Day Eight: Food Journal Reflection

I have been using the MyFitnessPal calorie counting app on and off for the past year and a half, but this was the first time I dutifully used it for absolutely everything I ate for more than five days in a row. Part of why I would use it so intermittently is because of my crazy weekend eating/drinking habits. I didn’t want to acknowledge how many calories I was actually consuming on the weekend, but this forced my to acknowledge this and make some personal decisions based upon what I saw.

I decided to cut down on my drinking, not just because of this assignment, but it helped keep me accountable. It also helped finally keep myself accountable for the things I was eating; not just the amount, but also the content.

MyFitnessPal keeps track of things like sodium, fat, sugar, and vitamin content, but I hadn’t really paid too close attention to these amounts prior to this assignment. After one week of keeping track of everything, everyday, it was apparent that I wasn’t getting nearly enough vitamins and potassium, so I made that my goal/priority to make sure I was getting enough of these things in my diet. I started actually taking my daily vitamin daily and trying to eat more foods rich in potassium. While I still am having a hard time getting enough potassium, I’m generally getting better amounts of other vitamins and I am actually feeling better.

I could see food journaling activities to be potentially very beneficial for my future students. Hopefully they would be able to truly apply the activity to their lives and make reflections upon how their food affects their health much as I did. They would at least be somewhat forced to at least start seeing and thinking about the things they’re putting in their bodies.

I also feel like even if there wasn’t any time specifically dedicated to teaching health that this activity to easily be linked to other subjects individually or as the tying factor between multiple subjects. Science could be brought in in the terms of nutrition, what food is made of, and how we get energy from it. Math could be brought in for calculating the amount of calories and other nutrition facts based upon the serving size and actual portions eaten. We could also set goals and analyze the journals in writing. Social studies could even be tied in to study typical diets of different cultures. It could easily be the tying theme for all of these subjects as a nutrition unit. I hope that I will be able to use my ideas for a unit like this sometime in the future; I think the students would really learn a lot from the experience.

Day Seven: Book Discussion

I was somewhat disappointed with the very limited amount of time we got in class to talk about The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. Because we were to pick a theme and create a poster on that theme in the limited amount of time, we didn't really get to discuss all that much or get in to differing opinions. One of my group members in particular had an extremely different view of the themes and events of the book due to her background, and we didn't really get to discuss our differing views while coming to a consensus for our poster. I'm looking forward to digging into the meaning in the book on my own as I write my reflection paper, but it would have been interesting to have more time to discuss as small groups and as a large group.

Day Six: Experiencing Organs

Today in class we got to see actual lungs, livers, hearts, and a brain. To be honest, it freaked me out a little, but it was also very informative and somewhat cool to actually see (and touch) the organs that are inside each and every person. Although I had been told that the brain is heavy, it didn't really sink in until I actually picked it up today. Similarly, seeing an extremely enlarged heart due to blood pressure and fat build-up had an immediate response in my head of thinking about the condition of my heart and what I can do to prevent my heart from becoming like that. I think if I had another opportunity to see/touch these organs again, I would opt out, but it was very informative and interesting to do it once in my life.

Day Five: Active Activities

I really enjoyed our challenges and relay races today, and it was very inspiring. The activities really kick started my thinking about integrating active exercises in all subjects and settings. Many schools cut PE and recess to make more room for more "academic" material, but without the movement, students are less likely to stay engaged and attentive when sitting still. However, if teachers utilize activities that require a lot of movement, we can make up for the deficit. Like art, movement and active games can be woven in to any subject, and it makes the material more engaging for the students. I'm excited to start trying out some of the ones we learned today and the ones I've just begun to think about.

Day Four: Micro-teaching

Presenting first for a class is never easy; especially when you only have a couple days to complete a group project. Giving my group micro-teaching lesson this morning was no different. It was particularly difficult due to the group aspect of the assignment and the limited amount of times we were able to meet. Although the content of our lesson ended up being strong, our presentation of said material could have worked much better. Each person got an unequal amount of speaking time during our lesson, and the flow from section to section was rough. I feel like if we could have had another day to work or even had the insight to figure out our exact groups the day we signed up for the project, we would have been able to even it out more and maybe even practice. Oh well; it is what it is, and all I can do is reflect and learn from the experience.