Planning 10

Learning Life Skills and Planning for the Future

[jisangsblog-blog]

Works Cited

"Abortion ProCon.org." ProConorg Headlines. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Aug. 2016.

"AIDS and HIV Symptoms and Signs." WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 05 Aug. 2016.

"Chlamydia." Government of Canada, Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Aug. 2016.

"Chlamydia - CDC Fact Sheet." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2016. Web. 05 Aug. 2016.

"Chlamydia Infection." Healthline. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Aug. 2016.

"Family Planning Plus." How Many Teen Girls Get Pregnant Every Year? N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Aug. 2016.

"Gonorrhea - CDC Fact Sheet." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2016. Web. 05 Aug. 2016.

"Gonorrhea Causes, Diagnosis, and Symptoms in Men and Women." WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 05 Aug. 2016.

"High School and Youth Trends." DrugFacts:. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Aug. 2016

"HIV Treatment: The Basics | HIV/AIDS Fact Sheets | Education Materials | AIDSinfo." AIDSinfo. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Aug. 2016.

"HIV/AIDS Basics." HIV/AIDS Basics. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Aug. 2016.

"List of STDs and Symptoms." List of STDs and Their Symptoms. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Aug. 2016.

Medical News Today. MediLexicon International, n.d. Web. 05 Aug. 2016.

"Photography." Pinterest. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Aug. 2016.

"Portfolio." Pinterest. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Aug. 2016.

"Selling Watches The "Wired" Way | ABlogtoWatch." ABlogtoWatch. N.p., 2011. Web. 05 Aug. 2016.

"Stress Management." : How to Reduce, Prevent, and Cope with Stress. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Aug. 2016.

"Symptoms of HIV." Symptoms of HIV. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Aug. 2016.

"The Clap (Gonorrhea) Picture Image on MedicineNet.com." MedicineNet. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Aug. 2016.

"WHOPPER." WHOPPER. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Aug. 2016.

[jisangsblog-blog]

FINAL ASSIGNMENT! :  Magazine

Click Image for Link

Works Cited is Separate.

[jisangsblog-blog]

Day 13: Relationships + Hot Topic- also on doc

Today we touched on somewhat sensitive topics of unhealthy/healthy relationship and sexual health where we discussed some of our personal stories with each other. I, personally, have not been in a significantly unhealthy relationship with anyone, but I have witnessed some unhealthy relationships. Most of them are in my family or relatives because things are usually the most serious within the family. I think that even the most heated fights occur within families rather than outside. The time when I witnessed an unhealthy relationship was not so long ago and it was between some of my relatives. I was actually quite surprised and at the same time frightened that this was happening within the people I am related to. I don’t usually talk about this, but I know that it is happening. There is nothing that I can do because I barely see them and also because I don’t want to get involved trouble that is happening between the parents or adults. I think that I am living in a very unique situation because  when trouble occurs, it is happening on my dad’s side, but I rarely know about it because I’ve grown up mostly apart from my dad so I feel that this kind of thing is not very normal, but to me, it feels very normal because I have lived like this since I was very young. I sometimes feel that I have been somewhat affected by these experiences although I don’t realize how they have shaped me or whether they have shaped me at all. I think that the best way to prevent falling into an unhealthy relationship is not getting involved in one from the start and not doing anything that can put me in a position where I can easily fall into an unhealthy relationship.

The ‘Hot Topic’ that I chose to research about was abortion. I chose this topic because I feel that this is becoming a more and more discussed topic as people begin to question the law and their morals more trying to decide which is more important. Even the law, however, is beginning to allow abortion in many countries. There many debates on whether a child is living or not at the moment of conception which raises several ethical questions regarding abortion. Personally, I think that abortion should not be done as it is killing a possible human life, but at the same time, a child does not deserve to come into the world unwanted. Also, if it is a situation where the mother’s life is at risk and at the same time it is an unwanted pregnancy, than abortion should be done. Another case that I think an abortion should be allowed is when a teenage girl gets an unwanted pregnancy that can possibly ruin her future and give her depression. However, I also think that the decision should be entirely up to the mother of the baby based on her values. In terms of laws, I don’t think that there should be laws restraining pregnant women from having abortions since everyone’s values are different and there could be situations where a mother feels that she must have the abortion.

