My PSA.

12/4/14

My question is "Should educators be required to learn the biology and studies about children and teen brains"

My question is "Should teenage brains be evaluated before given a license to determine whether or not their brain is mature enough to deal with stressful driving situations."

12/3/14

Quick Write:

I think Epsteins' counter claim would be that the environment also plays a part in a teenagers behavior because if a teenager had to mature quickly vs. a teenager that spent all their years being childish it can affect their decision making

11/25/14

How does Ms. Blakemore define adolescence?

 the start of the hormonal and puberty stage 

How long does it last?

when the adolescent can maintain a stable role in society. 

What is the significance of the prefrontal cortex?

decision making, inhibiting inappropriate behavior, understanding people and being self-aware. 

Which section is this on the diagram we viewed yesterday? (See post for 11/17/14)

Executive Processors

What is synaptic pruning and what is the significance of the process?

 Keep the ones you need and lose the ones you don't need. The ones that you do keep come stronger because you keep working with it. 

What is the social brain?

the network of brain region we use to understand other people and interact other people 

Explain the design and results of the experiment in which adolescents were compared to adults in seeing things from another person's perspective.

Soccer game, When michael misses his goal everyone has the same reaction and we are being able to read other peoples expression. 

Describe the difference between the limbic system and the prefrontal cortex in teenagers and adults.

Adults - An adults limbic system and prefrontal cortex are more developed and used evenly. 

Adolences  - medial prefrontal cortex is less used, risk takers, to become independent, lymbic system are hyper senstive during this stage while the prefronal cortex is still developing. 

Do you see your own adolescence as a problem or an opportunity?Explain.

It was an opportunity to learn right from wrong and how to become a better person. 

Make one suggestion you have for educators based on this Ted Talk. 

To learn this information so they can understand their students better. 

11/12/14

Quick Write: What criteria do you believe should be used to evaluate the quality of your PSA?


the quality of your work , the level of information used and the organization of your PSA. 


Have you ever been persuaded by a PSA?

yes because if the review is good, i might consider buying the item

10/27/14

Quick Write: Check out the revised "Accountable Talk II" element on the Five Elements of Engagement sheet. Describe what that looks like. In other words, describe in detail how a student deserving of that point would behave.

Accountable Talk II is describing a student that participates, engages, and listens during a seminar or when participating in class. 

10/28/14

Quick Write:Describe one significant idea or concept you have learned from your research, then formulate one further question that arises from this idea.For example, I learned that the process of synaptic pruning enables the prefrontal cortex to take control of the ventral striatum. A further question I have is how to accelerate that process?

Orgasm, like all experiences, is brought about by electric impulses flowing along paths of connected nerve cells. Orgasm happens when specific pleasure pathways are turned on, while your defense pathways are turned off. One question I have is, "are there other situations that cause the brain to react in the same way as intercourse?" 


Source

10/27/14

   

 Its my boyfriends birthday!

10/6/14

Quick Write - 

One way my brain is similar to other teen brains is that both of our brains are developing. One way in which my brain is different is that my brain is very advanced, I know how to control my emotions, impulses and decision making. I have more control over my brain than most. 


Final Reflection: On your blog, describe the last decision of yours that was NOT influenced by your environment, your friends, or your emotions. Tell us how you came to this decision.

Taking my first breath into life was the first and last decision I made that was NOT influenced by my environment, friends/family, or my emotion. It was something that I did naturally, without thinking or feeling. 

Teenage Brain Graphic Organizer

10/3/14

Quick write: 

How do you think your teenage Prefrontal Cortex affects for you decision making? 

10/2/14

Quick Write: Formulate a question you still have about the teen brain. After you've written your question, classify it (DOK level 1, 2, 3, or 4) and explain why you classified it that way. Emphasis on Quick. You have only five minutes from the official start of class.

What would happen if we used a larger percentage of our brain?

I would classify my question as a DOK level 3 question. My question is an open-ended question that can lead to a discussion, and can not be answered with a "yes" or "no".

10/1/14

Step 2: Teenagers are known as risk-takers. But why? Turns out it’s an evolutionary part of our brain development. Read about the science of teenage risk-taking in this article from Science News for Kids. As you read, take notes so that you can summarize the article on your blog. Hint: Pay attention to the subheads in the article!

