Welcome to my Portfolio! - Sophomore Year Blogs

Welcome to my Portfolio!

Blog Post about Connolly Ranch

6/2/2017

During Tech lends a hand, I went Connolly Ranch and I helped out with planting, turning over soil, weeding and a lot of other things. After this, Ms. Gottfried told us to play "Black out Poetry" where we went through the newspaper and took out key words that described what we did during Tech Lends a Hand. Although my poem doesn't make much sense, I do think it describes my experience.;
Top team... We can talent Napa's talent
Spent time goals
We started the game off really slow
Our advantage teammate blasted the goal out of position with controlled pace.

And that was my poem! I hope you liked it.

Reflections on my Sophomore Year of High School

5/30/2017

A. What do you anticipate will be a challenge you will face in the future regarding your personal wellness? How will you apply what you've learned this year in Biofitness to overcome that challenge? Cite credible sources.
When it comes to my personal wellness I think that I do pretty well with working out and staying fit. A problem that I have been having is that when I don't work out I feel a lot more anxiety towards my homework and my classes altogether. So, I have found this year because of biofitness I have less anxiety and I am happier to work out now whereas before if you told me we were going for a run I would have thrown my pizza at you. This website here talks about how working out keeps your mind in check.
B. Write about a wellness challenge you faced this year. How did you apply your learning to overcome that challenge? Cite credible sources.
This year, it was hard for me to take initiative of my own health. I used to rely on my parents to make doctor's appointments and take care of me. Now, when my knee is in pain I know that I need to go to the doctor. I am capable of taking initiative and showing my parents that I can take care of myself and succeed. Although I still need them to feed me every once in awhile, I now know that I can continue through my adolescence taking care of my health so that later on in life I know how to take care of my wellness. In this blog post by a mom, she explains why she's helping her kids by not doing everything for them.
C. Which aspect of wellness is the one you feel is most important? Explain your logic and reasoning with credible sources.
I think that emotional wellness is the most important because of how your mood can change everything about you and everyone around you. If you are depressed, your friends notice it. But if you ice your knee every night before bed, how are your friends going to notice that? This website here talks more about how your emotional health in the most important of all of your wellness.

How to not be suckered in Hollywood's twisted fantasies.

5/30/2017

Recently I watched the movie 13 Days and my immediate reaction to it was “My God this is a really good movie.” Although that was my immediate reaction, after the movie I noticed some small tweaks that weren't entirely factual. I could go on and on about what wasn't right about it like the author of From Ordinary Joe to hero of Cuban crisis wrote about, but I wanted to talk about how you can ignore and even avoid these so that you don’t get suckered into Hollywood's fantasies.

Read up on whatever historical film you are watching.

When it came to me watching 13 days, I already knew most of the facts to the story. Even though I knew most of the facts. I’m definitely no expert. I’m just a sophomore in highschool learning about the Cold War, I don't have all of the tiny little details about who said what quote and how many people died during the Cold War… but I do know that war didn't actually take place, which is why it was called the “Cold War”. I also know that neither the United states nor Russia wanted war, so each side was waiting on the other to fire a missile first. Taking the time to learn the facts is beneficial because then you are not going to be completely confused during the movie. Historical movies have a way of doing that to you.

2. You don’t have to know everything
A Lot of people believe that they have to know everything about the topic to understand the movie. It’s ok if you don’t understand every second of the film. You're not going to get in trouble if you don’t get why the Russian secretary is crying in the Russian embassy. At first, I didn’t understand it. Actually, let me be honest, I didn’t understand a lot of it, but I asked questions and I ended up understanding most of the film.

3. Don't write a paper based on a film that isn't a documentary
If you are watching a historical film because you want to write a paper about the film or just about the historical content in general, don't base all of the historical content that you are writing about entirely on a film. Even if it is a documentary, getting more information for outside sources is always a good idea. This is essential if you a writing a paper because there needs to be some backstory and added information so you aren’t just taking from one source. Also, you get extra points if your essay has multiple sources.

And that right there are all of the tips and tricks that you need in order to 1) not get suckered into Hollywood's fantasies and 2) make sure that you know what you need to know before and after a historical movie. I wish you the best of luck on your movie watching madness!

How to create the perfect team with a great Collaboration Learning Outcome grade!

5/18/2017

In my World Studies class, I was assigned a group to do a “Theater of War” project where we performed a readers theater script that we put together ourselves about World War 1, 2, and the Interwar periods. I think that we totally rocked our performance and we did great with the content that we used in our script, but I do believe that we could have been better at collaboration. So, I’m going to give you a few tips and tricks so that the next time you’re on a team, you will have the tools necessary to create the perfect team who will all contribute to your discussions and give you their full attention in group meetings.

You get to know your teammates in the beginning of the project.

I know it’s kind of weird to get assigned new partners and then become best friends, but bear with me here. When I first was assigned my group, we all sat awkwardly at our tables looking at some electronic device instead of trying to start a conversation. I’ll admit, I’m guilty of only talking to the people that I knew on my team and trying to get over the disappointment of being in a group with people that I didn’t like. But when starting a new team where everyone is at the same table, it’s good to talk to your team for a bit. Maybe ask them a How’s your day? Or maybe a What do you think your strong suits are when you work with other people? It helps you measure what kind of person they are so that you know if you need to remind them to do work or if you can trust them to be on top of it.