Overall, this lesson was a chance to learn about something that we will all need to know as we grow up. The material that we learned today is not something that we learn about often although it is extremely important so I think that this lesson was an opportunity to touch on some sensitive topics that we don’t usually cover.

[jisangsblog-blog]

Day 12: Substance Abuse Reflection- also on doc

When I was younger, the topic of drugs was something that I didn’t want to talk a lot about because I was taught and always believed that drugs are extremely horrendous and it would be disrespectful to talk about them, but now I feel that as I get older, the topic of substance abuse is a rising problem especially for teenagers. For this reason, it is getting more and more important for teenagers to be educated on the use of drugs. In my life, I have never personally been asked to partake in drugs, but I have started to know some people who have. I realize that there are actually a lot more people who have been exposed to drugs then I had initially expected. So, when I first found out that there are some people around me that do drugs, I was totally shocked. I believe that being asked to partake in drugs is a common occurrence especially in the modern society where peer pressure is one of the biggest influences. Although the learning about drugs is helpful, I think that a more relevant type of substance abuse for my age is alcohol for the reason that it is much more common than other type of drugs and underage drinking is very popular nowadays so I am more likely to be exposed to alcohol than I am to drugs. As for the documentary that we watched today, it was very eye opening. It was also quite sad to find out the irony of drug addictions and how the main cause of people being addicted to drugs is the fact they are hated for being addicted. I think that in this modern society, unless the majority of people change their views on drug addicts, it is nearly impossible to stop the addictions of already socially unaccepted addicts. One way that they can stop their addiction, however, is rehab, an accepting environment, and most importantly the will to stop. The poster that I did today as a part of this assignment was probably one of the toughest task so far. As an artistically inept person, or perhaps a perfectionist, it took me along time to figure out what kind of designs to incorporate into my magazine and I felt quite frustrated in the beginning. Frankly, I didn’t enjoy creating the magazine until I got a hang of it and began testing out some really cool designs. Overall, I think that the lesson was challenging, but educative as well as eye-opening. However, most of the content that we learned today was mostly review as I had learned this several times in the past years in middle school. I understand the importance of education on drugs, but I think that we are learning some of the same stuff repeatedly.

[jisangsblog-blog]

Assignment  #11: Substance Abuse. Clink the image for link.

[jisangsblog-blog]

Day 11: Shopping and Cooking Reflection. Click image for link to doc.

Prior to going to Safeway as a class today, I went on a trip to a local grocery store to take a look at some of groceries because I thought that this would help me understand the approximate prices of all the ingredients of meal that I was planning to make (tofu, onion, chicken breast, tomatoes, mushrooms, yogurt, and fruits.) Today, my partner and I bought all the ingredients as we calculated the price of each one and the total came out to be $14.75 (with 10% off) which was only 25 cents off of what we were aiming for. When we arrived at Mulgrave and started cooking, the biggest challenge was making sure that nothing was contaminated with the raw chicken because if it was, there would be a risk of ingesting salmonella. In order to do this, we chopped all the vegetables first and put them into a separate bowl before cutting the meat. Because the knife that we had was a meat cleaver, I let my partner, who was more familiar with using this type of knife, do most of the cutting until I could find a smaller knife that I was more comfortable with. Another issue that we faced during our cooking session was that the burner kept turning off because there was a problem in the electrical circuit. Because of this, our cooking time was delayed and it required us to keep moving to different stations that worked. After about half the time of the session, we finally finished cooking the appetizer which was fried tofu. Then, we started cooking the chicken breast which we had already prepped by cutting it up into thinner slices to increase the surface area. When the chicken looked fully cooked, I used the technique that I had learned earlier in the session which was to cut the largest piece in half to see if the inside was fully cooked and because it was, we put all the pieces aside and began cooking the mushrooms. When the mushrooms were brown, I assumed that they were well cooked so I took them out and began eating them and I realized that it should have been cooked longer until the mushroom shrinks in size for the best taste much like how it's done in restaurants and at home. By doing this session, one of the key things that I learned was how organizing the kitchen equipment is really important to be efficient and minimize unnecessary work. This is because there were times when I had washed one equipment, but because I had contaminated it or put it somewhere that could put germs into the food, I had to wash it all again which meant going back and forth to the kitchen  which was quite strenuous and made me do work that I didn’t want to. However, most of the times the equipment were well placed and it was mostly my instinct telling me that not washing would be risky. As for the dessert, we didn’t have any time left to make it so we just ate the fruits and yogurt separately. Overall, I think that this hands-on assignment including the preparation where I went out to see the different prices was extremely helpful because I learned how to cope with some of the challenges that can be brought with making a meal with such limited resources. I learned so many valuable cooking skills that I will need in the future from how to season and cook raw meat to how to cut food in the right order so that I can minimize the washing. Another important skill that I practiced in this assignment was budgeting. when we went to Safeway to buy the ingredients, I used my budgeting skills to make sure that the food was under $15, but still maximize the amount. I am also glad that I am having this learning experience now instead of later when I am in university and I have to figure things out on my own which would mean more work.