After reading the article 

The teenage life is complex. Scientist are looking at teenage brains to see how and why they make the decisions they make. Teenagers choices' are all about exploring and pushing limits. Every species has an adolescence stage, this stage is necessary in order to reach adult hood. In order to examine the human brain, researchers use an MRI machine to test the theory between teenage and adult hood brains. Researchers use these young test subjects by putting them into an MRI machine and having them play various video games. While the teenagers play the researchers are tracking their brain activity. The researchers discovered that in teenagers there is a tug of war going on between the reward center, the ventral striatum, and the master planner, the prefrontal cortex. The reward center shows increased activity in everyone when there is a risky decision to be made or the offer of a reward. However, in teenagers this brain region is shouting even louder between the ages of 13-17. The prefrontal cortex's ability to boss the brain increases with age. Researchers believe that the teenage brain is constructed to experiment and take risks so that teens will grow away from their parents, create their own worlds and become more independent. There are two processes going on in the teen brain. One process involves the fibers connecting nerve cells. The other process is the strengthening of the synapses the docks between the nerve cells. Babies have an abundance of connections, but during the teenage years, many of these connections are pruned (eliminated) to make the brain process more efficient. This is why it's easier for young people to learn languages, but it also explains why sometimes it's hard for them to make logical decisions.

After reading the article "The Teenage Brain", I've realized the difference between a win, and a lost while taking a risk. One risk I took was earlier this month down in Soho. I was walking towards American Apparel for an open-call interview and since I was about 15min early, I decided to get something to drink to not only calm my nerves, but to quench my thirst. Haha. So I went into a friendly looking cafe and ordered some tea. The lady in the back of the counter told me "we only have black tea, would you like some lemon in it?" So I was like ".. sure" because I like tea, its soothing to my soul, but after drinking about half the cup my stomach started to hurt and I got nauseous. Wonderful! So this was the lost I experienced. I took a chance, and bought some black tea, I didn't want to spend $4 on the tea but I did, and the end result was me becoming nauseous, having to piss a river, and learning that I should not trust every cafe I go in to. 

After experiencing a lost, I must talk about a time I experienced a win. A win I experienced was last night, I left my boyfriends house and was in a rush to get home. The bus was taking forever and I was not at my usual bus stop. I usually go to the stop where I can either take the Bx1 or the Bx2 but I decided to take a risk, and went to the bus stop where I could only take the Bx1. After waiting for about 10min the bus finally came and it's about a 35min bus ride if I take it straight home. I was feeling lazy and the bus was going express, so I was stuck contemplating whether I should stay on or get off. I got off, I ran towards the train station and about 3 minutes later the train came. Not only did I make a smart move to get home quickly, save myself 20 minutes, but I also learned that getting off the bus isn't such a bad idea sometimes, and I need to stop being lazy. 

9/19/14

Quick Write: Check out the rubric for blogs under "Pages" on the right. Evaluate your first posting using the rubric. Explain why you gave yourself that score.

I would give all my post a 4 because I put in a lot of effort, details, information and my vocabulary/punctuation is 9/10 times correct and on point. 



On the test I chose question 10. Question 10 was  the quote "I can! I can! I can! (If I put my mind to it.)" and I strongly agree with this quote. The reason why I strongly agree with the quote was because if I decide I'm going to something, I'm going to do it and be completely untouchable and unstoppable. I feel that whenever I put my mind towards something and I know in my heart and my mind I can achieve it, I'm going to do it. As an example this year I've decided to become an Honor Roll student and raise my garbage GPA into an award-winning GPA which is usually an 85 and above. By raising my GPA and becoming an Honor Roll student, my accomplishments are going to get me into a good college and get me enough financial aid and scholarship money to lift these tuition prices off my shoulders.  So this is why I agree with the quote and feel like anyone who puts their mind into something can do it as long as they're dedicated and consistent. 

9/17/14

Do Now:

• What is the relationship between our brains and our minds?

This is the question I am going to attempt to answer on a different day and will keep you guys updated. 

9/15/14

Hello people visiting my blog, my name is Sophia Rose and this is my first post for September 2014. This is my senior year in Crotona Academy High School and my second semester being in Ms.Beckers class. I plan to be an excellent student this year, achieve high 90s in this class, and during this course I hope to learn more about the human brain and the way it works. A question is have for this course on the brain is, "What parts of the brain contribute to decision making and being distracted?".