Make it clear when a team meeting is and don't be afraid to call them out.

When you start out with a team that only has about half of the people on it contributing to discussions, calling a team meeting is a good idea to keep your team from drowning under all the dead weight of your apathetic teammates. Make sure that if someone isn’t contributing well, don’t be afraid to talk to them about it and call them out. But always remember that when you do call a team meeting, never call it thinking that only 2 people are going to contribute to the discussion. If you're calling a team meeting, or any meeting for that matter you have to make sure everyone is listening, even those apathetic teammates of yours. When it comes to contribution and your teammates don't care, the only way you can make them care is to show them what will happen if they don't. If they are apathetic, make them sympathetic or even empathetic to you for how you feel having to carry around the dead weight of your teammates. If you’re shy this might be a big step for you but it is necessary if you want to stay sane through your project.

Set boundaries. If you notice a pattern happening that you dont like, dont be afraid to call it out.

This is a good time to check in with yourself about what ticks you off. You may not know that people talking while you’re speaking is a pet-peeve of yours until you have already yelled at all of your teammates because you were so mad. It’s good to watch yourself just as much as you watch them to see how their behavior sets you off.
When you notice a teammate missing the deadline or making small talk during class, don’t be afraid to tell them that it's not ok. And this goes for your whole team. If you don't like that one minute you're talking to everyone during a team meeting and then the next you're talking to an empty chair minus 6 of your teammates, maybe you should make a rule that your team members can't leave while a team meeting is in session. Setting boundaries is extremely important because if neither you nor the people that you are working with know what ticks you off, a bomb is bound to explode, and it’s going to be everyone's fault.

When it's crunch time and you need to finish your product, call a group meeting just to make sure everyone is on the same page.

I’ve noticed that toward the end of every project everyone goes into panic mode trying to come up with a product. When everyone on your team is stressed, a lot of things can get miscommunicated and that causes even more panic towards everyone on your team. During these times, my motto is Slow breathing and a team meeting cures all crunch-time panic. I swear by it! When you call a team meeting just to touch basis with your team on what needs to be done, it makes everyone feel much better, especially the people who have no idea what to do but just want to help.
I will say the toughest thing about this step is when you are completely in panic mode trying to get everything done fast as possible, it’s really hard to slow down or even notice that you are in panic mode about to fight everyone around you. Alot of times you just want to stay in denial or say that you don't have enough time because it’s too much to actually stop and think. But after you stop, check in with your team, and breathe… you find out that even in the eye of the hurricane, one can find peace.

If you follow all of these steps to creating the perfect team, you will end up with a fantastic collaborative outcome that will put a smile on your face, your teams face, and most importantly, your teacher's face. Good luck! And don’t forget; Slow breathing and a team meeting cures all crunch-time panic!

The French Broom

5/18/2017

During my latest project in Bio-fitness, I learned about invasive species and how they hurt our environment. For the project, we got to pick our own invasive species that invades the city that we live in. My team chose the French Broom, and the following link is a link to our website that talks about everything that you need to know about the French Broom. Thanks for checking it out!
http://thefrenchbroomwebsite.weebly.com

Binary Numbers

1/27/2017

Recently I have been learning about binary numbers in my digital media class and here I have learned a few things about what binary numbers and how they are used to communicate. If you have no idea what binary numbers are or are confused in anyway about them than this is definitely the blog post for you.

That may look like an intimidating picture but in reality it is only 0’s and 1’s. But when you put 0’s and 1’s together in a sequence, you come up with an actual letter. But how is that used to communicate? You see when you arrange 0’s and 1’s to get letters as long as you know how to spell you can make words and even sentences if you have the patience to write out all of those 0’s and 1’s.

When I was first introduced to binary numbers I was really confused just like everyone else in my class. But I found out that just stretching my patience a little longer proved to teach me everything that I know now about binary numbers. It’s a lot of new material when you first learn it but once you remember all of the facts then you know binary numbers. When I finally grasped the idea of binary numbers it was such an interesting revelation because of the facts that I learned were proving everything to be true. Back then to me it was mind blowing. Now I think of it as an easy topic to talk about and easy to understand even though I took so long to grasp it.

So if you’re just now learning about binary numbers don’t be scared for it it is actually really easy to understand if you stretch your patience a bit and listen carefully. And if you don’t know anything about them, I hope this post helped you in someway to at least know the definition of a binary number.

What I did during Winter Break

1/27/2017

During Winter break I had a lot more free time to help my mom in the house, work, read, or anything I wanted to do! But one thing that I loved doing was to walk my dog. I have a 4 year old boxer named Ruby who is a very energetic dog who needs a lot of attention when it comes to getting a walk.

When we first got Ruby she was always an easy to excite kind of dog which led to her getting walks every now and then. Nowadays if she doesn’t get her walk at least once a day, she goes crazy. So since she pulls so much when I walk Ruby I usually trail behind on my skateboard which is why I love to do it. But don’t worry, she can pull me along easily and she she can run as fast as she wants this way.