[jisangsblog-blog]

Day 10: Healthy Living-Dietary Choices Reflection- also on doc

After having done some research on organic foods and based on my prior knowledge, when we go to Safeway to buy ingredients, I hope to aim to buy organic foods, but only if their prices are almost the same as the non-organics. This will be highly unlikely, though, because organic foods are rarely similar in price as the non-organics. Also, my partner and I will be under the budget of $15 and considering that we want to maximize our purchase so that we can have a full-course meal, if we are given the option to choose between an organic and non organic of the same type of food, we would choose whichever is the cheapest. Knowing that this will not be a normal dinner-making, as this is meant to be somewhat of a simulation of making a dinner at university dorm, there are several challenges that I anticipate with next class. One of them is being able to cook with such limited resources. At a dorm, I would only be provided the basic equipment that are needed to cook food. Another challenge is buying all the ingredients for appetizer, entree, and dessert under the $15 dollar budget. For now, the total cost of the ingredients are estimated to be at exactly $15. This means that we will have to be extra-careful with our spending to make sure all the items are within the budget. Thankfully, there is no tax on groceries as the government considers it a necessity for life. So, I have been able to squeeze in the prices into the budget. If we buy the cheapest of ingredient and they are still not within our budget, we may have to cut back on some of the less important parts of the meal such as the granola for dessert. However, having done some research and finding out the approximate price for each ingredient, I feel fairly confident that when we go to Safeway next class and buy all the ingredients, the total price will be within the budget and I hope that it is extremely close, if not on the bull’s eye, to the exact limit.

[jisangsblog-blog]

Assignment #10: Healthy Living- Dietary Choices- Click the image for link

Topic: What dietary choices will you make in college? Don’t let Freshman15 happen to you.

[jisangsblog-blog]

Day 9 Reflection- also on doc

Today, in class, we watched 2 Ted Talk videos on how to be successful. Both videos talked about the same concept of how grit, passion, and perseverance are the main driving forces behind success. It also talks about how people who have been through hard times react better to failure and can endure worse conditions because they have experienced and learned from their past. The speaker of the first video emphasized on grit and how some of her less intelligent did better on tests than her more intelligent ones because they seemed to have more grit. I agree with her argument, but only to some extent. I think that test scores only prove intelligence to some extent and don’t necessarily reflect on how successful someone is going to be in the future. For example, many of the most successful people in the world such as Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs are actually college dropouts. However, it is important to know that it is not because they dropped out and had grit that they succeeded, but rather because they already had the passion and were persevered to fulfill their goals. Steve Jobs once said that it is really important to have passion “because it is so hard that if you don’t, any rational person would give up”. This is very true because to succeed, you have to do something so an extended period of time and it is really hard to not give up something that you are not very passionate about. The second video was more about comparing the differences between people who are ‘silver spoons’ and ‘scrappers’. Silver spoons are people who think that they area under all the right circumstances to succeed and follow the existing system and follow the ‘safe road’. Scrappers are people who fight their way through and therefore are better with enduring hard times. She says that people should be scrappers because they are the ones that succeed. I think her argument is only somewhat valid because there are also many scrappers who don’t succeed. I think that when scrappers do succeed, they succeed largely, but also when they fail, they fail hard. However, the people who she considers ‘silver spoons’ take a safer road and have a higher chance of succeeding although they may not be extremely successful. Frankly, I feel that I am more of a silver spoon than a scrapper. I think that, although I don’t want to be a complete scrapper, I should take more risks and get involved in new experiences. After watching the videos we began our University research. The university that I chose was UC Berkeley because it is among the less expensive out of the top engineering schools in the world. Also, it is in California which is where I would like to go for university. Making the poster based on the university was the most challenging and took the most amount of work. I didn’t necessarily enjoy doing the research for it, but did learn lots about UC Berkeley because I had to probe to lots and lots of different websites to gain the necessary information. Overall, the assignment was very strenuous and probably the most taxing moment of Planning 10, but because of this I feel that I also gained a lot of insight.

