Unit 4: Social Media

Unit 4: Social Media Reflective Assessment

     Carla Dawson, a digital marketing professor at University of Cordoba highlights the importance of using social media in classrooms, "We live in a digital ecosystem, and it is vital that education institutions adapt. I find it a requirement nowadays to use social media tools to connect with my students and get them motivated for the task at hand." (Dawson). Social media is a huge part of our lives, we use it to connect with other people and as a great source of entertainment, so implementing that in our educational environment captures our attention and allows us to broaden our horizons using our everyday sources. Using social media to share our projects and work for the last six weeks has allowed us to relay what we have been learning on a larger platform. My unit project, my blood typing lab report, and my To Kill a Mockingbird paragraph analysis have all contributed to my journey in learning to implement technology and social media into my education.

     For our unit projects we were asked to choose something we were passionate about, find a problem withing the topic we chose, and then develop a solution for said problem. I am very passionate about current global issues however, society is extremely ignorant when it comes to what is happening in the world around us, and that ignorance starts with the lack of education students are receiving about these issues in school. I decided to conduct a social experiment where I interviewed multiple students asking them what they know about current global issues, how they feel about the education system, and then develop a solution based on the information I had received. I also created a google form that asked multiple questions regarding my topic and that form was put on the slide deck for my core. Once I interviewed the students I created a blog, a twitter account, and I made three videos then shared them on You Tube. My blog titled, Global Issues highlights what the problem is, and the process of my experiment. I included a contact page that contained the link to the twitter account I had created, and I also put all of the videos I made on the blog. A main objective of this project was to use social media to broadcast our experiment. With the help of the social media applications I was able to reach out and share my project with the world. 

     In science this unit we have been learning about viruses, vaccines, and immunology. Most of our class time was focused on completing our unit project, however we did conduct a blood typing experiment to better understand the body's immune system. For this lab experiment we were in groups of four people, and one person had to get their finger pricked to determine what their blood type was. Once the person's finger was pricked we had to put one drop in Antiserum A, Antiserum B, and the Anti-Rh factor. We determined that the student's blood type was O+ because his  blood agglutinated when introduced to the anti- Rh antiserum. Once we determined the blood type we had to complete the lab report. My Lab Report was completed and posted in the science section of my digital notebook. This lab helped me better understand immunology and how blood typing works. My digital notebook contains everything we have learned in science, and anyone can view it. 

     Throughout this unit we have been reading To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Everyday we would read at least two chapters and take annotations or do sketchnotes, and then the next day we would get into our social media groups and discuss what we had read. One day we were assigned to complete a paragraph analysis where we chose one literary lense and provided evidence that it was present throughout the novel. I decided to analyze the racism in the novel and how it affected the characters. I received a 3.5 on the rough draft and then I went back and completed any edits that I needed to make to earn a 4. I think that this assignment really demonstrated my writing skills and my understanding of the novel. 

     Overall, this entire unit has proven to be completely influential and beneficial. I have gained many skills from this unit and I am very grateful to have been apart of a class that focused on teaching how to use social media to benefit our education. Social media has allowed me to broadcast all of my work. It gives me a great amount of satisfaction to know that anyone from any part of the world can view the time and dedication I have put into all of my projects. 

     

     

Death Penalty Fact Sheet

Death Penalty Information Center

Death Penalty is the punishment of execution, administered to someone legally convicted of a capital crime. The Fact Sheet linked above contains, graphs, charts, and facts about the death penalty. I was surprised and engaged by the information provided, and I now feel more educated about the topic.

Graphs and Pie Charts

3 Pieces of Interesting Information: 

Innocence in Death Row

• Since 1973, more than 155 people have been released from death row with evidence of innocence.
•  In Louisiana, the odds of a death sentence were 97% higher for those whose victim was white than for those whose victim was black.
• The South had the highest murder rates and accounts for over 80% of executions. 

Conclusions:

The death penalty has not proved to be very successful at lowering and preventing murder, "According to a survey of the former and present presidents of the country's top academic criminological societies, 88% of these experts reject the notion that the death penalty acts as a deterrent for murder. (Radelet & Larrock, 2009). America's top experts reject the idea that the death penalty will solve and prevent murder cases from occurring. Executions have not lowered the murder rates and therefore have not hindered any crimes.

