Not thinking is normal
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With the articles, we produced skits representing the three ways the teen brain is wired for the maximum reward. One skit focused on impulsiveness. They created a scene that showed a teen running in front of a car because the teen wanted to get to the other side of the street quicker. They explained that the teen brain reacts without thinking ahead for possible outcomes, because the prefrontal cortex (the area that evokes rational decision making) is not fully developed. The second group focused on addiction. They created a party scene where the teens were smoking and one teen overdosed. Although silly and over exaggerated, they explained that teen brains are looking for the next source of dopamine (a hormone that creates a positive mood) release. Drugs that imitate the dopamine release, in turn makes our brains addicted. My group produced a skit on Hyperrationality. We created a scene where a student takes a peer’s phone because he was persuaded by his friend, and the student gets caught by the principal. We explained that the teen brain tends to examine the situation at hand and react, but not think about the end result. I can relate to these reactions because the main issue I have when dealing with social conflicts is not thinking ahead or reflecting on my intentioms.
A wondering I had for this week was; why does the adult brain blame the teen brain for being irrational, when the same adult brain when through the same phases in development?
The skits and the articles helped me get a deeper understanding of what the teen brain is doing, and how it is different from the adult brain. I have noticed connections in my own life, and it has made me aware of how I react to situations. I tend to react emotionally and vent to my friends, but I noticed that it has created a cycle of negativity, so moving forward, I am going to try to think more before I react and vent less to the peers around me.
A wondering I had for this week was; why does the adult brain blame the teen brain for being irrational, when the same adult brain when through the same phases in development?
The skits and the articles helped me get a deeper understanding of what the teen brain is doing, and how it is different from the adult brain. I have noticed connections in my own life, and it has made me aware of how I react to situations. I tend to react emotionally and vent to my friends, but I noticed that it has created a cycle of negativity, so moving forward, I am going to try to think more before I react and vent less to the peers around me.
Not Terra-ble
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We also watched the documentary “Terra” which was about the environment as well. This documentary explained the beginnings of life on earth and progressed into how humans are treating it today. Watching the scenes where the movie explains the food production system was a bit heart wrenching for me because I am a vegetarian and I choose not to eat meat due to the horrible industry and my love for animals. I already understood most of the issues with meat production but watching it again made me sad. The movie also talked about agriculture and how it is using up California's water supply. This also struck a chord with me because on my dad’s side of the family, they own orchards to grow almonds and olives.
A wondering I have for the week is, what can I do to lessen my environmental impact and inspire others to do the same?
I chose this image because it’s what inspired me to create my presentation the way it is. I created the titles of my presentation as things that I have been called while walking down the street, as to directly face the dehumanizing comments made by complete strangers. I love the portraits and the expressions in the women’s faces as well.
getting catty
1/26/2018
This week we started working on our student social issue proposals, to start brainstorming social issue topics and see what the students are passionate about that will eventually become zines. I was able to create a presentation on a topic that I have been affected by for a while. The social issue I chose to focus on is Catcalling, originally I wanted to create a presentation informing my classmates on why catcalling is an issue and what we can do to prevent it because of its prevalence in cities worldwide. The more I researched, the more I realized the connection between rape and catcalling. Rape, in simplest terms is when a person forces sexual interaction without the other person’s consent. Catcalling, is when a person makes unwanted sexual remarks to a woman passing by. The connection between the two is apparent to most women, but not many men. The biggest misconception is that catcalling is a form of flattery, so through my research and my presentation I want to bust that misconception and eventually create a zine that portrays how damaging catcalling can be to women. This week I noticed how enthusiastic and passionate I am about this topic, which made researching a breeze. I enjoyed reading journals and articles about how catcalling and sexual abuse creates a negative ripple effect among women especially. I hope to create a zine that informs and sheds light on the effects of catcalling. My target audience would be teenage boys because in today’s society males are still held to figures of power, so in order to change the way the world works now it needs to start with us.
Individually the day before the launch we all had images or dates of significant historical events and researched 5 facts about the event. To kick off the launch, as a team we got up and met with people who had a different image or date and explain to them what happened and why it was significant. This got the conversation started on social justice issues in history. The next activity we did as a team was read copies of La Esperanza, a monthly zine publication that highlights social justice issues in San Antonio, Texas. In pairs, we gathered information about what topics the zine was covering and inferred the political or social message behind the topics. I enjoyed comparing and contrasting the issues that the zines covered to social justice issues in Chula Vista. To finish off the launch, we listened to a guest panel made up of community influences that have dedicated their career to bettering the community or groups in our community that are disadvantaged. I really enjoyed listening to them because they were all so passionate about their cause, and I took away information on how to better my impact.
One wondering I had this week was, how much will we be pushed in this project to unite our community and push for the social change we are creating zines about?
One wondering I had this week was, how much will we be pushed in this project to unite our community and push for the social change we are creating zines about?
Social CONSCIOUSNESS
2/9/2018
This week, we watched and presented our social justice issue proposals. As my previous reflections mentioned, I presented on the topic of catcalling and its effect on rape culture. But in fact, the most eye opening part of the week was listening to my peers. Watching my classmates present on the social justice issues that they are passionate about really gave me an insight into who they are as people and what they choose to advocate for. There were two most popular issues that were presented. Body image being one, whether that be the social standards put on men and women or the media influencing the eurocentric idea of beauty. The second topic was bullying, both cyber and peer bullying. As a teenager in 2018 I can definitely see the attraction to those two topics because they are the most prevalent that affect teenagers. Interestingly enough my fascination with the presentations came from my peers passion, not from the topics presented. For example, watching and listening to Valerie present an extremely passionate, and not to mention very well researched evidence to prove her stance on her topic, created a spark in me that made me want to learn more. Presenting my slideshow also tapped into the passionate and social justice warrior side of me that I had no idea was there. This ties into my wondering for the week.
