The highlight of this year has to be when I did group work with my friends; it allowed for art class to be fun and social while also being able to create art that we either admire or can laugh at and have a good time creating. And this whole process allowed for me to identify how amazing the process of creating art can be. Moreover, there have been times when I’ve completely focused and barely socialized, and I’ve been able to create some really nice art that I have hung on my bedroom wall. I most appreciated being able to create art to install that I created and can be proud of. Art has been a place to express yourself in ways that aren’t the conventional method of communication, rather bringing emotions to life on a canvas. Moreover, it allows for people to have fun and talk while doing art, which makes the process the most enjoyable. And finally, through art, I have strengthened relationships with my friends. Whether I notice it or not, art has allowed me to get closer to my friends.
Unhealthy eating patterns that affect physical and emotional well-being.
I used to think eating disorders were being unable to eat or eating far too much, although that is only a quarter true; now I know that eating disorders are split into 3 different types and can be life-threatening.
Types of Eating disorders
Anorexia nervosa, which is when you may see yourself as overweight even though you have very low body weight
bulimia nervosa, which is when people excessively work, vomit, or take laxatives to burn the calories they gained from eating
; and finally, binge eating disorder, which involves regularly eating a lot of food over a short period of time until you’re uncomfortably full.
Physical Characteristics
Anorexia, Thin appearance
Bulimia, Dental issues, Swollen cheeks
Binge eating, weight gain, feeling bad after eating
Stigmas
Individuals with eating disorders are weak
Lack self control
Feeling ashamed of themselves
Common warning signs
Preoccupation with food
Skipping meals
Isolation from society
Long term impacts
Developmental issues
Weak bone structure
Social Disorders
Suicidal thoughts behaviors
It is very important to be educated on mental disorders such as eating disorders in order to reduce stigma and be able to create an environment and society in which people are comfortable enough to reach out for help, whether it’s in a professional field or just to friends. When people are educated, instead of being either feared, resented, or not seen as human, they will be seen as humans. Thus creating a better society on a social standard.
This is the World War One simulation. We utilized this simulation in order to reenact WW1. We made alliances and attacked countries. This was the final map when the simulation ended. The simulation lasted a total of two weeks. We created this artifact in November, first semester. Moreover, it connects to collaboration and being able to communicate and make final decisions, decisions that do have weight to them, and being able to be levelheaded while making decisions under pressure.
This artifact shows an activity we did in social studies class where we had to have a debate over a topic. This was a collaborative project; I worked with Brewster, and we worked together on the pros of mandatory voting. We created this artifact on the 31st of October 2024. It connects to the critical thinking aspect of the TTGs. I was once again reminded of the pressures of debate and how much fun it is. Collaborating with my groupmates and actually working 100% of the time was so much fun, and it really helped me better my sense of collaboration and argumentation.
This is our analytical essay for language arts. We chose three stories to analyze, then we made topic sentences and connected the story to the moral dilemma of our choice. We made this analytical essay on February 18, first semester. This analytical essay was an amazing challenge, and even though it was a major struggle, I had tons of fun doing it. But next time I wish I had asked for more support from the teacher; then I could probably further enhance the whole essay.
This is my Glasgow city research; we had a total of 4 parts to the research. In the Glasgow research, we studied a city that we could choose from a list, and we then studied the country’s geography and how that affects climate. This allowed me to be more culturally aware and made me more conscious about weather and the common misconceptions about weather. But next time I would like to use my time wisely, as I mostly did not do too well on these as I last second did these projects.
This is my loggerhead sea turtle presentation we did in science. We did this during our biological evolution unit; we were tasked with finding an animal that has evolved a ton since its earliest evolution. I don’t currently know anything anymore about the topic, but at the time, giving the presentation was a thrill, and the work that came along with it and the groupwork I found to be so much fun. Especially after the presentation was over, I felt the most accomplished. But I do think I could have probably delivered my speech better because I remember forgetting some lines.
MATH
This is the pumpkin rubber band explosion experiment. This is where I measured the diameter, circumference, and height of the pumpkin and saw which of those factors most affected the number of rubber bands used to explode the pumpkin. Which we later did. I enjoyed this activity because it was a fun and interactive way to learn math, which was a kind of break from just sitting in a classroom and was truly refreshing. But next time I would love to increase the group’s workload. I think the same 2 people did all the work, so if we just spread out the workload, I feel this project could have been much easier on us.
In this stacking cups challenge, we were told to roughly estimate through calculations how many cups it would take when stacked to reach the height of our video principal. It was super challenging as I didn’t quite understand the formula presented, but then I asked my friends for help, thus allowing me to overcome the challenge, and then after, we were given cups for us to just stack and roughly test if our estimate was correct. But next time, I wish I had asked more questions to the teacher so I hopefully could have understood more.
