Quarter 1

The first weeks of class were filled with curiosity and excitement for me. Being in Healthcare 21 was a very unique experience compared to other classes I have taken in the past. From the very beginning, independence and self-direction were set as the core elements of the class. This level of individuality and self-direction was something I had never imagined I would experience in a high school setting. 

The first few classes rolled through as if time didn’t even exist. We started off by discussing important matters regarding course requirements, class rules, work expectations, deadlines, etc. After the discussion, we were given a task to research a few ideas/topics/interests and find relevant ‘scholarly’ articles. I already was set about researching my topic of interest before I even took the class. I started googling my topic and found numerous articles; what I didn’t understand then was my lack of understanding of what it means to do ‘scholarly’ research. After naively browsing through news articles, we were explained what makes an article scholarly and suitable for research of this magnitude. This is when I got introduced to academic journals, peer-reviewed articles, databases, original works, published papers, etc. The pool of knowledge that we just barely dipped our toes in was actually as deep as the ocean. This experience really made me rethink the times I had used unprofessional articles for my work; I felt so ashamed yet I felt accomplished about having learned this new knowledge. 

We spent the rest of our class time and personal time exploring more and more; finding numerous articles so we could compare and contrast articles for their sophistication and professionalism. I felt that although it was the first week of classes I really accomplished a lot in the short amount of time we spent learning. This reiterated the theme of independence and self-direction of the course.

During the initial stage of research, I focused on class when we learned about what makes an article scholarly. I used my learning about scholarly articles to explore databases for peer-reviewed academic journals to ensure the research is done with attention to accuracy. After finding some preliminary articles I started to create a draft for the driving question. Upon drafting the first driving question, I realized my topic was very broad. To find ways to direct my question better I requested Mrs.R’s guidance during our Networking Event. After discussing the topic with Mrs.R, we used logical reasoning to narrow down the focus to Males who fall within the age range of 10 - 25. Although I would have liked to research females as well, I understood I had to be flexible to new ideas to ensure my final product represents my best work. 

After setting up a final driving question, I moved forward with the design plan. The design plan was a very extensive document that outlined all of the skills/work I would be using throughout the year. I focused on accuracy and detail to ensure the design plan reflected my thought well, so the teachers could hold me accountable for it. It was a very new experience of thinking about the distant future for a class. It was hard to contemplate what to await/expect in the future but I remained persistent and utilized the peer review feedback to aid in the betterment of my plans. My biggest takeaway from this experience of planning forward was to always think of alternative perspectives from others just like I did through the peer review

From the beginning, I was well-prepared with my topic, driving question, and area of focus. I proceeded to continue my learning stretch with confidence as I communicated with peers, the teachers, and Dr. Netcoh. Through effective communication of my own ideas and proper understanding of others’ suggestions, I was able to develop a plan for how many hours I would assign for different work. 

When preparing my list of possible obstacles, I realized that when it comes to such self-directed research a lot of small issues can equate to larger problems for the project. At first, I underestimated the challenges I could face and noted down some that are obviously expected. After reading what my peer had written about their expected obstacles, I realized that I had not been thinking deeply enough to understand the challenges. Despite my feeling of nervousness, my sense of curiosity helped me maintain an internal calm. I understood I had peers and teachers who are there for this very reason; I can learn through/with them. This is why after getting back feedback from Mrs.Stokoe I ensured that I revisited all the areas she had suggested edits on and utilized her feedback to design a plan which reflects a positive learning impact. I am grateful to have such teachers who I can trust with my project’s success. 

This week was pretty mediocre. It was getting kind of annoying trying to find a source. Most sources I found had almost identical content which was not very helpful as I was searching for newer content. I started the week by conducting research and finally found an article to work on. This week I had a lot of homework/studying for other classes, especially for AP Bio. Thus finishing my work during the limited time I had remaining after school, practice, and family time was definitely a challenge. During this week we also had to turn in our source two notes. I found that article 2 took limited notes because a lot of the content was repeated but I did receive some new statistical data. 

This week was more of an easy work week, I settled in with my schedule for other classes but still fell a little behind in Healthcare. To stay on top of the workload I started with source #3 and got some of the work done, I found a good source, which provides a lot of graphs and statistics that I can use for my paper. This week we also received some of our reflection rubrics; I revised some to enhance my level of detail in the reflection. A lot of the revisions had to do with depth, the sophistication of thought, and the lack of VOGC skill references. I used my Networking Reflection which I did good in, to revise my other reflections. The networking reflection helped me understand that I need more explanation. My bad habit is that I just answer the question and really never go in-depth which I now realize is a necessity in this class. Moving forward I will continue to document more detailed reflections. As a whole, this week was productive and less stressful.

This week was so tiring. The start of the week was alright but gradually become stressful because the quarter was ending so all of the teachers were trying to get out their last few assignments so they would be done in time for grading. Thinking about all of the assignments stacking up had me on the verge of just giving up. I also had my clubs, sports, and volunteering commitments on top of all the schoolwork. I was getting very overwhelmed very quickly. 

So I decided to designate more time for some of my other classes. After completing my other work I started to think about Healthcare. Since I had already started on Source#3 last week, I finished the notes pretty quickly. This was a stress buster knowing that at least I had that scratched off my to-do list. We finished this week by going straight to the checklist for the digital portfolio (Quarter 1). After doing a review of my portfolio I noted the different things I had to fix. Some incomplete work, incorrect placement of some PDFs, etc. I plan ned on using the next week to fix some of these issues and try to catch up on the assignments that I had not completed.