Reflective Writes

9/6/2007
I just created my blog today. I had to change my password in order to get in and access it. I put 2 links in my blog, one to the class blog and another one to the class wiki. Blogging was something that was pretty new to me, but it was pretty easy for me to figure out how everything works.

9/6/2007
Today in class we discussed what we thought health was. Me and my partner both said that it was keeping you and your body healthy. We also went outside and did little activities that demonstrated the different forms of health, and helped us investigate which activity would go with what component of health. Then we also had to think about what our best experience has been in high school, and what our worst experience has been so far.

9/6/2007
*JUICING*
What is juicing and why would you want to have juicing be part of a health lifestyle? One of the main advantages of juicing is the nutrients that it allows you to consume, this is done at a low-calorie intake. There are a lot of good things that come out of juicing.. Vegetable juice often helps to stabilize your blood sugar levels. It offers about 50% less calories and less sugar compared to fruit juices. Juicing gives you lots of energy, and is a factor in helping you reach your goal weight in time. Remember that you should use a variety of vegetables, to ensure you are getting all the right vitamins and nutrients that your body needs. In all, juicing is a very healthy experience.

9/10/2007
The first thing that we did today in class was take a survey about habits, stress, etc.. Then we shared what our number was for the answer. Then we discussed juicing, and watched a few short videos on it. Some of the things that I learned from the videos were that; when you are juicing with carrots you need to scrub them, you should retain the peel, and you should discard the green ones because they could be toxic. Lemons-You need to scrub, and remove the peel.. It is bitter, and it can be toxic. The juicer that we are going to be using is the Breville Juice Fountain Elite Juicer.. Which looks like it's going to be a really good juicer. It works really fast and effectively. Another juicer that we looked at was called The Jack Liliane Power Juicer, that has a high surgical steel blade.

9/12/2007
The first thing that we did in class this morning was go online, and we took a loot at some people's blogs.. To see if they have been doing there work or not. Then we discussed that our reflective writes are 20% of our total grade. After this we went online and took a look at del.ici.ous.com and what it has to offer for us. Then he showed us how to create an account.. But I had already created my account before hand, so I knew how to do all of this. We also went into flikr.com and looked around there for a bit. The last thing that we did today was started looking at the food pyramid, it's a website that you put your age, height and weight in.. And then it tells you healthy ways of maintain it. I also found out what group I am going to be in.. I am going to be with just Taylor.


9/14/2007
Today in class we learned that it is very important not to post pictures that might be offensive to other people on our blogs. After this, we found out how we can find out the amount of each food that we should have each day. The way we figured this out was by going to the website http://www.mypryamid.gov/. This taught us that the amount depends on your age, weight, height and your amount of daily physical exercise. After this we learned what our group had to do.. My group gets to study and learn more about milk.

9/18/2007
Today during class Mr.Cohun showed us how we are supposed to use the juicer correctly. After this, a few of the classmates got to go ahead and share their projects with the class. Gabe started off with talking about ginger, garlic, peaches, and vitamin d. Kiya talked about her vitamin which was b-5, and then Nicole ended the class by having Wendell read her report on vitamin b-6.

9/21/2007
This morning Mr.Cohun had us all go into the computer lab for the whole block. This was so that everyone could make sure that all their work was in, and that it was all where it should be. We also all went onto each other's page and took their projects and put them on our page, into the shared projects area. After this block I had everything where it should be in my blog, and I was all up to date on our current work.

9/25/2007
This morning we had a guest speaker named Ricky from planned parenthood come in and talk with us. He discussed with us the 7 most common types of STI's in teenagers. (Which is a sexually transmitted infection) The reason it is an infection and not a disease, is because it is treatable. The 7 most common STI's are Chlamydia, HIV/AIDS, Genital Herpes, Syphilis, Genital Warts, and Crabs (also known was pubic lice) Ricky also talked with us about the symptoms to know whether or not you have the infection, how you can contain it, what to do if you have it, and what can happen to you down the road if it goes UN-treated. He talked about each of these 7 STI's in a great deal, and I learned a lot of information on each one of them that I will benefit from knowing.