White victims in murder cases are more likely to result in the execution of the defendant than any other race. Odd were 97% higher for those whose victim was white than for those victim was black, and those who are convicted of killing a white person are 3 times more likely to receive the death penalty. Based on this information it seems to be evident that race has a very strong tie to the decisions the court makes regarding whether or not the defendant should be executed

Questions:

• If the death penalty has been proven to not act as a deterrent for murder, why is it still used?
• Why does it take so long for someone who has been put on death row to actually be executed? 

Third Most Popular Ted Talks

Simon Sinek: How Great Leaders Inspire Action

     In this Ted Talk, Simon Sinek an ethnographer/ author describes what he calls the "golden circle," a way to think, act and communicate in a completely different way than everyone else. Simon starts his presentation by asking why, "Why is Apple so innovative year after year after year... they are just another computer company... Why is it that Martin Luther King led the Civil Rights Movement? And why is it that the Wright brother were able to figure out control powered manned flight when there were certainly other teams who were better qualified and funded...?" (Sinek, Simon). He later answers these questions by stating that all of the most inspired leaders and organizations think, act, and communicate from the inside out. 

Ted Ideas Worth Spreading. 2014. Ted Talk, n.p. By HsuUnited.

I believe that this is one of the most popular Ted Talks because the Simon Sinek speaks so confidently, and he seems to be very certain about the ideas he is presenting.While watching the video one can tell how passionate he is about his thoughts and ideas just by listening to his tone of voice and how good he was at maintaining eye contact. Simon provides a very compelling argument about starting your sales presentation by asking, "Why?" I think the audience and all viewers notice and realize that what he is saying  is absolutely true and can be applied to anything in life. Overall, his Ted Talk was very inspiring and I can understand why it is the third most popular in the world.

Unit 3: Environment

Unit 3: Environment Reflective Assessment

        Arne Duncan, the secretary of the US Department of Education, speaks about the importance of environmental education,  "Meeting the needs of our global citizenry- ecologically, economically, culturally, spiritually, and more- requires understanding and creative problem solving. Environmental education equips learners with the knowledge, skills, and motivation to address complex environmental challenges..." (Duncan). For the last eight weeks our entire curriculum has been based on the environment. The reading and annotating of The Sixth Extinction, my environmental research paper, and my unit project, have all contributed to my journey to better understand the environment and the risk factors that are affecting the balance of ecosystems across the globe. 

       The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, is a non-fiction book written by Elizabeth Kolbert, a journalist form The New Yorker. The book informs that Earth is in the middle of a current, man-made sixth extinction. Kolbert chronicles mass extinction events that have already taken place in the past, and how wide spread and accelerated extinctions of our present time. Our class only read and annotated the last seven chapters of the book because they highlighted the modern day sixth extinction. Ocean acidification, coral bleeching, deforestation, global warming and continental drift are all contributing to the sixth extinction. This book really educated me about how the environment is being impacted and the major affects that us human have on the planet. Learning about how dangerous and widespread these issues are, has motivated me to make a difference in the world. 

       One major part of our environmental unit project was to write a research paper on the any environmental issue we would further like to learn and educate others about. I chose the issue of ocean acidification. Ocean acidification occurs when human-generated carbon dioxide is emitted into Earth's atmosphere and absorbed by oceans. Since the beginning of industrialization the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased immensely. Ocean acidification is a huge problem and is changing ocean chemistry as we know it. Before this unit I had never even heard of ocean acidification, but now if someone asked me what it was I would be able to speak about for at least an hour. I have realized that humans can mostly be blamed for the mass risks that are affecting the balance of all life. If it was not for this unit I would continue being ignorant about these major problems, that are contributing to what might be the biggest mass extinction the world has ever experienced. 

       After writing our research papers we had to come up with a solution for whatever environmental issue that we wrote about, so in my case I had to come up with a solution for ocean acidification. We contacted various experts so that we would be able to come up with a solution that would actually impact and reduce the affects of ocean acidification. Based on the information we received from the emails, my partner Makenzie and I decided to make a solution centered around a plant called eelgrass. Our solution for ocean acidification was a floating device that contains eelgrass, that would have solar panels on the top that power a fluorescent white lights that would keep the eelgrass photosynthesizing constantly. We built a model of the solution and tested it and the results proved that if this device was made with the correct materials, then it would actually reduce ocean acidity and increase pH levels. It felt incredible to create a solution that could actually have a positive impact on the world. I am so happy that I was able to be apart of such an interesting and eye-opening project.