[jisangsblog-blog]

Day 8: Ms.Ma’s Talk Reflection- also on doc

I learnt lots of new things during today’s lesson. The most helpful part was the presentation by Ms. Ma where she talked about the importance of networking and how grades, relationships, extracurricular activities, and experiences are equally important. This was because it was so rich and full of content that I felt would actually help me throughout life. Her talk was very intriguing overall, but it was especially really interesting to listen to her story of how she came to be where she is today because of her networking. I learnt lots of valuable social strategies that I can apply in situations where I want to build a connection with someone. The two main strategies that she taught us were GASS which stands for Greeting, Ask a question, Share about yourself, & Seal the contact and STAR which stands for Situation,  Task,  Action, and Results. Both of these are techniques that should be kept in mind when engaging in a conversation with someone else or when you are networking. The thing that stood out to me the most out of the whole presentation was the part when she talked about networking in high school because it was something that I could get my hands on immediately and try experimenting with the different skills that were taught to us. She said that as  high school students, we should begin networking through engaging in conversations, practicing, and gathering information. I truly feel that after having listened to her story of how because she had met and created a connection with Heidi at CPA, when she was interviewed for a position at KPU, she had an advantage because Heidi was coincidentally on the interview panel, it really made me think that every relationship that I ever make with someone can count largely in the future and could very possibly benefit me. This was when I got really fascinated by the idea of networking. Personally, when I talk with people for a long time, I get really comfortable and generally have very good social cognition. However, when I stay away from people for an extended amount of time, such as staying home during summer, my social skills plummet down the drain very quickly. This is why I have to keep practicing to keep the engine running and remind myself to use these skills that Mr. Ma taught us when I am not sure exactly what to do. As for the university portion of the class where we watched a number of University promotional videos and critiqued them, I didn’t think it was very helpful nor educational. Although it gave me some insight on the different things that the universities provide and what style they are, there was really nothing more to it than that. Something that I wish I had learned instead is what values or skill-sets different universities look for in students and how to develop those skill-sets. I think that doing something like this would have also been more helpful. Overall, the lesson as a whole had some very real-life content and was very helpful because I had learnt lots about social networking strategies and their importance from Ms. Ma’s talk and am now inspired and excited to begin networking using her three points which were: conversation, practice, and gather information. This was also the first lesson to learn about actual strategies and components behind social networking even though we have done job seeking to practice these skills. Therefore, this lesson was not only a chance for me to learn new life skills, but also reflect on the conversations that I have had with the managers while applying for jobs and see what I could have done better. Frankly, having learnt some new content that will actually be a good help in life, I now feel more confident in introducing myself and starting conversations and can not wait to test out these new skills I learned today.

[jisangsblog-blog]

Assignment #8/9: Post Secondary Options. Click the image for link.