9/27/2007
Today Ricky came back from planned parenthood to talk with our class again. This time he has a new topic, which was contraceptives. These included spermicides, female condoms, different types of birth control, and the male condom. Birth control is proven to be 99% effective in protecting against unwanted pregnancy, male condoms are 98% effective, and spermicides are about 94% effective. The only type of birth control that helps you not catch a disease, is the male and female condoms. The best way to avoid pregnancy and an STI, is by ABSTINENCE. It is the only thing that will grantee you from any of these happening to you. Ricky also told us that you do not have to be 18, or have an adult with you to come in to planned parenthood. Which means if you are holding back from going because you are afraid to ask your parents, you can just go there without them.. And because of confidentially, they will never know about your visit.

10/01/2007
Today in class I was supposed to be the first one to go ahead and do my juicing project, but due to me forgetting some of my materials, for bringing in some of the wrong materials, I am going to have to present my juicing recipe at a later time. I presented my vitamin b-1, and I had Wendell help me out by reading it to the class for me. After this Jamie presented his vitamin to the class. Molly did her report on vitamin d. I learned that you should never crush up this vitamin when you are taking it in the pill form, and that you should always take it with a full glass of water. Taylor did his on vitamin e, which can be found in almonds, asparagus, Brazil nuts, and broccoli. Men should consume 10 m.g a day, and women should consume 8 m.g daily. Then C.J finished off the class be presenting his vitamin which was vitamin h, also known as biotin. It is required for many parts of life, and is used in the growth of cells. It's benefits include healthy hair, sweat glands, and it can also help with muscle pain. It is present in cheese, liver, eggs, chicken breasts, spinach, salmon, and also in mushrooms.


10/3/2007
Today in class we talked a great deal about health insurance. We discussed our opinions on whether or not we should have the right to decide if we want insurance or not, or if the decision should be up to the government. I think you should have the right to choose whether or not you want to have insurance, and what type you want as well. I think it's your life, and making this decision should be up to you.. Not up to the government.

10/5/2007
Today in class we had a sub, so we watched a movie about decision making. This movie talked about the 3 main components in decision making. These were; vision, perspective, and intuitive. The movie also said that at a point in your life, if you really want to change your self, then you are able to do so. I believe in this statement 100%. I think if you really want something bad enough and if you really wanna change your self to better your self and the one's around you, then you can do so. It will obviously take a lot of hard work and effort in order to change your self, but I believe that everybody has the capability to do so.

10/9/2007
Today in class we started our tobacco projects, and found out what we had to research about tobacco. I got reasons to quit, second hand smoke, tobacco tally, and body recovery. After we found out what we had to find information on, we all went to the computer lab for the whole block to get started on this project. For some reason, I am pretty interested in this subject.

10/11/2007
Unfortunately I was absent this morning, and missed health for the day. But I was told that we started talking about testicular cancer, and how many cases there have been on it, and some of the facts that surround this type of cancer. We also learned that it is mostly found in Caucasian males from around the ages of 16-45, but even if you do not fall into this category, you can still catch this form of cancer.

10/15/2007
Today in class we continued talking about testicular cancer. We found out that in most cases your symptoms are most likely going to be painless, and you probably will not have any enlargement. Men should do monthly checks themselves, to feel to see if they have any bumps present.

10/17/2007
Today we looked at an article about a drug resistant super bug, which was a staff infection. A staff infection is a flesh eating disease that can sometimes be fatal. But it's not very common, and it only affects about 2 out of 100,000 people. You are most likely to catch a staff infection in a place like a locker room, because it is not very clean there, and there are a lot of people as well.

10/23/2007
Today in class we played black jack. The cards had to do with tobacco, and health facts about it. At the end, whoever had the most points got to keep the cards as your prize. The person that won in my group was Molly.

10/25/2007
This morning in class we talked about our midterm, and what we can expect to be on it. We are going to be taking our midterm by playing a game of jeopardy and answering questions about various topics that we have learned about so far this semester. Then we went on to our tobacco unit.. Molly and Gabe were the only ones to present there projects today.

