SWOTting FE's at GCE

In the last unit of the senior STEAM course Systems and Models, we looked into peoples motivation to do things. We talked about Maslows Heirchy of Needs and how that plays into the motivations people have to do things in their lives. We watched a lot of TED talks and TED drawing episodes that explained where peoples motivations come from and how they appear. For the Action Project in this unit we were tasked with choosing an aspect of GCE and using SWOT to explain the good and bad things about it. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. For my project I chose to look into FE's at GCE. It was difficult at first to come up with all of my SWOT sections but at the end I am very proud of the way my project turned out. Check out my project below.
__________________________________________________________________




For my SWOT, I decided to examine the field experiences or “FE’s” that my school has. Field Experiences are sort of like field trips except they have more of a purpose. Our FE’s are trips we take in order to learn more about what our teacher has been teaching us. We get to meet with people who work closely with what it is we are studying. They allow us to hear another voice on the things we are learning in class.

Looking at something that is not a physical thing, thinking about the Commons (a shared resource that is freely accessible” for FE’s can be difficult. The resources that are used to make the connections for FE’s come from many different places. According to my teacher AMD “Some FE plans are brought in from previous years and previous successes. Sometimes we have one-of-a-kind opportunities, and lastly we rely on connections from our previous careers and relationships, people that the staff knows, people that parents/students recommend, and sometimes even just sending an email out cold, hoping that someone replies.” When teachers make or find connections for their class, they will often bring them to all of the teachers so they can possibly use them as well if it fits with their class. At the same time however, if no one can find any connections at all there is no starting point for any class. If that is the case then the class will just stay in the school on that Wednesday and work on something else.

The tragedies from the Commons relate to my threats and my weaknesses from my SWOT chart. FE’s sometimes fall through which can be very harmful to the teacher and the students. If an FE is planned and the group makes the trip to the site and it ends up being canceled, that's an entire class period gone because of poor communication between the guest and the instructor. Another big weakness is when the FE isn’t what it was expected to be. When that happens then the students are not engaged and it turns into more of just a random field trip. A friend of mine LS talks a bit about that. He says that “Occasionally, there are some FE's that don't fulfill the intended goal. If an FE just ends up being a presentation given to the students for hours on end, it fails to engage the students in their learning. These kinds of FE's become boring for students and don't excite us and make us want to learn more.” When the trips end up being disappointing, this can cause issues with action projects if an FE was important in order to complete part of the project.

Another threat that comes from outside forces is when we go places where there are other schools in attendance. Every term we as a school go to see a play at the Goodman Theater. We are not the only school that does this there are many other schools who attend these plays as well. Since FE’s have to be connected to the class, before we go to see the play, our instructors connect an aspect of the play to their class whether it be actual dialogue or the set in which the play is on. We will usually get work associated with it that we will have to do for homework. Once the play is over, the actors will come out on stage and all of the students have an opportunity to ask questions. Since there are a lot of other schools there, sometimes our questions don't get answered and instead a student from another school will just ask a question as a joke when GCE students had an actual question about the play.

Since the beginning of GCE almost 7 years ago, FE’s have been an important part of the curriculum. FE’s were something that was broadcasted when interested students were looking to apply. RD, a classmate of mine, says that she “likes FE's because they prove that what we're learning is actually important. If it wasn't, then there wouldn't be places to visit about that class.” FE’s are something that students like and want to have around. It gives them another voice that they can use to understand the material in more depth.

There are a lot of opportunities that come to and from FE’s. There are a lot of people within GCE that have different connections and friends and family members who may know something about what students are studying in the different classes in GCE. This allows teachers to always have some kind of connection to a possible FE. As well as having staff with connections, there are also tons of parents and students who can make connections. GCE is a very open community which gives students and parents a voice to help make classes work better.