       Overall, this entire unit has proven to be extremely influential. I have learned so much and many of these concepts have really impacted my education regarding the environment. The balance of all life is being affected negatively at such a rapid pace, and many people are still ignorant about the mass environmental issues that are occurring right now. All living organisms depend on other life forms to survive and flourish, so if the life forms we depend on become extinct, much like the domino effect we will all begin to fall.

                                   pH levels of ocean water before and after solution was applied

                                                           

                                                           Model of our solution

                               

                              Examples of some of my sketchnotes from The Sixth Extinction

       

Environmental Unit Project

                                     Ocean Acidification 

Ocean acidification is an increasingly dangerous environmental issue, that affects ocean life and ocean chemistry all together.  Ocean acidity has increased immensely since the industrial revolution because human-generated co2 is being absorbed into the atmosphere and then absorbed by oceans. With the help of various experts and a great amount of research, Makenzie and I developed what we think could be a possible solution for ocean acidification. Our solution is a floating device containing eelgrass, that would have solar panels that would power a fluorescent white light. It has been found that eelgrass increases pH levels, however it does not photosynthesize at night, so the fluorescent white light would turn on during night by using the energy from the solar panels, and then continue the process of photosynthesis.

What we first imagined our solution would look like.

Deeper Learning Dive

                                    Deeper Learning Dive 

Public Speaking Presentation Skills:

My presentation skills are decent, but they are not what I want them to be. I get really nervous during public speaking and I let that affect my attitude and the overall presentation. When I get nervous I start to stutter and fidget, which ends up resulting in a loss of attention from the audience and a huge amount of embarrassment on my end. I think with the help of the video my presentation skills will improve. 

I believe this video is credible because the whole You Tube page is dedicated to public speaking and is titled, Rule The Room Public Speaking. As I was reading the comments I noticed that all of the comments were positive and many people stated that the video helped them improve their speaking skills immensely. To summarize, the 5 steps that the video says are the formula to deliver a killer presentation are, to give a confident introduction, give your credentials, deliver your hook, introduce your agenda, and give a credible statement. The man in the video was very informative and was really confident in the 5 steps he was giving. I honestly think that if I follow these steps I will have no reason to get nervous and overthink everything I am doing.   

"Students Learn Through Self-Evaluation and Creating Their Own Goals and Expectations" Bob Hugland

Self- Evaluation Questions 

(Ask yourself while evaluating)

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.?

Unit 2: Mental Health-Reflective Assessment

                       Unit 2: Mental Health Assessment 

Michelle Obama speaks about the stigma that surrounds mental health,  “At the root of this dilemma is the way we view mental health in this country. Whether an illness affects your heart, your leg, or your brain, it’s still an illness, and there should be no distinction.” Our previous unit regarding physical and nutritional health proved to be extremely useful, by educating us on the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle, but our most recent unit proved to be just as useful as the last. Over the course of eight weeks we have been studying mental health in core and using subjects such as,  Science, English, and Technology to really educate,  ourselves, our peers, and our parents on the importance of mental health. By incorporating mental health into many of our projects such as Romeo and Juliet, our DNA Lab, and the unit project, I was able to really develop an understanding of mental disorders.

For almost five weeks we performed and analyzed the play Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare. The goal for this lesson was to choose any character and write an argumentative essay proving why you believed they suffered from a mental disability. I chose to write my essay about how the main protagonist, Juliet Capulet had developed depression in her childhood which ultimately lead to her suicide. With the help of articles such as “Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial Development” as well as presentations from “Project Success” and “Alcoholics Anonymous” I was really able to develop and understanding of depression and where it stems from.

The webinar, “Understanding Depression in Teens” by Doctor Stringaris explained that most mental disorders are passed on through genetics. To be able to more fully understand how genetics work we completed the Romeo and Juliet DNA lab. Every person has their own genetic code, and because each person’s genetic makeup is different some people are more prone to mental illnesses than others. It is also  very likely for someone to develop the same  mental illness that one or both of their parents may have suffered from. Chromosomes carry hereditary, genetic information in long strings of DNA called genes. Humans have 22 numbered pairs of chromosomes and a single pair of sex chromosomes,  each chromosome pair includes one inherited from the father and one from the mother.