A wondering I do have for this week is, how can we harness the natural passion that my peers have for these topics, and create real social change in our community, or the world?
A wondering I do have for this week is, how can we harness the natural passion that my peers have for these topics, and create real social change in our community, or the world?
campus crawl
2/16/2018
This week, all of the juniors took the annual trip up to northern california and visited four college campuses. This year we visited UC Berkeley, San Jose State University, UC Santa Cruz, and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. The most memorable moment of this trip was in the morning of the first day. After the long night of sleeping very uncomfortable on the charter bus on the way up to UCB, the juniors were allowed to hang out in the main bookstore area of UCB. I loved sitting in the common area with my friends recapping the night, and talking about what was to come of the college tours. The atmosphere was something really special, every single one of us were tired, hungry, and excited all at the same time.
The most memorable thing said to me was at the campus tour of Cal Poly Slo. My tour guide shared a story with us that impacted the way I view college. He explained that his mom worked for a company for 22 years, but she ended up losing her job a year ago. He said that because she does not have a college degree, it has made her job search even harder. He emphasized that college is necessary to pursuing any career, even if you don't think it's necessary. H I have always understood that I needed to go to college, but his mom's story opened my eyes to see what college or a higher education can actually do for you in the future. After this trip, my feelings on attending a 4 year university pretty much stayed the same. I know that to complete my goal of becoming a small animal Veterinarian, I need to set myself up for success and attend a 4 year uni. The school that I would most likely attend would be Cal Poly SLO because I really like their curriculum as well as how small the class sizes are, and I think the campus is pretty nice too. The small class size would benefit my learning because that is what I am used to and really comfortable with at HTHCV. I would maybe attend UCSC because I LOVED the campus and the community there but they do not have anything that has to do with veterinary medicine in their curriculum. I would definitely not attend San Jose State University or UC Berkeley because they do not have my major and I hated the campus. They were both too urban and cement for me.
A wondering I have for this week would be, How can I find a campus that I love that also has amazing credentials in my major.
The most memorable thing said to me was at the campus tour of Cal Poly Slo. My tour guide shared a story with us that impacted the way I view college. He explained that his mom worked for a company for 22 years, but she ended up losing her job a year ago. He said that because she does not have a college degree, it has made her job search even harder. He emphasized that college is necessary to pursuing any career, even if you don't think it's necessary. H I have always understood that I needed to go to college, but his mom's story opened my eyes to see what college or a higher education can actually do for you in the future. After this trip, my feelings on attending a 4 year university pretty much stayed the same. I know that to complete my goal of becoming a small animal Veterinarian, I need to set myself up for success and attend a 4 year uni. The school that I would most likely attend would be Cal Poly SLO because I really like their curriculum as well as how small the class sizes are, and I think the campus is pretty nice too. The small class size would benefit my learning because that is what I am used to and really comfortable with at HTHCV. I would maybe attend UCSC because I LOVED the campus and the community there but they do not have anything that has to do with veterinary medicine in their curriculum. I would definitely not attend San Jose State University or UC Berkeley because they do not have my major and I hated the campus. They were both too urban and cement for me.
A wondering I have for this week would be, How can I find a campus that I love that also has amazing credentials in my major.
A New LENS
This week, We dove into the topic of empathy. A very broad topic, that could be easily interpreted many different ways, and in our socratic discussion I realized that the definition of empathy can be misconstrued just as easily. A part this week where I feel like I really learned something was doing research for the socratic seminar. I found this guy who dedicated his whole career to proving that empathy IS valuable, and can be implemented into daily life to better yourself as well as the world. His name is Roman Krznaric, and I watched his TED talk. I took a lot of notes. He introduced a 7 step program that helps improve and expand the empathy of the world. The first step he talked about, is to train the next generation and create empathetic leaders. The second step is to develop an ambitious imagination, and that an increase in empathy will spark passionate change. Step three, is to spark our curiosity and to start conversations with strangers. Step four is to learn from history, and use acts of empathetic change as an example. The fifth step is to create experiential adventures, and learn by being in someone else's shoes. The sixth step, is to harness technology and use it as a platform for social change on a global scale. The final step is to cultivate outrospection. I really absorbed this information because empathy is something that I struggle with. Being able to see the steps to improve empathy helped me break it down more, and apply it to daily life.
Mice Brains and Gel
This week, we went to UCSD and visited Dr. Kauffman’s lab as well as Geisel Library. In the lab, we started by listening to a mini lecture, where the students working at the lab, explained what research they do and what hormones the lab focuses on. We learned about kisspeptin and the differences between the male and female brain in regards to that hormone. After the lecture, there were three rotations in the lab. My group started with the microscope rotation, where we looked at kisspeptin is in a slice of the brain. It was really cool to see the bright red dots of kisspeptin because it showed exactly where in the mouse brain the hormone takes affect and is produced. This made me wonder where in my brain kisspeptin is produced, and how much per day is pumping through my body. The second rotation was the gel station where we were able to see how the DNA is extracted from the cells of the mice. We were able to insert a sample of the DNA into a gel slab that uses electricity to extract it. The final station was the brain cutting station, which was my favorite. In this rotation, we first learned about the sections of the mouse brain and what areas they need to cut to get the right slice for a slide. Then, my group took turns using the giant brain cutting machine and putting the slices onto a slide. It was actually super interesting to see how such a big machine cuts such small slices of the brain.
A wondering I have for this week is, how does lab research create concrete change in the science communities, like the production of medicine or creating common knowledge. |