5/29/14

Quick Write: Check out the flow chart on Amy Ortiz's blog. Identify simply the cue for one of your bad habits using the flow chart. Write about it. Quickly. (Make this a habit.)

The cue for my bad habit occurs when I'm in my "I don't care" estate. 

Step 3: Write about a habit you want to change and why. Be sure to identify the three parts of this habit (cue, reward, routine) when you describe it.

My habit: Being insensitive 
why: It's not nice
cue: when I don't feel like being bothered 
reward: solitude 
routine: announcing " I DO NOT CARE " and repeating until my point gets across. 

5/28/14

Quick Write: Write about one bad habit you have and one good habit.

Bad habit: being insensitive
good habit: reading on the train


Step 2: After you have watched the video, write a reflection defining habit in your own words. Think about these critical questions:

• What is good about habits?
• What is bad about habits?
• How can we use habits productively?

 A good habit is something you do regularly whether its conscious or unconsciously that has no side effects

A bad habit is something you do regularly whether its conscious or unconsciously that has a side effect

You can use your habits to benefit you.

 

5/20/14 (Andy's lesson)

Aim: Have you known someone who was has been on their deathbed and in their final hours? How does it feel, What could be going through that persons mind? , If you have not been in a situation like this before, Try to imagine how it would possibly be. Give details.

Yes I have, when I was about 6 years old my grandfather was on his death bed in Jacobi Hospital after suffering from a massive stroke. I didn't feel too much because I was so young, I knew that he was dying, half his brain had shut down and because of this everyone around me was sad. My grandmother and my mother decided to "pull the plug" and let him rest. I don't know what he could have been possibly thinking.

Activity questions:

1. What is Baubys new life?
His new life is the start of a new season.

2. What do you think Kangaroo song refers to?
The song refers to Baubys life situation, the Kangaroo is escaping from the zoo, the place that kept it trapped all its life just like Bauby is escaping the diving bell and they are now starting a "new life"

3. Can you explain the what season of renewal means?
the start of a new season, a new start in his life. 

Lesson plan

Aim: How important is it for Bauby to have an "active" imagination? 


 Quick write: Your personal views on the importance of an "active" imagination. 



Today's lesson is to read pages 109-113 in The Diving Bell And The The Butterfly and then discuss whether or not Baubys imagination is essential to his physical estate. 

 

Academic Art and Cultural Exhibitions Project

Ecuador, Spanish for "Equator" was first inhabited by the Incas in 1526, but the first settlements of Spanish in this area were in 1534 and 1538, by explorer Francisco Pizarro, a Spanish conquistador.

Ecuador is a country in western South America, bordering the Pacific Ocean at the Equator
 with a wide range of natural formations and climates, from the desert-like southern coast to the snowcapped peaks of the Andes mountain range to the plains of the Amazon Basin 

The flag retains the three main colors of the banner of Gran Columbia, the South American republic that broke up in the 1830s. The yellow color represents sunshine, grain and mineral wealth, the blue represents the sky, sea and rivers and the read represents the blood of patriots spilled in the struggle for freedom and justice.

Hilda Vasquez (4/29/1932 - 6/10/2012)

This is my grandmother Hilda Vasquez, she was born and raised in Ecuador during the 1930's. She raised in the capital Quito and her father was a man from the military. All my grandmothers' stories were about Ecuador and how the time period was back then. Back in the 1930's the women stayed home and become housewives, as well as the daughters. When it came to education my grandmother was taken out of school at a very young age to learn how to clean, cook and sew at home with her while her brothers went off to college and the military. During that time period everyones mindset was very "old school", men went to work and women stayed home. Over time education became more important and more enforced. When I was born my grandma became very on top of my education, she wanted me to do my best so I could get into a great college and have a successful career.

5/12/14

Quick write: Generate a high level question concerning your project for a peer editor.

What is something I would need to change ?

5/9/14

Quick Write: Pick a country other than the U.S. that connects with you either because of ancestry, birthplace, or any other reason. Explain why you connect to this country.


My grandmother and my mother were born in Ecuador and  they use to always tell me how beautiful it is over there and since I am half Ecuadorean it's only right that I do my project based on this country. 