When thinking about how FE’s play in with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, physiological is a big thing. FE’s require groups to travel all around the city. While this is a great way for students to see different parts of the city, it can sometimes take a long time to travel places. Sometimes travel time can take up half if not more of the designated time which causes students to get tired which can also end up causing an FE to go poorly. Self- Actualization is something that is really great that can come from FE’s. While on these trips, students are able to make potential connections themselves for internships or jobs in the future. These trips also play a big role in the esteem category from the hierarchy of needs. When students are able to connect a trip to a personal experience or something that allows them a sense of accomplishment. HT, another teacher of mine says that “The top success from an FE is when a student without prompting from the teacher can find a correlation between the course and the FE, deeper than that when a student can see how the FE is a solution to something that has been talked about in class.” Safety is never really an issue with any of the trip sites, the group take public transportation there and that is the only time where a student may feel unsafe. The trip sites are never in any unsafe neighborhoods and the students are always with at least two teachers. The section about belongness and love can be demonstrated by FE’s when students are able to go on these trips with their fellow classmates which allows students to become better friends and work together.

When it comes to thinking of a solution I thought of it from a systems approach. While there are a lot of good things that come from FE’s there are also those weakness and threats that come from them as well. While FE’s are very important to the curriculum, certain times classes will only end up going on one or two FE’s because teacher end up not planning any FE’s for the units. According to HT when asked if she thought FE’s were vital in order for the curriculums to work “Field experience are the biggest selling point of GCE, our slogan is broken down the walls between the classroom and the world” and we can’t do that unless we go out into the world. We want young people to be able to solve the problems in the world so they need to be able to experience things. It also allows students to gain communication skills and learn how to network which will come up later in life.” When a teacher is unable to schedule an FE, students will have those 3 hours to to do whatever work the teacher comes up with.

I-O psychologically is another way to think about FE’s. I-O is used to study different issues in workplaces areas dealing with people, teams, and organizations. This can play into FE’s when thinking about the different organizations GCE is connected with for FE’s. While also connecting FE’s with things they are learning about in class, FE’s are also a way for students to learn different skills. HT says that “FE’s allow students to gain communication skills and learn how to network which will come up later in life.” This interaction that comes from students talking to different people all around the city allows every party to see how they deal with different people.

The ultimate solution I came up with was that FE’s are a vital part to GCE curriculum and currently there is too little prep time. Lots of classes have not gone on as many FE’s as the teachers and students had hoped and I think that needs to change. I think that there should be some kind of base created where people (teachers and students) can put information on possible connections for different classes. Having this will allow teachers to always have a large variety of opportunities and choices to set up FE’s with. Overall, FE’s are very important and have been working well for GCE for almost 7 years, in order for them to keep working, everyone needs to do their best to help out and find different connections that can be used to create great field experiences for years to come.


Works Cited:

McLeod, Saul. "Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs." Simply Psychology. Simply Psychology, 16 Sept. 2016. Web. 26 Feb. 2017.

"What Is I-O?" Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 2017. Web. 06 Feb. 2017.

AMD. Personal Interview. 2017.

HT. Personal Interview. 2017.

LS. Personal Interview. 2017.

RD. Personal Interview. 2017.

Loving v Virginia

In the last unit of the Policy class, we focused on the Judicial branch of the government. We looked into what makes up that section of our U.S. government and how someone gets appointed to that position. This wrapped up the policy aspect of this class because we ties it all together with the people that decide the fate of people that disobey the laws. They are the ones who are able to explain the laws. For the last action project of my junior year we were asked to research a supreme court case and look at the verdict and create an opinion on it. I decided to chose the Loving v. Virginia case which debated interracial marriage. I decided this because once I read about this case I was very interested because I think it holds a lot of ties to things that are going on in the U.S. right now with LGBT laws and things like that.  It was challenging to pick a case in the beginning since there have been so many but I am happy I chose the Loving v. Virginia case. I am very proud of the way my project came out. I found a lot of good information on my case and I was able to put together a thoughtful argument.