As someone who suffers from anxiety, it is very easy for me to express my thoughts and emotions through art and for the unit project I did just that. I painted three canvases for this project, one canvas was meant to portray social anxiety, one was OCD, and my final painting was generalized anxiety disorder. With the help of research and inspiration, I was able to complete the project. I shared the results on all of my social media pages. Many people ended up messaging me saying that the paintings really portrayed what anxiety was and how it feels to suffer from this disability. The unit project really goes to show that sharing and educating others about mental health is as equally important as the education of physical and nutritional health.

This unit was extremely memorable, and I believe that what I learned can never be unlearned. The education of mental health is crucial. People need to know that having a mental disorder is not something to be ashamed of, some of the most successful and happy people were once victims of mental disabilities. If all schools provided mental health education the world would be a much more peaceful place.

Sebastian Junger's Ted Talk

"Our lonely society makes it hard to come home from war."

- On average 22 vets kill themselves every day

- Sebastian Junger believes that the trauma in war effects the war vets, but the society they come back to does

- In war you have a tribe, you trust others with your life but in modern society there is so much alienation and depression

- Huge gap between rich and poor and major racial profiling 

- The country the vets fought for is not stable or safe enough for them to come back too

- Poor women in Nigeria are less depressed than rich women in North America\

- Our country divides itself instead unifying 

- PTSD rates declined after 9/11 because one major trauma unifies people 

- Need to fix our society so we can also help the vets

- Why is it that people only come together when it effects them personally? 

- How can we make it our common goal to try and fix society?

Mental Illness Unit

Depression in Teens Webinar 

Why is there depression? 

 Some evolutionary theories of depression:

- Protection from negative outcomes

- Psychic pain (analogous to bodily pain)

- A way of changing one's own environment

Standard definition of Major Depressive Disorder

- Depressed mood most of the day, nearly every day

- diminished interest in or pleasure in all or most activites 

- significant weight loss when not on diet 

- insomnia or too much sleep

- psychomotor agitation or retardation 

- fatigue or loss of energy nearly every day

- feelings of worthlessness or excessive guilt

- diminished ability to think or concentrate 

- recurrent thoughts of death

Symptoms cause significant distress in social, occupational

Epidemiology of depression

- adolescents with major depression are up to 30 times more likely to die from suicide 

- In its severe form it affects about 9% of adolescents 

- Second leading cause of years lived in disability 

Aetiology of depression 

Genes and environment: 

- Genes: 30-50% of the liability to depression is due to genetic factors

- Gene- environment correlation: increased genetic liability for lifetime traumas 

- Gene- environment interraction: responding differently to situations of stress

- Traumatic life event increases probability in depression for certain family members

- Interplay between environment and genetic makeup in depression 

Development and depression

Sex and Pubertal effects on depression

- Difference in cognitive processing 

- Greater exposure or sensitivity to psychosocial 

- Hormonal mechanisms- girls who start menstrual cycle earlier are more likely to have depression 

Continuities, homtypic:

- Childhood depression does not predict adult depression 

- Anxiety- early on anxiety precedes depression

- Alcohol- an "internalising" pathway to depression 

- OCD

Behavior problems and depression 

- 40% of depressed young adults have had serious disruptive problems

- What exactly explains the transition between irritability and depression? 

Neurobiology of depression

- Depression is probably a heterogeneous syndrome

- Negativity bias and missing the bias 

- People who suffer from depression are more likely to pick up the negative 

- Miss positive parts of life due to negativity caused by depression 

- Money is People who don't expose effort to get a reward 

- Unable to see why something rewarding is positive 

- Processing reward in brain is important but people who have depression have low activity in this area

- Does treatment change reward processing? 