Whenever I walk her I feel like taking care of animals is exactly what I want to do in life. I want to get my veterinary doctorate degree and take care of animals when I get older and I like to think that the reason why is because I fell in love with walking my dog. The best part of the walk is when she falls asleep afterwards because shes so tired

Benchmark 4: Final Post

12/1/2016

Here is the image I created about my experiment/ data collection.Here you can see thee thoughts of a Orca before it attacks. What I want to express is that if; during fight or flight; and you had nowhere to run too, what is the only thing left to do, in your eyes? I believe that the real only thing left to do is to just fight for your life. So I wanted to illustrate the thoughts that a captive orca could have and what would contribute to its fight or flight instincts kicking in.

Although, I will say this… I am not an artist, I believe being the terrible drawer that I am, I got my point across efficiently in this drawing. For close ups to the drawing, go to this link.
This is how much my data table has grown since the last you have probably seen it. Keep in mind that I am not finished collecting data. So far I have asked to collect data from Sea World and they turned me down. That part makes me think; Why turn me down if you have nothing to hide? If you have nothing to hide you shouldn't turn down a science experiment especially if you are getting critique from others because of how you hold the orcas in your tanks. So, although I never got to test the water, I am glad that I finally have a clear understanding of Sea World.
In the beginning my original hypothesis was that “captivated animals have such emotional duress during captivity that they somehow don’t understand their fight or flight trigger.” The problem with that is I never got to prove my hypothesis because Seaworld never sent me their water. But, I will say that I didn't let my entire experiment go to nothing just because Seaworld doesn't want the truth about their water to be exposed; I collected data from Bodega Bay and researched what kind of water orcas are supposed to be in so it gave me some outlook on their behavior and what triggers their fight or flight. I believe that my data supports my hypothesis because judging by the videos of the orcas attacking whales, I do believe that the water does make the orca feel differently both physically and mentally.
In conclusion, although, because I don't have millions of dollars and I don't have a marine biology degree (yet), I do believe that the environment and food supply triggers any animals fight or flight instincts. I have proven it with this data because of the videos I have shown and the data I have collected(check my data table for the videos). The Interdependence of Organisms relates to my topic because when animals are used to fighting for their food, but when you keep an animal in captivity without any other animal of the same or a different species, you are keeping it in an environment which is harmful to their very existence, and when you keep it in a harmful environment (as we have now learned) it triggers its fight or flight instinct.The reason I feel that Population strongly represent my topic is because animals have instincts to find food. When they realize that the only way they get food is to fight for it, they become savages. So this helps my hypothesis that food supply triggers an animal's instincts.

Collaboration: A Guide on What NOT to do with your Team

11/26/2016

Recently I have been working on an Epic Movie with my teammates and I have found that although the end product (in my opinion) was great, I believe that there are some things that we could have improved on to help the making of the project. So here I have made a Guide containing three rules to live by on what NOT to do with your team.

Number 1: Do not miss class/work time without talking to your teammates about it or at least sending an email.
This, I have found can be very hard to do. Especially because during certain times you’re not automatically thinking about telling your teammates that you won’t be at school. For example; when you’re sick the first thing that you think to do isn't usually to send an email/text to all of your teammates explaining why you won't be at work time that day. The first thing you do is usually to put on some fuzzy socks and grab as much tissue as you can. But here is my advice; when you're grabbing all that tissue, you might as well grab your laptop too so you can email your teammates.

Number 2: Never not know what you're supposed to be doing during work time.
This one is super critical because if you don't know what you're doing in class, chances are you don't know what the end product is nor the due date. If you don't know what the due date is then you are getting an F for not knowing what you are doing. So when it comes to your projects, knowledge is definitely the key to success.

Number 3: Do not walk away during work time assuming that you're done with your work.
This is something I have seen constantly and I can honestly say it is the most annoying of them all. If you are working with someone and you get up and leave that person has to pick up where you left off and coming from the person who has been the person who was left at the table, it's extremely annoying. Even if you think you're done. Always check and see if there is more work to be done. Taking water/bathroom breaks is one thing but when you get up for long periods of time to go talk to friends or go on your phone while there is work to be done, it's pretty disrespectful to the people working.

In conclusion;
When it comes to working with your teammates, everyone is different. Some are more lenient on some things while others have pet peeves about others. It’s always good to stay in communication about those things when you’re working together, but if you're always following at least these three rules, then your group should succeed enough so that everyone gets an A on the project.

Benchmark 3: Bio Fitness

11/17/2016

Here is the data I have been filling out about the different bodies of water I plan to test and have tested. Here I also have the sources that I used. Keep in mind I am not fully done with my experiment.
I have been working on my experiment for some time now and so far I have come up with a few hypotheses. So I tested the water down in Bodega bay and saw that it is possible for an orca to live down there but what i have also found is that there have been sightings of orcas. But in the sightings the orcas only went down there to hunt a whale and her calf.
I see a pattern of orca sightings not really being the same as what there are supposed to be like in a pod(based on my research). I believe that my data is very precise but I also believe that I could have done more research about orcas and how many are in a pod.