Mind map

click here to see my mind map for Diving bell and the Butterfly

4/30/14

Quick write

Since this is a free quick write I just wanted to let everyone know that I am losing my voice. I sound like a boy going through puberty and no one seems to understand me. Until I meet up with my mom later to go shopping I am done talking for the day, if anyone wants to talk to me they can text me or try to understand my gangsta' sign language. The Lord knows how hard I tried to avoid getting this cold, holding my breath and moving my face away whenever people start coughing or sneezing around me. I snooze I lose! I really wish I was in my boyfriends house, sleeping in his soft warm bed and eating soup.

4/28/14

Quick Write: Think about one of the most important memories you have. Indulge yourself in it. Can you taste it? Smell it? Feel it? What if that memory were taken away from you? Would it still exist?


The most important memory to me would be the last time I had saw my grandmother. I can feel the warmness in her room, the smell of her nail polish, and the metal pressing against my thighs as I sat on the air vents. If this memory was taken away from me, I don't know how'd I feel if that memory was taken away from me because it is something only I can personally remember, with my feelings and thoughts of that moment included but it would still exist, just not from my point of view. My mother and sister were there that day so the only way I'd be able to hear about that moment would be through them. It wouldn't be the same. 

Final Reflection: You previously interpreted the quote “I think, therefore I am.” Interpret the quote once again as it relates to Clive. In other words, does Clive know he exists? Does he exist? What does all of this say about memory? Finally, what’s your brainy explanation for Clive only remembering love and music? Post this final reflection on your blog.

Clive does exist and he knows he exist because of his memory of love and music, you can't remember something that didn't happen so if you can then that means that it did which means you were there when it took place and in order for you the be there you have to physically exist as well. "I think therefore I am." In order to think you have to have think about something. Thinking about an events that took place requires you to have a memory, thinking about how you're feeling requires for something to happen in order to get you to feel anything, and in order to have a memory to make all of this happen you have to be there when that moment is taking place. Your brain records moments that you witness, it records what the eyes are watching, what the heart is feeling and what the brain is thinking. So if you're thinking, you do exist. Only memories, thoughts, and feelings can happen to those whom exist.

4/23/14 - 4/24/14

Quick Write: What does imagination mean to you? How important is it? What about memory? Can you have one without the other?


To me imagination is the creative part in your brain, you imagine things and you create things in your mind. It is important to have imagination because if not then it's as if your brain is just blah and boring. However, memory to me is more important because a memory is something you remember that actually took place, something that was real and not made up in your imagination. But can you have one without the other? Of course you can, remembering something as small as what you did 5min ago and not be imaginative is very possible, or not being able to remember anything because of some type of problem going on in your brain but having an imagination is very possible as well.

4/11/14

Quick Write: Reflect on what you learned in detail this week in at least one well-organized paragraph.

 During this past week I have learned a great amount of things. Some of the things I learned was what locked-in syndrome is, some of the causes, and a man named Jean-Dominique Bauby with the syndrome that wrote a memoir about his life with the syndrome, which later turned into a movie. So what is locked-in syndrome? Well, locked-in syndrome is a condition in which a patient is aware and awake but cannot move or communicate verbally due to complete paralysis of nearly all voluntary muscles in the body except for the eyes. What can cause this is Lou Gehrig's disease, diseases of the circulatory system, medication overdose, multiple Sclerosis, damage to nerve cells, particularly destruction of the myelin sheath, caused by disease (e.g. central pontine myelinolysis secondary to rapid correction of hyponatremia), a stroke or brain hemorrhage, usually of the basilar artery, or traumatic brain injury. However,  the chances getting locked-in syndrome is about the about same chance as winning the lottery so it is rare but not impossible. This rare disease happened to Jean-Dominique Bauby, a well-known French journalist, author and editor of the French fashion magazine ELLE and writer of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly after catching a massive stroke. So how can a man with Locked-in syndrome write a memoir? With his left eye. There's an alphabet he uses that contains the main letters used in the French alphabet that helps him blink to the letters he wants and make sentences out of them. 

4/9/14

Quick Write: Do you believe animals have souls? Explain.

 I do believe animals have souls. Animals are living, breathing, thinking, feeling creatures just like us. Just because we don't walk on four legs and speak their language doesn't mean that animals are any less living to have one. To animals we are considered animals, we kill one another, we love one another, we are somewhat just like them.

4/8/14

Jean-Dominque Bauby

Positive, growth mindset kind of guy with a good sense of humor. He sees him self in a situation where he's as good as a vegetable but keeps himself going by using his imagination to see the better in things and to keep himself busy.