[jisangsblog-blog]

Graduation Program & All About Me Reflection- also on doc

Recently, the Ministry of BC has made some changes to the current Graduation Program. The main reason for this is to emphasize the opportunities in life to students and link classroom activities with experiences in life. I think that the idea of actually linking classroom activities to real life situations is very clever because, students often don’t understand how the things that they do in class will help them in life later and often times, they don’t necessarily help. However, it will be very useful to know how we might be able to apply the skills we learn in class to experiences in life. Another reason why the Ministry of BC is making changes to the program is because the BCTF (BC teachers federation) have repeated said "over the years, provincial exams have tended to narrow the curriculum, force teachers to focus on content instead of skills and processes, and had a negative impact on students’ motivation.” Although I don’t have any prior experience with the previous system because I am caught right on the line, I reckon that the provincial exams must have been quite demanding of students and teachers alike. In terms of new courses, the Ministry of BC will be introducing a course that will teach students valuable life skills. This is called the Career Education Course and it will be replacing Planning 10 in the following years. Much like Planning 10, this course will also be a graduation requirement but, this new program will have more content and will give students a period spanning over 3 years (gr.10-12) to develop the essentials life skills for the reason that students, much like any people, can not develop these skills over a short period of time. However, I am not fond of this idea at all because I don’t want to do more work after already having done Planning 10 course at school. If I do the Career Education Course too, then I would be doing more work than is required or done by other grades. So far in Planning 10, I have learnt so many valuable life skills that I don't usually learn in the classroom and I begin to realize that the opportunities in life are just as important as academic achievements. Based on my experience, I think that the new program will be extremely helpful as it will extend beyond just the current Planning 10 course and also teach students life skills efficiently through showing the connection between classroom activities to opportunities in life.

Adults who have had to learn their responsibilities and duties on their own often say things like ‘I wish I had learned how to pay taxes instead of learning trigonometry’. I am privileged to be able to get this sort of education now and this is exactly why I believe the current Planning 10 course and the new Career Education Course will help me in the future. So far, the Planning 10 course has opened my eyes to look at what is important in life. Previously, my main goal was to do my best, especially in terms of academic, and when things got in the way of achieving I would usually just zone out. Having seen the differents sides of life such as applying for jobs, I begin to feel the burden of what is yet to come, but I think that these course will help me learn about them early so that they wouldn’t be too much of a strain later on in life. The lesson, overall, was quite helpful, but also quite stressful to think about knowing how close I am to start doing the IB Diploma courses. From having heard from two older sisters the agony of living through the infamous part of IB and what is so exhausting that it is often used as a saying to describe fatigue (IB life), I feel worried and unsure at the same time. Perhaps (and hopefully), the life of the IB Diploma program is not so difficult after all, but just requires some very good time management skills. In this lesson, something that I wish I had learned was how to manage time in the Diploma program and how to match courses based on the type of career that I will be heading into. To conclude, this lesson was quite helpful in a different way from most of the things that we have covered in Planning 10 so far in that it was more related to our education at school and the things that are just around the corner as we begin to emerge into the senior school. My theory is that if set my goal towards something that I think is almost impossible to be achieved and try to overachieve in the things that I can, I will be able to reach my highest potential. So, as long as I have this in mind and stay motivated, I believe that I will be able to go through the challenges that are yet to brought in the upcoming years while also learning valuable life skills from Planning 10 and the new Career Education Course that will help me along the way.

[jisangsblog-blog]

Assignment #7: Graduation Program & All About Me. Click the image for link.

[jisangsblog-blog]

Quote #4

[jisangsblog-blog]

