Professional Development Reflection

I presented the Google Docs app to the science department. I chose this because there have been multiple occasions where an app like Google Docs would've been useful, I just didn't know it existed. When we were told we were going to be presenting an app to the teachers, I was really nervous. I don't really like talking in front of people my age, let alone people that are older than me and happen to be educators (they can tell how stupid I may sound better than my peers.) The day of the Professional Development, one of my teachers told me that "teachers make the worst students," which only scared me even more. In a way, she was right. It was funny to see the teachers talk and "cut up" like some kids in my classes do. However, my presentation went really well and (most of) the teachers seemed really interested in what we all had to say. Even though we got positive feedback from basically everyone, I wish we would've conveyed the overall theme of collaboration better. Based on the survey, it kind of seemed like some of the teachers took at is if we were trying to introduce specific apps that we felt we really needed to incorporate into our learning environment, and to a certain extent, we were. It wasn't just about the apps though. The reason we introduced the different apps to them was to open their eyes to a new world of collaboration among students AND teachers. Other than that, everything went the way I hoped it would. I had two teachers tell me before the Professional Development that they weren't looking forward to it because they hate the schedule of half-days and having to stay after school for 2 hours when they feel like the day should be over. However, those 2 teachers, along with many others, told me after the presentations that they really enjoyed it and loved how it was all driven by the students. I honestly feel like we, as students, taught the teachers a lot, which is pretty cool.  

Twitter Chats

If I could moderate a Twitter chat, it would probably be one that I could use to get information for my project. Because part of my project is lessening the stigma that comes along with mental illness, I think it would be helpful for people to provide examples of some of the stereotypes that they've heard, or even thought. Yesterday when we participated in a class Twitter chat, it was really interesting to see how a social media platform allowed a group of people to discuss a series of questions provided by a single moderator. You don't even have to be in the same country as the moderator or other people in the chat to participate. It helps strengthen the global connection between people/brings people from all areas with the same mindset to a single place to connect. 

Shark Tank Presentations

The Shark Tank process made me realize that although I'm passionate about our oceans and the conservation of the ecosystems they contain, it's not something I consider "personal". When I told my class that I plan on doing my project on mental illness, mainly in adolescents, everyone was really supportive and I received some very helpful feedback. The goal of my project is to not only take away some of the stigma that comes with mental illness, but also separate fact from fiction and provide people with different avenues to get help. One of my teachers suggested that I start within the school and build an awareness of my campaign and once the documentary I plan on making is finished, I could present it to the student body. I wasn't sure if that would be asking too much of the school but then I remembered how awesome I thought the "elephant in the room" campaign was. Every English teacher played the video for us to see and our counselors were there to talk to us about what the goals of the campaign and to make sure we all understood that their door is always open to us. Every student takes an English course every year. Because of this, everyone saw the video and listened to our counselors speak, whether they wanted to or not. I loved that because the whole point of the video was to spread awareness and educate people about mental illness and the stigma behind it, and a lot of times, the people that don't want to listen are the uneducated ones. When I agreed that presenting my documentary would be a good idea, a classmate of mine said that he didn't think it would be affective because it's like the saying "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink". I realized that some people might view it as I'm shoving all of this down their throat, even though that's obviously not my intention. This made me realize how much the campaign last year meant to me because someone was finally talking about mental illness. I'm not trying to make anyone come forward and say they suffer from depression and need help, I just want to put it out there for them to hear and let them know that they have options. My goals for the near future include finding a local organization help me with my campaign, finding some people that are willing to be in the documentary, and writing interview questions for those people. 

Changing My Topic

Over the past few days, my classmates have started to pitch their ideas for their passion projects to the class. The "Shark Tank" style presentations allow the presenter to receive feedback from the class and our teachers. There is no doubt my classmates feel passionate about their topics, whatever it may be. Some of my classmates are passionate about things such as the environment, or helping people that live below the poverty line, others are passionate about issues within our society as a whole. Three of my classmates are doing their projects on some pretty "controversial" topics, such as feminism, education and acceptance of the different sexual orientations, as well as the transgender community. Everyone has a different opinion on all three of these topics and no one seems to want to talk about it, which is why I applaud my classmates for initiating a discussion. I think that these three people, along with the ones helping them, are going to provide a much-needed wake up call to some of the people in our school and community. I haven't gotten the opportunity to pitch my project to the class yet, and I'm kind of thankful. The more I think about my topic of "plastic pollution in the environment", the more doubtful I become about my ability to really make something out of it. Yes, I am passionate about our oceans and the thousands of ecosystems they contain, and yes, I do think they should be protected. I just don't know if plastic pollution is something that I would consider "personal". However, mental illness is. Mental illness is another issue people don't like to talk about and often sweep under the rug, and to me, that IS heartbreaking. So, instead of collaborating with an organization to keep plastic out of our oceans, I'm going to focus on mental illness among adolescents. I'm not sure what my end product is going to be because I can't expect teenagers to talk about being diagnosed with depression or dealing with an eating disorder on camera, but I have some time to figure that part out. My classmates really inspired me to put myself out there and talk about something that makes people, including myself, uncomfortable sometimes.