Tales of Racial Discrimination

In the last unit of the Argument class, we were asked to take a position on an issue, identify our opposition and seek a solution through synthesis. In this unit, we learned about synthesis which is the resolution or solution to an argument. We looked into the fight for Civil Rights and the different arguments that come with it. The hardest part of this AP was figuring out which topic I wanted to take a stance on. There are so many oppositions in America right now that it was extremely hard to chose. I learned a lot about the country I live in and how there are still people who are so stuck in the past that they still agree with discriminatory ideology. Enjoy!

Tales of Racial Discrimination 

Thesis:
The definition of police brutality is the use of excessive and/or unnecessary force by police when dealing with civilians. “Excessive use of force” describes a force well beyond what would be necessary in order to handle a situation, for example, firing 24 shots at an unarmed suspect who is running away from an officer. In the Declaration of Independence, our country states that all men are created equal, yet there are still people getting arrested or killed just because of the color of their skin. When it comes to the issue of police brutality, I believe that all law enforcement officials, especially police officers, should be required to wear body-cams when on-duty. This way, there are fewer opportunities for cops to get away with wrongfully injuring or murdering suspects or individuals they encounter.

Evidence:
Look at people like Donald Trump or the KKK, they are real human beings who still think that one race is inferior to another. The 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act was a couple years ago and although people say we have come far, to me it feels like we are traveling back in the wrong direction. This country isn't going to last for very much longer if this ideology is still present. The number of people who feel like this is only growing with each Trump rally, or KKK meeting. This matters to me on a personal level because I am half black and half white. I have witnessed racism first-hand and I have seen the damage it can do. The US advocates for every person of every race to be free, but when citizens try to change that, our local and state government doesn't seem to do much to stop them. It is a proven fact that “A black man is three times more likely to be searched at a traffic stop, and six times more likely to go jail than a white person” (Jeff Nesbit, USNews). Racism in any form needs to be stopped. To go into further detail about this topic, police violence against black Americans has become a nation-wide problem.

The line between black and white is so thick that children are getting exposed to it the minute they are born, and in ways that are punitive. For example, “Black preschoolers are far more likely to be suspended than white children. Black children make up 18 percent of the pre-school population, but represent almost half of all out-of-school suspensions,” (Jeff Nesbit, USNews). In murder cases like Laquan McDonald, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Sandra Bland, and many others, these young people’s lives were cut short by a policeman for no reason. The dash cams that are currently found on police cars are terrible quality and can be tampered with, as appears to have occurred in the McDonald murder in Chicago. Evidence can be deleted and changed, which is why most of these cops don’t end up being charged with murder. Body cams would help give a better insight about the actual incident so no one can get away with murder. In the McDonald case, “A police dashcam video from last October clearly showed the African-American teenager walking away from police when Officer Jason Van Dyke unloaded his gun, striking Laquan 16 times.” (Marilyn Rhames, Huffington Post). It was completely unnecessary to shoot this teen 16 times; a friendly reminder that the mayor didn’t release the video for over a year after the killing happened (ABC 7). The people that we hire to keep us safe need to be checked out to make sure that we are putting the right people in charge of protecting our country.

Antithesis:
The opposition believes that although police killing innocent people is a terrible problem in today’s society, body cams are not going to change that. Some crime officials state that “body cameras are seen as an invasion of privacy, as they provide state-owned footage. When police cameras are on, they will capture everyday civilian and police behavior that does not necessarily need to be recorded. Do all defendants want their arrests recorded? Do all bystanders want to be in those videos when shown in court?” (Eric Baum, Newsmax).

Evidence:
The opposition says that this will not solve anything because these cameras can still be tampered with which would keep us stuck in the place we are at right now with this problem. In the case of Rodney King, an African American man who was beaten to death by white police officers in Los Angeles in 1991, a witness named George Holliday recorded the incident which was then broadcasted around the country. The officers claimed that King was resisting arrest but it was clear in the video that the police officers were in fact beating him harder than what was needed. The police on trial said that King was on PCP at the time of the killing. In court that was proven to be mistaken, but the cops were still acquitted. Although body cams might be helpful in some cases, it is not reasonable to equip the entire police force with them; this technology is expensive. The country does not have enough money to pay for these. It just isn’t plausible. The opposition might also feel that trying to attack racism in this way is futile, claiming that black people are going to continue to get oppressed no matter what we do to stop it. Police need to be watched, but not with body cams. Racism is clearly still going to happen no matter what, but we as citizens of the USA should try to promote fairness and equality in our society.