WorksafeBC Reflection- also on doc

The WorksafeBC was first introduced in 2013 in efforts to create a healthy and safe working environment and to prevent/address workplace bullying and harassment through explaining the duties of employer, workers, and supervisors. I think that the reason that WorksafeBC introduced new anti-bullying and harassment laws and regulations was that prior to the establishment of this policy, there were many incidences and reports that involved people being harmed either physically or mentally due to ignorance and negligence of others. According to the 2013 article by Jennifer Newman, a workplace psychologist, on the newly formed policies of WorksafeBC, many of the bullying situations have “managers as part of the root cause”. She then goes on to say “If managers abdicate their responsibility to set a healthy and safe tone, the policy and procedures set by WorkSafeBC will have no effect”. Before the policies came into effect, there was no place that workers could file a complaint to about workplace health and safety. Often times, if workers had complained about the harshness of their working conditions, they would be fired because no one would be on their side to help them go against their manager. Thankfully, due to the new laws and regulations, if employees have any complaints regarding their work, then they can now file a claim through WorksafeBC and if the claims are considered serious enough then they will accept it and take the matter into their own hands. However, even though this policy has come into effect, the problem of an unsafe or unhealthy workplace has not completely vanished; there have still been some situations where people have disregarded these policies and have caused damage. For example, Chris Gailus, a dominant figure in the news industry and a face of Global BC, has recently been the subject of a sexual harassment complaint. The victim who is Chris’s former makeup artist, has stated that he has made various sexually inappropriate remarks about her and has claimed that Gailus has apologized to her in an email after she confronted him and then stopped making inappropriate comments. In this kind of situation, because Chris Gailus is representing Global BC and has support from various sources unlike the victim, he might not be facing that severe of a consequence than he would if he was just a regular person. In order to prevent situations like this from escalating, it is the worker’s duty to let someone know before it gets severe. Also, managers and supervisors must take the lead and ensure staff understand and demonstrate healthy and safe workplace behavior. They must never create an unsafe condition in order to cut down on labour cost which is one of the reasons why these problems still persist after the WorksafeBC policies. This is shown in ‘The Matthew Bowcott Story’ where solely because a company/manager wants to cut down on labour costs, Matthew is forced to work faster than before which causes him to get into a terrible accident. Sometimes managers could be pushing workers to the limit, but despite this, as a worker in BC, one must know they they have the legal right to refuse unsafe work and when something doesn’t seem completely safe, the best option is to refuse the work rather than to do it especially if it is to impress someone.  In conclusion, safety and health is the number one priority and in order create a safe and healthy workplace, it is important to train the managers and leaders on how to responsively and in a timely way to unsafe and unhealthy behavior. Likewise, workers must also always put in the effort to enforce the policies created by WorksafeBC.

What I thought about the lesson overall:

Overall, the lesson itself was actually quite helpful and made me realize how disastrous making a small mistake or disregarding your gut feeling in the workplace can be. This is sort of like wearing your seat belt; you are not likely to get into a car crash when you get in a car, but you always have to put your seat belt on for that minuscule possibility of actually being in one. Things weren’t so fortunate for some workers who have been interviewed by WorksafeBC. I think that watching the video about the story of Matthew Bowcott and reading the articles in the start of the lesson were the most helpful since it gave me some good insight on the topic we were diving into. The filming portion however, although it allowed me to investigate the topic more and look at some possible situations where workers could get injured in the workplace, it was not very educational, but rather just a fun activity. Despite that it wasn’t totally educational, it was nice to do something in Planning 10 that would give us some ‘creative’ time and collaborate to create something new. During the time, I also got WAY out of my comfort zone while acting. I am usually very comfortable with being in front of the camera and acting because I have done lots of this before, but for some reason, after taking some time off the screen, I felt strangely uncomfortable. We definitely had some fun, but I also took this opportunity to ‘kickstart’ that side of me again. Overall, I think that the part we did as a class in the start such as watching the video and reading the articles were extremely helpful, but the filming part not so much. Rather, the filming part, although wasn’t completely useless, was less educational and more of just a fun activity.

[jisangsblog-blog]

Bullying and Harassing Article Summary

‘Anti-bullying policies need to be followed to be effective.’ Written by workplace psychologist Jennifer Newman on Apr. 4th, 2016

One positive outcome is that this anti-bullying policy has helped workers identify others/their own behavior as problematic.

The requirements may not have actually resulted in less bullying, but rather the employees who bully are just getting better at slipping under the radar.

Ineffective or negligent managers are usually the root of the cause.

“If managers abdicate their responsibility to set a healthy and safe tone, the policy and procedures set by WorksafeBC will have no effect.”

It is important to not just have a policy, but also take the lead and ensure staff understand and demonstrate healthy and safe workplace behavior.

Sometimes, companies don’t assign a supervisory role in efforts to cut down on labor costs. These cost-saving measures that become long-term strategies can lead to bullying.

To create a healthy and safe workplace, it is important to ‘train your managers and leaders in how to act responsively and in a timely way to unsafe and unhealthy behavior’.

Companies should contain talented bullies and have future exit strategy for them in mind.

[jisangsblog-blog]

Assignment #6- Worksafe BC. Click the image for link. 

Be safe! Even when you think ‘everything is awesome’, things can go wrong.