10/29/2007
Today Molly did her juicing project for the class. She ended up making fruit punch. (which was very very tasty) After this, we continued presenting our tobacco unit projects.

10/31/2007

Today in class Taylor did his juicing project. His juice was made out of oranges and grapes, and surprisingly it was very good, and everyone in the class ended up loving it. Then we went through slides about tobacco, and how tobacco effects our body. It showed us pictures of normal body parts, compared to the body parts of people who do smoke. Looking at these pictures gave me a better picture of how smoking really does affect your body, and made me think how anyone could ever want to do this to their body. Then we played jeopardy. It was me, Kiya, and Molly in my group.. We didn't get to play for that long though because we ended up running out of time. So we are supposed to continue our game on Monday. (Even though I highly doubt we will)

11/2/2007
I was not here in class this morning. But I know that we had a substitute and the whole class went to the computer lab. They went on wiki.com, and read about addiction and then they answered questions about it. After this, people were given time to work on their blogs to make sure that they were all ready for the end of the quarter.

11/6/2007
The first thing that we did in class today was had Wendell present his juicing project. He made his juice out of tangerines, and carrots. Just about the whole class found his juice to be disgusting, but Wendell and Mr.Cohun really enjoyed it. We didn't get to see what was in these fruits and vegetables because the blogger was not working at this time. After we were done with this, there was fruit left over from the day before.. So we ended up making another juice. It was made out of apples, pears, and kiwi's.. It actually was pretty good. Me and Kiya helped by making it. Then we listened to a lady and a man online talk about addiction, and what it is. Molly and CJ read their responses to the questions that we had to answer on Friday. Mr.Cohun reminded me that my juicing project will be on this Thursday.

11/8/2007
This morning we finished up going over the questions that we were supposed to answer on wiki. These questions were in relation to addiction. But the only people that actually answered these questions like they were supposed to was Molly and CJ. So Mr. Cohun said we could have a little more time to finish them up.

11/12/2007
Today we started watching a DVD called 28 Days. I had already seen the movie prior to this so I knew exactly what it was going to be about. The movie is about this young lady named Gwen who has a problem with her drinking, and she gets sent off to rehab. It shows her difficult life and a few reasons why she has a problem controlling her drinking habits. It shows that her mom was an alcoholic, and she always had to take care of her.. So she grew up all around it, which caused her to be more likely to follow in her mom's footsteps. Gwen also went to her sister's wedding drunk and stole the limo and crashed into a house. This is what put her into the rehab.

11/14/2007
The first thing that we did this morning was try another flavor of juice by having Gabe make some for us. Then we finished off the day by watching the rest of 28 Days. This movie taught me a lot more information about addiction and what it is like to be addicted to something that is harmful for you. It also showed us that if you are addicted to something then you can always get help with it and change it. But in order to do so you have to be fully committed, you have to admit that you have an actual problem, and you have to be willing to change it. In this movie Gwen had a boyfriend who wasn't really supportive of her. He brought her drugs and alcohol to her rehab. When Gwen got out of rehab she learned that he wasn't the right guy for her if she wanted to change her life for the better so she ended up leaving him. A few of the ways that the people in the movie dealt with their addictions is by playing games to keep them selves busy, or also by chewing gum or candy. In all, I really enjoyed this movie and I think that its message can teach a lot to people.

11/20/2007
Unfortunately I was running late for school this morning and I missed class. I asked Dustin what I had missed, and all he told me was that all we did was argue over the fact that you don't teach us anything, and that you should actually give us actual work to do once in a while.. I guess.

11/27/2007
Again I was not in class this morning because instead I am sitting in I.S.S. right now. But I was told that this morning Kiya made her juice. A lot of people said that it had came out sour, but I wish I would have been able to taste it. Then the class watched a movie about marijuana, that I will have to stay after and make up on Thursday. There was also homework, and that was for me to come up with 2 questions about marijuana to share with this class on Thursday.