During the badminton unit, we learned backhand and forehand serves. We also learned the hairpin move, where we hit the shuttle gently so that it just barely crosses the net. We learned when to hit the shuttle hard and soft, depending on where our opponent was. For example, we hit it far and hard if the opponent is closer to the net. If the opponent is far away from the net, we try to hit closer to the net. I am bad at forehand serving, but I am better at backhand serving.
My story was about Nemo’s procrastination level over the course of 10 days before a project is due. She procrastinates 4 hours around the beginning and near the middle she procrastinates around 10 hours and during the last 3 or more days she finally locks in and finishes her project. I am most proud of the critical thinking we incorporated in our explanations for the storyline and calculations. The hardest part of creating my piecewise function was finding out a reasonable time of increase and decrease for Nemo’s procrastination level. I wouldn’t really revise my project – I think I did pretty well with my partner. This project helped me learn how we can use piecewise functions to visually represent a story.
The purpose of this project was to identify and analyze a relationship within a media source. For example, my partner and I chose to analyze the movie Titanic. We chose the more “toxic” or “unhealthy” relationship in the movie – Rose and Caledon. We decided to make a video. We were to point out evidence in the movie that showed how Caledon crossed Rose’s boundaries and touched her without consent. We also pointed out the obvious dominance and control of Caledon in his relationship with Rose. He constantly tries to reassert his dominance by aggressively gripping her arms and saying that she should act “ladylike” and honor him.
Health Project Relationship Analysis(2).mp4
I learned about how to ask about someone’s boundaries respectfully and not abruptly. Asking for consent in a nice and not menacing or forceful way is also key in a relationship with anybody. I also learned about the gender spectrum and the difference between biological sex and gender. Biological sex refers to the physical traits that were assigned at birth, while gender refers to what the person prefers to be-their internal identity, and what they want society to refer to them as. So, we learned that communication was key to healthy relationships so that we can build trust and understanding between people. We also learned the difference between sexual harassment and flirting. The main difference was that sexual harassment was unwanted, and flirting was wanted.
In the PE swimming unit, we learned about the basic strokes in swimming and the techniques and rules of water polo. We practiced head-up freestyle, head-up breaststroke, and treading water – all skills for moving around in the water for water polo. We practiced passing to each other with one hand to prepare for water polo. It was pretty hard catching the ball with one hand, and the opponent could easily knock it out of your hand. Treading water for the whole water polo game was pretty tiring, and being in the water without goggles is pretty hard, as you get constantly splashed in the face.
In Unit 2, we learned about different types of mental health and how they are stigmatized in society.
I used to think mental health meant a healthy lifestyle to sustain a safe, happy, and clear-headed self. I thought that as long as we took good care of ourselves and did not give ourselves too much stress, we could avoid having mental health issues. However, I learned that genetics is a big part of mental health conditions. If someone in your family has a mental health condition, then it is easier for you to develop that condition compared to other people.
I also learned that there is no true cure or medication to prevent or stop addiction. Many of the mental health conditions require therapy and conversations with trusted people to return to a healthy mental state.
Additionally, many people think that women are more likely to have eating disorders, based on the many social expectations of women’s body shape on social media. Many influencers have an “ideal” body type and exercise a lot while keeping themselves from eating. Women with more fat are stigmatized by society and are believed to have eating disorders because they want to become skinnier. However, men are just as likely to have eating disorders, as many influencers are bodybuilders, and men feel the need to meet the expectations of what everyone thinks is an “ideal” body shape for men. This causes the men to work out more and grow more muscles by eating certain food products.
I also learned that people with anxiety have a highly active amygdala. This causes a lot of nervousness and unease, which makes the person with anxiety disorder get heart attacks more easily. People with anxiety conditions have trouble relaxing and are always on their toes.
This was our project on addiction as a mental health condition.
Current Goal: I plan on improving my ability to be a reflective learner. I will ask my teacher how I could improve or earn an exceeding grade. I will make clear what I did not fully understand during class or a mini quiz question. I have improved at asking more clarification questions about a question I answered wrong on a 3 for 3.
I am proud of learning so many new things this year. I don’t know a lot of things in science, so I think science class helped me expand my knowledge. I am proud of learning so many new things this year. I don’t know a lot of things in science, so I think science class helped me expand my knowledge. I work hard to understand each concept. I might want to participate more in class discussions to show that I am actively listening in class.
I chose question 1 of the Level 4 Optional section as evidence of my best thinking because it shows that I can prove and identify two congruent triangles.
I chose question 2 of the Level 4 Optional section as evidence of my best thinking because it shows my ability to think critically and use my knowledge of rigid transformations, and also negative dilations with a scale factor of 1 around a non-origin point. However, I forgot to explain my reasoning when completing the problem.
Throughout this unit, I improved most on my angle proofs to explain how I find angles of triangles, and the SAS, AAS, ASA, and SSS. I feel that I still need to work on reviewing the test before submitting it just in case I make any silly mistakes. For example, during the test, I drew the coordinate right, but wrote the wrong numbers. On one of the L4 questions, I forgot to explain my reasoning.
