I can't believe there's just a few short weeks left this semester. This class really seems like it's been flying by. Here's a quick recap of the past 4 weeks and what I've taken away from it all:
Week 9: This week we all learned about how to make SMART goals. If a goal is SMART that means it is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. We all made some great SMART goals, and I think this was an excellent way for us to apply the things we've learned in class to our everyday lives. This week we also learned about Advocacy and took the first step in getting involved by searching for and posting our political representatives.
Week 10: In week 10 we really got started on our Advocacy Projects. We all chose an issue that we cared about from Healthy People and searched for related legislation on the topic. The issue I chose involved reducing overall cancer rates (new cases) in the United States. We also watched the video Unnatural Causes in class and learned how to do an issue overview, which involves considering all aspects of an issue, who it affects, what the impact is, etc. We also kept up to date on our eco-chic lifestyle change/ SMART goals, and posted about our progress.
Week 11: This week in class we watched the short video The Story of Stuff. I think this has been my favorite movie we've watched yet because of the way it addressed consumerism and it really made a lot of big complex ideas seem very simple and easy to understand. We also posted our issue overviews related to our Healthy People objectives, which I found to be a great learning experience. Being able to read the organized overviews of everyone's different topics was a great way to break down the information so we could all easily see the impact, the people affected, and the importance of the issues.
Week 12: This week we all presented our photo essays on topics of our choice. I loved seeing everyone present their pictures in class and I thought a lot of people had really great stories to share. I also thought it was a really cool idea to assign a photo essay instead of a regular essay because sometimes seeing what people are talking about is much more helpful than words alone and it let us express our creativity. We also continued with our eco-chic lifestyle changes/ SMART goals and I think a lot of us are pretty proud at the progress we made in 4 weeks.
So, the past 4 weeks were a blur as usual, and I felt like I learned so much in such a short time. Still, I'm glad it's almost the end of the semester and I'm excited to apply everything I've learned...over winter break.
I could not agree more with you about how fast these past four weeks have went. We have done and learned so many great things about the environment. This is one class where we could honestly use everything we have learned in our everyday lives. The photo essay was one of my favorites too. Looking at pictures is always more fun than reading just a regular essay. :)
ReplyDeleteI agree that the past 4 weeks were a blur. It's weird to think that soon we won't have to be thinking about share & voices or our eco-chic goal anymore!
ReplyDeleteI like how you broke your post down into week by week! I totally agree, we've learned so much and come a LONG way over the semester! I've really enjoyed being in your blog group the last few weeks! Good luck on your SMART goal! :)
ReplyDeleteEmily, a blur is a pretty good explanation I think. Time truly has flown by it seems. We've learned so much the past few weeks that we can apply to our daily lives. We really tackled some very important issues with our advocacy projects and I enjoyed reading everyone's topics. Like you I really enjoyed the photo essays and you are spot on in saying that it's nice to see people's essays/projects in picture form rather than written essays. Very nice post.
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