- Can we target our treatments on reward processing 

Diagnosis 

- Diagnosis will take longer of parents focus of irritability and oppositionality 

- Teachers focused on academic performance 

- Cannot bring oneself to speak about it 

- (In ex) Christina only diagnosed after she took first overdose 

- Awareness is key to diagnosis 

- Screening only in high risk situations 

- Diagnosis should address: presence of manic problems, underlying medical causes, risk assessment 

Downstream effects of genes and environment 

- Medications and psychological treatment are trying to target behavior, feelings, and thoughts 

Treatments 

- Pharmocology

- Psychological therapy: CBT and IPT 

- in mild cases start with psychological treatment

- Combining may be better 

- 60% of young people respond to an antidepressant 

- 50% respond to placebo

- The higher the severity of depression the lower the placebo response 

- 10 antidepressant needed to treat person and 112 needed to harm ( important when talking about suicidality)

Mental Illness Guest Speaker 

What is a mental disorder?
- Affect's a person's thinking, emotional state, and behavior
- Disrupts the person's ability to work or attend school
- Unable to carry out daily activities
- Have stable relationships

What is anxiety?
- Normal response to stress
- Anxiety can be good & keep you on your toes, make you want to succeed
- Anxiety disorder- persistent fear or worry, can't manage with it
- Need symptoms for 6 months to be diagnosed by doctor

Symptoms of anxiety
- unsocial, restlessness, feeling tense, trouble concentrating, fatigue, insomnia, sweating, pounding heart, dizziness, shortness of breath, muscle tension

Types
- panic disorder, specific phobia, social anxiety, generalized anxiety, ocd, ptsd

Causes
- school, life events, abuse, high stress, violence, heredity, brain chemistry, medical conditions

Statistics 
- 32% of teens will experience anxiety
- 80% will not receive treatment
- Average age when anxiety starts is 6 years old

Depression
- mood or loss of interest in favorite activities
- change in sleep and activities
- guilt, worthlessness
- thoughts of death and suicide

Causes
- trauma, environment, stress, hereditary, medications, alcohol and drug abuse

Statistics
- 20% of teens will experience depression before reaching adulthood
- Teenage boys report suffering from depression more than teenage boys

Suicide and self harm
- suicide, attempt to die
- suicide is second leading cause of death in ages 10-24
- self-harm is a negative coping tool

Warning
- threats to kill or harm him or herself
- making a plan for suicide
- abusing substances
- current talk of suicide

QPR 
- Q- question
- P- persuade
- R- refer
- Do not wait! Always ask question.

Eating Disorders 

 Binge Eating Disorder:

• Eating disorder characterized by eating large quantities of food in a short amount of time until point of discomfort and then feeling shame and guilt and even the need to begin purging                                   
• Most common eating disorder in the U.S. affecting 3.5% of women, 2% of men and 1.6% of adolescents                                                                                                                                       
• Symptoms and diagnostic criteria include: Recurrent episodes of binge eating, Marked distress regarding binge eating, the binge eating occurs at least once a week for 3 months, the binge eating is not associated with anorexia or bulimia                                                                                               
• Behavioral Characterisitcs- secretive eating habits, disruption in normal eating behaviors, periodic dieting or fasting, has periods of impulsive eating without purging, creating schedules that include binge eating                                                                                                                                                
• Emotional and Mental- anger, anxiety, worthlessness, depression, avoiding conflict, working hard to please others                                                                                                                                     
• Health risks- high blood pressure and cholesterol, heart disease, type II diabetes, gallbladder disease, sleep apnea                                                                                                                                       
• Causes- unknown but genetics, biological factors, long-term dieting and psychological issues increase your risk                                                                                                                                           
• Psychotherapy and medication used to treat binge eating 

 Anorexia:

• excessive weight loss and self- starvation
• Warning signs: dramatic weight loss, preoccupation with weight gain, refusal to eat certain foods, binge/purging, excessive exercise 
• 90-95% of anorexia sufferers are girls and women, 5-20% will die, one of the highest death rates of any mental health disorder 
• Treatments: therapy and medications to treat anxiety and depression as well 

 Bulimia:

• Symptoms: consuming very large amounts of food followed by vomiting, feeling out of control during these episodes
• Warning signs: evidence of purging behaviors (frequent visits to bathroom after meals), excessive exercise regimen, calluses on back of hands and knuckles from self- induced vomiting, unusual swelling of the cheeks and jaw area, tooth decay from staining of stomach acids 
• Health consequences: electrolyte imbalance, inflammation and possible rupture of esophagus, tooth decay from frequent vomiting