In this unit, we learned a lot about what makes a relationship healthy and how to identify if a relationship is a good relationship or not. It included boundaries, communication, consent, and other things.
One big thing we learned about was gender stereotypes. In our society, many things have stereotypes connected to different genders, like how boys should do sports and girls are more quiet and should be more creative.
We also learned about many different genders and other gender related things like sexual orientation, what genders people are physically and emotionally attracted to, and many other things like gay, lesbian, bisexual, etc.
The final project for this unit was to find a piece of media like a movie, tv show, song, or some other kind of media. We had to identify a relationship within the movie or other things that reinforced gender stereotypes or things that showed unhealthy relationships.
Our project was about two people: Beck and Jade from the movie Victorious. They are in a very unhealthy relationship, and this shows many stereotypes and unhealthy relationship signs.
In this unit, I did really well on treading water and knowing how to play a basic water polo game knowing the rules. I knew the basic swim strokes and I learned about safety in the water.
I think I can still improve on catching and throwing the ball, and also working better with my teammates.
I chose this artifact because it shows how I contributed but not enough. Compared to the rest of the class, i spoke for a fairly less amount of time, so I think next time I could speak more and engage.
What does this show about me as a communicator?
I contributed to the conversation but I held back a lot, so as a communicator I need to speak up more and be more loud.
Before this unit, I thought mental health was just about not having a mental illness. I thought that mental health issues were uncommon and mostly affected only a few people. I also thought that if someone struggled with their mental health, they just needed to be stronger or try harder. I didn’t understand that mental health is a serious topic that can affect anyone, and I only knew conditions like anxiety and depression.
After learning more, my views have really changed. I now see that mental health is important for everyone and that many teens face issues like anxiety and depression.
For example, our research on anxiety showed me how it can affect daily life, making it hard for someone to focus at school or enjoy time with friends. I also learned how media can misrepresent these issues, often making them seem less serious than they are. This has made me more understanding and compassionate toward others who struggle with their mental health. I realize now that we all have mental health, and it’s important to support each other and talk openly about it.
Our project on anxiety ⬇️
Seeing real stories of people who face these challenges helped me understand their experiences. This knowledge made me realize that mental health is a important part of our lives, and everyone deserves support.
I plan on improving my ability to make good use of my time. I sometimes struggle to be sure to finish all my tasks without getting distracted and wating time, and maybe getting in some overdue assignments. In the future, I will only open all nessesary apps/websites that are needed to finish the assignment, and I will also create a list of what order I need to finish my assignments in. I will also make sure that I have a schedule every day so I don’t waste time thinking about what to do next.
Right now, I am getting better at submitting my assignments on time and keeping track of what I need to get done in class and also outside of class. I made a to do list, which is progress that I have made towards my goal.
In science, I am most proud of my effort put in and how I focus a lot in class. The biggest challenge I have in this class has been understanding a concept while working in groups. I have been bringing my science notebook and pens every class, demonstrating good active learner and I think I can ask my peers when I don’t understand a concept during group work.
This is my final sticker image for the Math Sticker Project:
In this project, I liked how we got to choose what out project got to be on and how we could choose how to explain and not just follow plain instructions. I also liked how we got many examples from last years work for reference.
I wish that next time, we could get more explanation about the project requirements.
I chose question 3 of the ‘L4: Unit 1 Transformations and Congruence Celebration of Learning’ as evidence of my best thinking because it demonstrates how I can explain the process of how a polygon can be mapped onto its image with rigid transformations and dilations.
I chose question number 8 of the ‘L4: Unit 1 Transformations and Congruence Celebration of Learning’ as my best work because I did the question correctly, showing how one triangle is not congruent to the others, and I used precise math language and made sure that my work was organized and labeled.
Throughout this unit, I improved the most on explaining the process of how a pre-image can be mapped onto its image with rigid transformations and dilations. I feel like I still need to work on making sure I don’t get different types of angles mixed up such as linear angles and vertical angles. Some of my strengths this year was making sure my work was organized, using mathematical language, and using precise labels. I want to improve on proving triangle congruence, double checking my work and calculations, and providing better reasoning.
In the next unit, I want to make sure that I incorporate all my feedback from this unit and make sure I don’t make the same mistakes. However, I might get distracted because of just writing answers and not thinking about my past work and learning. In order to avoid that, I can calm down and make sure to think throughly before and during the test.
In health, we made WOOP goals to help us improve on something that we think we could work on in order to improve on a topic that we chose.
BASELINE: WOOP stands for Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, and Plan. I wish was to be able to handle my emotions and talk them out to people I trust or just take control of them. My plan was to use an app called ‘Day One’ to help manage and write my emotions down to be more happy. I will write down the ways I learned to help calm down, and it will help me reach my goal by providing me my many different ways to calm down my emotions when I overreact or cannot take hold of my emotions, such as deep breathing, stretching etc.
After a week, I hope that I get better at handling emotions by making use of the things that the app has helped me keep track. I can know I get better by tracking my mood and knowing how I feel after the 7 days compared to before.
App Features and Their Impact
Utilizing the ‘Day One’ app was a pivotal part of my plan. This journaling app offers features that promote emotional awareness and mindfulness. By documenting my feelings, I could reflect on them in a structured way. The prompts and reminders within the app encouraged me to express myself regularly, which is crucial for emotional processing. Features like mood tracking and the ability to note different calming techniques—such as deep breathing and stretching—transformed my emotional management into a daily practice.
Motivations Behind My Goals
The motivation for this goal was multifaceted. Firstly, I recognized that unaddressed emotions could lead to misunderstandings and conflicts in relationships. By taking control of my emotional responses, I aimed to get better at my interactions with others and reduce stress. Additionally, the act of writing in the app itself became a source of motivation because they had streaks and it could keep me going. Seeing my progress over time provided a sense of accomplishment and encouraged me to continue.
Challenges and Obstacles
However, the path was not without obstacles. Initially, I found it challenging to be consistent with my journaling. Many distractions often pulled my focus away from this important practice. Recognizing this obstacle allowed me to adapt my plan.
In the first contact unit, I learned many grammar elements like parts of speech, modifiers, and types of sentences. Through the linguistics packet and conversations with the AI alien, I learned many writing qualities including connotation. Teaching a AI bot helped deepen my understanding, because it demands careful instructions and knowledge of grammar. After my alien created a strong paragraph, I annotated it to highlight parts of speech, sentence structures, and different linguistic qualities. The three pages of annotations demonstrate my improvement in grammar, helping both my current and future writing.
In this unit, we learned about the difference between a teen brain and a adult brain.
Learning about brain science has help me under stand my behavior. For example, I now know that many of my impulsive decisions are related to the developmental stage of my brain, especially in the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for reasoning and impulse control. Understanding that this part of the brain will help me be more patient with myself when I make mistakes.
The most surprising thing I learned about the teenage brain is that it undergoes a massive transformation during adolescence, when the brain’s reward system becomes more active, making teens more likely to seek out new experiences and take risks. This is why a lot of teens have a urge to try new things and take risks even when they know its not safe.
Understanding the teenage brain can improve communication and relationships between teens and adults. If adults recognize that teens may struggle with emotional control, they can approach conversations with more empathy and patience instead of reacting with frustration.