I can write full, correct angle proofs. I can correctly draw and find images after a series of transformations, especially dilations, which I had a hard time with before.
My goal is to review my test answers before submitting the test to avoid making silly test answers and getting the questions wrong.
Part 1 – Establishing My Baseline
If I use Happify, I will learn to cope with my stress and annoyance and not lash out on my sister.
I expect to see that I will be able to just stay quiet when I feel annoyed after a stressful day. I also expect that I will be able to communicate more calmly with my mom. I also should have a clear mind that can motivate me to be productive.
I am using Happify to help me with managing my emotions. I think I have become calmer and tried not to meddle in other people’s business and get frustrated. I still sleep the same amount of hours(8 and a half hours). I exercise a lot, just as always(2-3-4 hours a day). I’ve completed more homework on the weekends, so during the weekdays, I have less tasks and less stress. I also talked to my mom and we both agreed that it was best if there was only swim training and one math class on school days so that I could focus more on school work.
Part 2 – Multimedia Analysis Review
Happify’s Functionality
Happify includes breathing exercises, explanations and facts about sleep, positivity, and technology use. The website is made to guide you to making healthy choices. Happify also help you organize plans for a healthy lifestyle to regulate your emotions and stress. For example, it asks you a question: “What will you do to brighten up your morning routine?” It will ask you: “What’s the plan?” They will give you suggestions above the question to get you to start thinking. Then it will tell you to ‘Pledge to Do It.’ Once you complete that goal-plan, you will click ‘I Did It.’ It will award you with a medal to keep you motivated to use Happify.
Happify will provide you with mini quizzes, such as “Do You Know the Power of Sleep?” Whether you get a question right or wrong, Happify will always give you an explanation for the answer.
Additionally, Happify does not give you the stress of answering questions right or wrong, as it allows you to fix your mistakes. Once you answer all the questions right, Happify will award you with a medal saying, “Well Done!” accompanied by a logo related to the topic you learned about.
My experience over the week supported my hypothesis that Happify would help me manage emotions and stress. I successfully achieved my goal of staying calmer when annoyed, as I noticed myself choosing not to get involved in situations that would typically frustrate me. Through the app, I learned to see more good in others than bad, preventing me from falling deeper into what I call the ‘hole of wild negative emotions.’
My productivity improved significantly—I completed more homework on weekends, which reduced my stress during weekdays by giving me fewer tasks to worry about. For example, my Friday math class typically assigns IXL homework, which creates stress because the platform gives and deducts points based on correct answers. When multiple IXLs are due alongside other assignments, this becomes overwhelming. Happify helped me navigate through my priorities and focus on what’s essential for maintaining peace of mind.
One specific technique that proved effective was a peace of mind exercise where Happify played nature music and guided me to use my ‘breathing anchor’ to alleviate heavy thoughts and emotions. However, it is easy to forget to continue using Happify, because it does not notify or remind you to do it every day.
Written in collaboration with Flint AI
In the Unit 1 of Health, I learned about the differences between how the teenage and adult brain reacts to stressful situations. The main reason teenagers act more recklessly than adults is because a teenager’s pre-frontal cortex is not fully developed until around the age of 25 years. So, a teenager would be more of a risk-taker than an adult. The parasympathetic nervous system is known for “rest and digest.” On the other hand, the sympathetic nervous system controls our fight, flight, freeze response. Additionally, there is an increased number of dopamine receptors in the reward centers during adolescence. Therefore, teenagers will have heightened sensitivity, which drives greater reward-seeking behavior, making teens more motivated to engage in novel and stimulating activities. However, teenagers will be more vulnerable to addiction. So, teenagers should be kept away from addictive substances such as drugs.
For example, a teenager has had a bad day at school and they are really stressed and tired. They decide to check social media, which is a bad idea. A friend texts them and starts teasing them for not knowing something. The teenager gets annoyed at the friend and fires back angry messages. This is because the teenager’s amygdala fully took over the job of making decisions, and decided to be emotional. The pre-frontal cortex is completely blocked off from making a wiser, more rational decision. However, if an adult has had a bad day at work, and one of their friends/colleagues annoy them, the adult’s pre-frontal cortex will be more active and try to make wise decisions. Therefore, the adult will calmly reply to that friend and not throw a tantrum.
There are various strategies for coping with stress, including listening to music, exercising, eating, and taking a quiet walk outside. You should learn to identify your emotions, such as “I feel anger/sadness/frustration.” You should learn to control yourself before lashing out at someone who has nothing to do with your stress.
In health class, we were assigned a project where we had to incorporate the things we learned in class and make some kind of video or presentation or game to show the class. This is my project that I worked on with my partner:
The Prefrontal Cortex is the brain’s “executive center.”It is located at the front of the frontal lobe, responsible for higher-level cognitive functions like decision-making, planning, working memory, social judgment, and moderating complex behaviors
The Hippocampus works with the amygdala and gives the amygdala past memories of events that might help when making the decision.
The Amygdala controls the emotional part when reacting to a situation and uses the reactions such as the FFF or the Fight, Flight, Freeze.