ART
This was my plan for our clay project; I thought I did a good job with this plan because it helped mold my final piece to look the way it did, although I did make some minor changes in the end. The detail in the planning allowed me to visualize the end project of my artwork. And it sparked new ideas for my later final piece, which I’m also proud of.
This piece was made during our “art of balance” unit, where we were supposed to create an artwork that seemed to defy gravity. However, due to a lack of communication and lack of teamwork, our artwork slowly broke more and more, and the actual potential our artwork had was wasted. In the beginning, all was going well, but then it started to hurt when we failed to properly hold all the pieces in place till the glue was dry. Then leading to our failure. Of course, it isn’t that bad, but I just believe it could’ve been so much better.
This is my Chinese presentation, which I had to give on swimming. This topic specifically was so much fun because I did it on a topic I loved, and in the end, I was able to design the slides, which I found most enjoyable. But when I first delivered the speech, I did really well; I didn’t forget my lines, and I had all my slides done and, in fact, got a good grade for it. Furthermore, I was able to answer all the questions provided by the students and teachers. But I could have improved on my language usage because I did end up sneaking a couple English words because I forgot the characters for the English word.
I chose this artifact not because this one, in particular, is special but because I often struggle in completing this homework, and I end up forgetting or procrastinating the most when I do this work, so I feel like if I could redo the year in Chinese I would go through and do all this work because I think this homework is an amazing small stepping stone to producing a strong homework work ethic.
PE
BASKETBALL UNIT
I think I could’ve done better in the basketball unit, in terms of dribbling and shooting, but I think being able to keep up with a team hasn’t been a challenge; I can support plays and transitions. However, my other aspects besides vision and passing must be greatly improved.
FOOTBALL UNIT
I am proud of my football performance because I showed to try and get participation from other teammates that aren’t as confident in the sport, allowing them to demonstrate mastery and hopefully have fun with the sport. But I think next time I could’ve better taught my team the rules, like positioning and where to stand, and what to do with the ball.
HEALTH
This artifact is when we were tasked with finding a plan that would support a certain goal; my goal was to better organize my day and the things I had planned out for the day. Thus, I used this app. This app worked extremely well, so I was able to efficiently get stuff that I needed to do done, but next time, I should better document my work, as that was my one issue in this assignment; I was unable to document everything in real-time.
This artifact is a presentation Jacob, Eric, and I worked on. This presentation was to increase the usage of mindfulness exercises; however, we focused on just one, which was that a form of mindfulness can be practiced through nature. This activity allowed me to work together with my groupmates and collaborate on one thing. Im especially proud of this one because of the info provided, and our performance within the actual presentation; we recited everything and practices beforehand, allowing us to do exceedingly well in the actual presentation. Furthermore, during the research stage we were able to balance the workload amongst all of us, making it not only easier but also much more manageable for all of us. Then giving us more room in our schedule to practice our actual presentation.
STRENGTHS:
my strengths include
Perseverance
A strong sense of commitment
A strong passion
I am good at asking questions
areas for growth
procrastinate less
focus more in class
do the work in class rather at home
Try to also rely on peers and teachers whenever I have an issue.
This is my app, Microsoft Planner, and it allows for quick access to daily priorities. However, I think the whole app is a bit hard to use since some features are difficult to access. For the most part, creating groups and subcategories within the groups is super helpful. It makes for a good reminder tool and something I can implement into my schedule. I’ve been able to track the things I need to do daily, as well as homework and overdue tasks.
For features, you can flag each item on the list as “done” or “working on it.” With that, it’s easy to manage the tasks. For the advanced features, you can collaborate with others. It also supports my WOOP goal because my WOOP goal is to better manage my time and get the things I need to do each day done. This app allows me to visualize this and bring it to life.
This app gives me a sense of reward when I check off each item on the list, giving me an incentive or intrinsic motivation to do my work, which better helps my daily life. It uses a very humane design as it’s mostly simplistic, doesn’t have too many flashy elements or games, and is rather helpful.
This app adds so much value because having your day planned out in front of you, with priorities clearly set, is always important. Especially when it helps you as a person—it builds a sense of routine and work ethic. In the long term, you may become more independent, more self-reliant, and less distracted, potentially increasing your attention span because you complete all the work you set out to do.
I learned in this health unit how the lymbic, which includes the prefrontal cortex, amygdala, and hippocampus, all work together or potentially against each other in order to trigger emotions and decisions.
We learned about how the amygdala releases cortisol in order to trigger the FFF response, or the fight-flight-freeze response. The FFF is triggered in order to give us a kick or a rush. When the FFF response is triggered by adrenaline to get ourselves out of dangerous situations, it taps into the human body’s true potential in terms of strength, and due to high levels of adrenaline, you are likely to feel no pain, also known as the body’s natural painkillers.