Synthesis:
Both sides can agree that the violence that has been going on is a problem. People are getting killed for no reason and that needs to be stopped, and racism as a whole should be stopped. Both sides can also agree that police need to be watched and checked to make sure our country is putting the right people in charge.

The synthesis for these two arguments would allow mandatory background checks on police. There would also be a better quality dash cam that will record everything and make sure cops can’t get away with murder. I do agree with the opposition that body cams may not a plausible solution. If that is the case, then citizens should be able to record police if they witness a case of brutality and upload their video evidence directly to a non-biased police review board. Also, racism in schools and jobs needs to be lessened. There should be equal opportunities for everyone. The color of your skin should not determine how much money you make. If a white person and a black person are doing the same job, they should be paid equally. The opposition agrees that racism could be stopped for good in America. If these changes were implemented, it would allow for a more fair and just country.

Questions for the Opposition:
1. Why are innocent black lives not as important as other races?
2. Where is all of the money that could be used for these cameras going?
3. Should it be legal for people to record police?

Questions the Opposition Might Have for me:
1. Why should police who are truthful and trustworthy be forced to wear body cams?
2. Why should civilians’ privacy be invaded by body cams?
3. Since body cams also be tampered with, wouldn’t we remain where we are now?

Works Cited:
Bail Set at $1.5 Milllion for Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke, Charged in Laquan McDonald Shooting." ABC7 Chicago. ABC7, 30 Nov. 2015. Web. 17 Mar. 2016. <http://abc7chicago.com/news/jason-van-dyke-posts-bond-leaves-jail/1103665/>.

Baum, Eric. "5 Pros and Cons of Police Wearing Body Cameras." Newsmax. N.p., 30 June 2015. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.

Nesbit, Jeff. "America, Racial Bias Does Exist." US News. U.S.News & World Report, 13 Jan. 2015. Web. 14 Mar. 2016.

Nesbit, Jeff. "Institutional Racism Is Our Way of Life." US News. U.S.News & World Report, 6 May 2015. Web. 14 Mar. 2016.

Milligan, Susan. "The Struggle Goes On." US News. U.S.News & World Report, 28 Apr. 2015. Web. 14 Mar. 2016

Rhames, Marilyn. "Laquan McDonald and What My Dying Father Told Me About the Chicago Police." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 10 Dec. 2015. Web. 15 Mar. 2016.

Vertesi, Janet. "The Problem With Police Body Cameras." Time. Time, 4 May 2015. Web. 16 Mar. 2016. <http://time.com/3843157/the-problem-with-police-body-cameras/>.

Time to THRIVE

For the second unit of the Rhetoric course, we focused on certain people and how their message, good or bad, made us and other people feel. For this action project, we had to pick a person with a good/bad message and analyze it and talk about what made it so good or so bad. I chose Ellen Page who is an actress. In 2014, she came out as gay at a conference for Time to THRIVE which is a part of the Human Rights Campaign that focuses on the LGBT community and how they can change the way people treat the people in that community. We had to create a Prezi with information about the person, an annotated version of the text, and the devices and appeals we found inside of it.

Brain Tumor

In the first unit of the Cure class, we talked about different surgeries and their procedures and what parts of the body they effect. For my Action Project, I researched brain tumor surgery. This is a very serious surgery that has a lot of things that could potentially go wrong. We had to make a prezi for this project. We learned about all of the things that happen in a surgery. One of the things that was hard for me was finding all of my information. I wasn't sure which path of brain surgery I wanted to go deeper in. It was difficult to find some of the information because you have to be pretty specific when you look up things like this. I really enjoyed this project because it was interesting to get to learn about this surgery because I have always been interested in. I am very happy that I chose this project.

Take a look at my prezi here.