4/4/14

Quick write.

1) peer edited our argument essays.
  4 - I was the only one here and Ms.Becker help me improve my introduction to my argument essay

2) strengthened our final drafts by revising them based on the feedback we got.
  4 - I changed my topic and became more connected to it. I feel more confident writing my essay now then I did before.

3) participated in a Socratic seminar on public selective schools.

  4 - During the Socratic seminar I asked a well developed question, I participated,  I listened to my peers, gave my opinion, used a good tone of voice, and made eye contact with everyone.

4) analyzed and connected some essential questions and quotations to literature. 

  4 - I connected a quotation by Henry Ford to one of my literary books Fahrenheit 451, I connected my knowledge on mindsets to the main character Guy Montag and to the dystopian setting.

5) reflected on the impact of the neurological condition known as locked-in syndrome.
  4 - After watching the video in class yesterday on locked-in syndrome I added my 3 observation, 2 essential question and 1 feeling I had towards the video and the situation itself. I connected the situation the lens of mindsets and to my own personal opinion.

4/3/14

Quick write: Identify the people, places, things, ideas that make life worth living for you personally.

The people that make life worth living for me would be my younger brother and my boyfriend,  I love them both to death, they mean the world to me and for them I try to be the best person I can be every day. My mom has a role in this too but it's mostly motivation, I want to grow up and not be a disappointment, to show her that I've gone above and beyond, I've followed my dreams and to have her living worry free. She's put up with all my faults and over looked the negative when no one else could and because of this I owe her, I have to achieve greatness for her. Thinking about this how could I forget my grandma? My grandma is also my motivation for me, she believed in me more than anyone else and for her I am also going to become something great. The future is worth living for me, I want to become successful, I want to travel and experience this beautiful planet I live on and eventually start a family, experience having a life develop in my womb and raise my future babies with love, give them the best life they could imagine and raise them to be correct so when they get older their children (my grandchildren) will grow up to be correct and so on and so forth. These are the things that make life worth living for me.

 3 - 2 - 1 

  3.
1. Lock in syndrome can be caused by massive stoke and other things.
2. People with locked in syndrome that want to die are not allowed to by law.
3. People with Lock in syndrome are in complete paralysis, except for their eyes.

  2.
1. Will there ever be a cure for this?
2. Why wont the courts let them end their life?

  1.
1. Sad

   Questions on Jean-Dominique Bauby :
  1. How did he get the technology to write a memoir?
  2. How did he write a memoir?
  3. What could he have done to prevent the stroke?
  4. Is he happy with his life?


What do you think makes life worth living in general? How might this relate to mindset?
 I think your family, love and happiness is what makes life worth living in general. Relating this to mindset I think people with the fixed mindset would want life to remain the same but someone with a growth mindset would accept any challenges and obstacles interfering with their life and try to see the positive.  

3/31/14 final reflection

Describe, analyze or evaluate how today's Socratic seminar clarified the issues of mindset and ability tracking for you. What still confuses you about these issues? Do you find mindset psychology useful? Explain.

After having the group and partner Socratic seminar today it really gave me more ideas to add to my essay and it made me want to change the topic a bit. While discussing mindsets and hearing everyone's point of view, I can see how tracking is related to a fixed mindset and the problems with selective schools. 

4/2/14

Interpret the main character in your novel using the framework of mindset. Does the character have a fixed or a growth mindset? Explain why.

In Fahrenheit 451 the main character is Guy Montag. At the beginning of the book Guy has a fixed mindset, everything in world shouldn't be questioned and the knowledge you already have is all the knowledge you need. However, throughout the book he comes across a young lady that gets him thinking about whats really out there in the world and Guy ends up questioning his surrounding, his wife, the government, his chief and himself. His mindset goes from doing the same thing every day because that all he and everyone around him knows to wanting to learn, wanting to know more about the world and what it really means to think and to figure things out.


Choose one of the quotes below, interpret it, say whether you agree or disagree and connect it to at least one book you have read.

Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. Henry Ford

Interpretation: Anyone that stops learning is old, no matter what age. Anyone that keeps learning stays young.

I agree.

