated in a group discussion (Socratic seminar) regarding the regulation of social media platforms and believed that platforms shouldn’t regulate users under 16 years old or younger. I believed that the systematic error of the platform shouldn’t be blamed on the users, so I pointed out that it is the platforms that need better regulation.
My preparation sheet
Peer feedback
Final Project
I then collaborated with Evan and Preston to present depression as a mental health issue. We learned about the treatments, causes, and stigma towards depression. We noted that not all depression symptoms are the same, so we included a specific perspective too. We used sources that are credible and practiced our speech to refine our performance.
But now I knew that mental health problems are a collection of physical hormone regulation troubles and psychological issues. Furthermore, I learned that many mental health issues have branches with different causes and symptoms. For example, depression is divided into postpartum depression and clinical depression. Postpartum depression occurs in pregnant mothers who have given birth, while clinical depression can occur in everyone.
My perspective on mental health, its conditions, and patients had shifted. Now I understand that while professionals are crucial to helping patients, a safe and open environment for patients to openly talk about their difficulties is needed for the acceptance of the patients.
My WOOP goal is to take breaks during my work time every hour, to prevent stress and handle them through leaving my workspace. Currently, I do this once every 4 hours, but I want to increase it to once per hour so I can maintain a high working efficiency. I used a habit tracker to note down how many times I took short, away-from-the-screen breaks and what I did during the time. My baseline is once every 4 hours. I hope that this app can help me to regulate my habit of taking goals, as I use it alongside my timer.
*Video too large, uploaded on Schoology. Audio is below.
Above is my project, and throughout the creation process, I expanded more on vocabulary in this unit. When I work continuously without breaks, cortisol, which is produced in response to pressure, decreases the clarity of my mind. To cope with this, taking breaks and utilizing mindful breathing during the period can help me to reorganize my mind. I found my breath anchor in class, which is my stomach. When I want to practice mindfulness, I focus on feeling my breath, which helps relieve the stress built up from work. This activates my parasympathetic nervous system, making me more comfortable at work. I hope to continue this habit in the future and embed this work period in my mind so I don’t need to rely on my computer.
My report card was relatively stable during the first semester, and there were no approaching grades. I am proud of my high grade in English Language Arts, as I had multiple exceeding grades. I did great in making a dystopian storyline and pitching it to others. (Partly due to the soft grading of Ms. Devin) However, I did badly on math as it was my strong subject, and I didn’t get even one exceeding, even though my grades didn’t look bad. (Mainly 3 and 3.5’s) If I would go back and change something about how I approach this semester, it would be that I would want to be cautious with tests and review for it as the first scores of formatives hit me hard in the start of this semester. Some actions I can do to improve is to review the points the teachers told us that we are going to be accessed on the test, so I can clearly know the format of answering and ways to correctly calculate the answer. Below is my report card.
In the recent health unit, we are supposed to identify a bad habit of ourselves, determine how we change it, and then present it in different ways.
I have been trying to put away my phone/distractions when I am doing work, and I will just take a break when I am tired. Some obstacles might be when I need the computer to do something, then I will still “Touch fish”
Some solutions for navigating this are using another device or just closing all other tabs so I can do what I am supposed to do.
Something that would help me to continue nurturing this habit could be trying to reduce my screen time to reduce my desire for devices.
I have learned that I am actually easily distracted and I have much more of a potential of productivity if I can focus on my work well.
Some advice I would give is to try to break the goal down into a few steps so it would be easier to do. Also, when you break your goal down, you are less likely to quit getting the habit.
In health, we have to do a project of designing a healthy snack and cook it when we have free time. I think that this project is more than just an assignment as we are also tested on our cooking abilities. Also, we have time to work together, which also helps on our collaborating skills. I learned about how to check if meat is well cooked or not, and also about healthy foods overall and how to use them in cooking. Last, I learned about nutrients and how are each important.
Above is our snack. This was hard to prepare as we made it fresh, so we only cooked the chicken, packed the blueberries, washed the tomatoes, and planned what to do tomorrow to make it fresh. On the morning that we are presenting, I sliced the tomatoes at home, and during the breather before our class, me and my friends finished making the sandwich. This was difficult, but I was proud of the freshness.
I took sustainability into full consideration in the project. I know that to breed a cow it costs lots of resources and the cow farts and burps produce more methane, a greenhouse gas. So, I used chicken. We bought the foods either from the local market or the supermarket, and many of these food are fresh. Things that might influence our ingredients is assignment tasks, local surroundings, and price to get the food. (I am not getting to expensive food.) What is produced nearby determines what I have fresh, so I can only choose from them. Also, the assignment limits us on honey and sugar too, so we didn’t choose it. The most valuable feedback from our peers is how we need to add sauces that don’t have sugar in our sandwich, as it makes it more tastier, and doesn’t add extra sugar.
In 7th grade health class, Matthew and I developed a meal plan to improve our health. We first checked various sites about healthy ingredients, then created meals we know with it. I shared it with my family by showing it to my mom, and she said that she would take my idea and eat healthier foods when eating.
I learned a lot about nutrition and myself, where I found out about my eating record and what I lack(purple foods), also learned about what I eat that is healthy. (like chicken)I learned about macronutrients and had more info on micronutrients. I knew how ultra-processed foods hurts my body, too.
How does the meal connect to the Harvard healthy plate?
The Harvard healthy meal plate suggests that we eat good protein, vegetables, fruits of all types, whole grains, and some healthy oil. My meals include poultry, eggs, and many seafood dishes. These provide healthy protein. For veggies, I have tomatoes, lettuce, corn, cabbage, and many more that will provide the nutrients needed. Fruit salads, yogurt bowls, and granolas provide the fruits and vitamins needed everyday, too. Lastly, I use whole oats and wheats, and sweet potatoes for the grain part of the plate. In sum, my meal plan follows what the Harvard healthy plate gives.
This is my CPR practice. I chose this because I feel like that this is very important skill that I might use later and I think it is cool. I learned the rate of pressing and how to press. I am proud of this because I can do this well and I feel it is going to come in use. What I might improve will be to press slower, if I can do it again.