And we learned about eustress and distress; the main difference between the two being that distress is negative and not necessarily beneficial, while eustress increases focus and enhances performance. We tried to determine whether we were experiencing stress and distress by participating in an activity meant to track our emotions called the mood meter, where we tried to find our current mood based off energy levels and feelings. Then, when we found out our mood, if we weren’t feeling the best, we looked at different ways we could participate in mindfulness in order to potentially feel more calm and relaxed and even more ready for the learning space.
Your amygdala directly affects your prefrontal cortex; by releasing cortosol, the prefrontal cortex begins to make thinking traps; for instance, this is an example of a thinking trap: “My classmate never says hello when I pass her in the hallway. She must hate me!” This creates unnecessary amounts of stress, but thinking traps are triggered because the brain often expects the worst out of everything in order to prepare for the worst, so in fact it is simply trying to protect us. We learned to do something called a breath anchor. A breath anchor is the practice of using your breath to help focus your mind on one point.
While discussing mindfulness, it is important to talk about taking a meta moment. If we are experiencing distress within an argument, then we can take a meta moment, where we walk away and try to clear up our thoughts and think straighter. In order not to let our amygdala take over and lash out and let our prefrontal cortext do its job and make proper decisions. Soon, if we keep practicing metamoments, we may be able to take control over our amygdala and not have to take a metamoment to think straight; it builds a sense of resiliance towards strong emotions in order for our prefrontal cortex to think; however, this doesn’t mean the amygdala is a bad thing; its simply trying to protect us, but it does sometimes make false alarms that trigger strong emotions that make the prefrontal cortex unable to assess the situation, resulting in extreme levels of stress.
When discussing stress, our class tries to prevent stress by reflecting on our habits by using something called a wellness compass, where we give a rating 1-10 based on how much we do a certain thing.
standard: I can develop a model of the earth-sun system to describe eclipses.
guiding question: why do we need special eyewear to view a solar eclipse but not a lunar eclipse?
answer to the guiding question: you need special eyewear because, in a solar eclipse, you stare directly at the sun while watching the moon cover the sun, the issue is looking straight at the sun can cause serious damage to your eyes and maybe even permanent damage, while in a lunar eclipse, you watch the moon as the sun’s rays reflect off the earth atmosphere making the moon turn red. In summary in a solar eclipse, you look at the sun, and in a lunar eclipse, you look at the moon.
we used rates and ratios to find out our rate from speed to distance and try to keep that rate. Next time we should try to keep a more constant pace and take into consideration the speed we times ourselves at and walk at the pace, and maybe next time we should this limit our fooling around because at the end we wasted so much time. We included the units meters per second and if we didn’t include it would be tough to keep the pace without knowing how far we go in a amount of time.
after the investigation we had a starting mass of 10.2 grams and a ending mass of 4.9 with a change in mass of 5.3 and in my opinion it was more successful than expected, our nest consisted of wood and felt. We used wood mostly for stabilising our nest so it doesn’t collapse and Felt to make a soft roof capable of letting cool air in and keep out hot air.
the endangered african penguin or in some places known as the jackass penguin, their endangerment came to what it is today because in the 19th century people started taking the penguins guano or their poop because it turns out it can be a great fertiliser and for about 150 years, 200 000 tonnes of guano were removed from the South African islands. But guano is used to keep the african penguin and its eggs cool from the burning heat in africa so without it the penguins have to pick, either its life or the eggs life causing a rapid decrease in african penguin populations. So to help people are building artificial penguin nests to keep them cool and to decide what the best nest is for them we have to find out what the best insulator to use for a material in the building of the nest. Any material that keeps energy such as electricity, heat, or cold from easily transferring through is an insulator.
The bengal tiger lives in india bangladesh and its status is critically endangered, the reason why its endangered is because of trophy hunting, habitat loss, and one big reason that stood out to me was, in india people found the first white bengal tiger. They sent it to america and there they were looking for ways to create white tiger cubs, and there solution was inbreeding and this practice gave the white tiger genetic defects such as kidney problems or being cross eyed but most of all white tigers cant survive in the wild because there white coat offer no protection. Humans take advantage of this and sell them to people and every imperfect white tiger but the chances of a perfect white tiger is one out of every 30 white tigers, if they they don’t like the white tigers imperfections they either send it to roadside zoos or get rid of them… The Bengal tiger is a majestic creature that calls the Indian jungle its home. These animals are known for their beautiful coats of orange and black stripes and their powerful builds. And they tend to eat deer, wild boar, cattle and goats.