I agree with this quote because you can never stop learning, there's always something new to learn in this world and once you decided to stop you're as good as being called old. Too old to learn, too old to put your mind to work and discovering new things. Not only do I agree with this quote but I can relate this quote to Fahrenheit 451 , in this book learning is prohibited and owning a book will have you arrested and your house burnt. Since learning is prohibited the mind is basically going to waste in this dystopia, everyone's mind is wrapped around television, having 3+ televisions in one rooms and everyone is just a walking zombie.

3/25/14

quick write

If someone were to oppose my essay claim I would listen to what they have to say and with their key comebacks I will shut them down with my facts.

3/20/14

 Why do you think selective schools for "smart" kids is an important topic?

It is an important topic because it about our children's public education.

Intro

This is the intro to my blog http://midnight-godess.blogspot.com/ and this blog is for my English 8 class. This intro is extremely late because I put it in the "about me" section and then found out it was suppose to be a post and I have finally decided to do it today. So enough about why this is late let me introduce my self in a few bullet points :

• My name is Sophia 
• 16 years old
• Libra
• student attending Crotona Academy High School 
• Future executive chef
• Loving big sister 

3/18/14

Quick write:
Smart kids should go to specialized schools that are meant to make them smarter. Those schools are set up to push them to learn more without the negative slacking off students you get at a regular school.

3/14/14

Am I better today than yesterday?

Yesterday I missed school to get my braces fixed but I could've came in for about 2hrs but I didn't, today I am here and I am ready to learn so yes I am better today than I was yesterday. These last 2 days I've missed are really affecting my grade and after looking on Engrade I can see that I need to make up work and finish completing other work.

3/13/14

In your opinion should smart kids have their own classrooms or schools like Stuyvesant or Bronx Science? Why or why not?

I believe they should. Why? Because those students that are in those specialized schools tried their hardest in school, they deserve to go to a school where they aren't being distracted by foolishness, they don't deserve to go to a school where there are fights every day or the subjects being taught are too easy for them and they're cant reach their full potential. If I had tried my hardest in middle school I would've gone to Bronx science, that school is beautiful and full of intelligent people. Smart kids deserve to go to a school that pushes them to be smarter and if you can pass their expectations then you deserve to go.  

 My claim - Students should be able to attend specialized schools
counterclaim - Students not meeting the schools criteria and getting rejected. 

3/11/14

 Be honest. Do you really think changing your mindset can change your grades for the better? Why or why not?


I believe it can because when your mind is not limited to one kind of mind state "passing or failing" you are able to go above and beyond more.

Final Reflection. 

After listing to Carol Dweck's article on her study of mindsets I believe the findings in the experiment are credible. The study was to find out if the mindset connects with grades and the hypothesis was that the 7th grade students with a growth mindset will obtain higher grades than the students with the fixed mindsets. In order to find out which student's in the 7th grade had a growth or fixed mindset they were given a test to determine if they believe that they are born with a certain amount of intelligence or if intelligence is gained throughout learning. During the experiment the students with the growth mindset received higher grades while the students with a fixed mindset grades decreased. Based on their findings they decided to create two workshops for the students. One was to teach the students how to study better and the second was to teach the students that they are in charge of their own intellectual growth. The fixed mindsets students with decreasing grades started to receive higher grades after taking the workshops and motivating themselves to work harder. Overall this study showed that having a growth mindset can improve your grades.

Common Core Standards 5/7/14

Common Core Standards

• Reading for Information: Determine two or more central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to provide a complex analysis; provide an objective summary of the text.
•  
• 4 = Fully understand the concept/skill
• I am able to determine two or more central ideas of a text, I can analyze how they develop throughout the text and how they build on one another and how they interact with each other. At the end of the text I am able to type up a summary and explain in detail the events that had taken place.  
• 
  
• Reading for Information: Analyze a complex set of ideas or sequence of events and explain how specific individuals, ideas, or events interact and develop over the course of the text.
•  
• 4 = Fully understand the concept/skill
• Here I would give my self a 4 because I can do this in every story/article/text.  
• 
  
• Speaking and Listening: Present information, findings, and supporting evidence, conveying a     clear and distinct perspective, such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning, alternative or opposing perspectives are addressed, and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and a range of formal and informal tasks.
•  
•  4 = Fully understand the concept/skill
•  When presenting information and supporting evidence to my topic or the task I give a full, clear and relatable presentation that give a full understanding that I know whats going on in the text and I am able to discuss it to the class. However in order to participate in certain discussions I have to listen to others to pick up on their ideas and topics which is where I also give my self a 4 in because I am full able to do that. 
•  
• Writing: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.
• 4 = Fully understand the concept/skill
• After reading a text I am able to fully explain the information I had read and picked up, I am able to write and type the information.
  
   

Mindset questions

what kind of influence does a growth mindset have on graduation rates?

what kind of struggles do teens face with a growth and fixed mindset?

Inside the MIndsets

After watching the video on mindsets I would say I would want to change the way I think about certain things. I feel like sometimes because of the financial issues at home I wont be able to get far, I know I can if I try my hardest but at the end of the day when I'm in college here in NYC and my family moves away to Florida I'm going to be struggling. I'm going to be in school in the morning and working at night just to get by and then after I graduate what happens if I cant find any employment? The thoughts of my future can get pretty negative because without the right financial aid I wont be able to get into college and it feels as if my future is based on money. It makes me uneasy and I need to stop worrying so much.

Read these statements and decide if you mostly agree or disagree with each. When you have finished share your answers with a partner. A- agree  D- Disagree.

1. Your intelligence is something very basic about you that you can't change very much.
D
2. You can learn new things, but you can't really change how intelligent you are.
D
3. No matter how much intelligence you have, you can always change it quite a bit.
A
4. You can always substantially change how intelligent you are.
A

Read these statements about personal qualities and character and, again, decide if you mostly agree or disagree with each one. Then, share your answers with a partner.

1. You are a certain kind of person, and there is not much that can be done to really change that.
D
2. No matter what kind of person you are, you can always change substantially.
A
3. You can do things differently, but the important parts of who you are can't really be changed.
A
4. You can always change basic things about the kind of person you are
A

Grit.

claims. 1-3

1. Grit is Passion/key to success.

2. Growth mindset is a great way to build grit.

3. Failure is a step to learning.

Grit is passion, passion to be successful and I have grit. My goal in life is to be successful and at peace with my self, to love life and everything around me. I have failed a lot in life, I have also learned from it and used those learning experiences to grow as a person. My grit isn't as strong as it should be but it is there and its growing as I grow. My grit is going to motivate me to succeed in high school, college, my career as a chef and live a beautiful life.

Based on today's Socratic Seminar on fixed mind sets the most interesting comment would be "but how come people with fixed mind sets feel threatened by others success? Is it envy?" This comment created a whole new direction in the conversation which really got us all thinking deeply. I think having more people attending and engaging in these kind of class discussion really brings our minds together, we start thinking from a different point of view and discussing moments from the past that crazily relate to our topic. The way everyone should be graded during Socratic Seminars should be based on your listening, participation and attendance. Students can't fully participate and engage in this kind of discussion if they're not listening, they'll be lost, especially if they arrive late. Its a domino affect.

A Failure.

I failed my sophomore year in HSES. I did it to my self, I decided not to go to school and I let my self fall behind while everyone else was excelling. Throughout the cutting and ditching it was a rush, it was exciting. However, as soon as I went back it was as if I had missed so much I just couldn't catch up in time. I failed my self but because of this failure I learned what I needed to change about my self and the decisions I was making.

born with a certain kind of mindset?

Suggested by Melanie Thompson. Do you think you were born with a fixed or a growth mindset? Why?

I believe we are all born with a growth mindset. As babies there is no such thing as failure because we just don't know anything, when learning how to crawl we fall repeatedly but because our young minds are not fixed on "I keep failing, I cant not do this, whats the point?" we get on all fours and try again, we keep trying until we learn how to walk and then learn how to run. We push ourselves through these difficult challenges, our mindsets wants us to grow instead of staying down on the ground but since we are so young and our brains are so vulnerable at being influenced by its surroundings, some children learn to think that having a fixed mindset is normal, its natural or don't even realize that they have one because they're surrounded by so many others with the same mindset.

Mental toughness.

Sophia Rose.

In all honesty I believe I am mentally tough. It takes a lot to break my mental positivity and the aura I try to maintain. Through everything that I been though in my life and the obstacles I have faced it has only made me stronger, it has made me realize the type of person I want to be. Being mentally though doesn't mean I can't vent my problems and hide what's really going on "inside". If anything, being able to trust someone with such information about your life can show how strong you are, how you are able to let someone into your personal life and trust them enough to help you.

But how does being mentally tough help you in the future? Can being mentally tough affect current/future relationships? Is there such a thing as being too mentally though?